Writing Samples??
Does anyone know what to do?
I was job hunting last night and I came across this interesting job that will be at a program office that's responsible for "managing six local demonstration sites of The California Endowment's Healthy Eating, Active Communities Initiative". I can TOTALLY do this. It sounds like something I'd like to be involved in, it's local (Oakland), and I actually meet all the required qualifications.
My problem: "Please send a resume, cover letter, writing sample and a list of references by February 22, 2007".
Yikes!
Two problems. First, I'm having not the best luck w/ my references. I'm sure most of it is due to Office Team's wierd demands of them, but my confidence in them is down.
Secondly, a writing sample? What the hell is that? I'm not a writer. I'd be an administrative assistant. I schedule and organize and be efficient. I'd help HR w/ invoices and payments and time sheets. Aside from needing to have "very good oral and written communication skills", I don't know what I'd be writing...
I've been searching online and most of the links are to legal websites. Send in a brief or other legal terms I can't remember right now. I don't have that! I may have been a poli sci major, but I've never had to write a legal brief. What else can I send? Other websites refer to assignments you've pillaged from previous works. You can send a memo you wrote, a letter to a client, pages of some reference manual you were a part of putting together.... I've got none of this from the county. As for Gma's office, well, I've redone the income questionnaire to make it more readable and useable in Excel. ??? Not exactly a writing sample. Anything else I've written while there isn't something I can show off. It's about people's taxes. It's letters asking for money/balance owed. It's letters to the IRS or FTB....
So, do I just make something up? What's the topic? What about sending an old paper from college? Not exactly recent, but... I wonder if I have anything short enough anyway... Towards the end of the college career, I wrote some pretty lengthy and edited papers. Oh, yeah, heavily edited papers aren't recommended, and you have to state that it was, so why submit them? I'm guessing you're supposed to write well "on your feet" w/o a lot of errors.
So, does anyone read this thing? Can anyone help me?
I was job hunting last night and I came across this interesting job that will be at a program office that's responsible for "managing six local demonstration sites of The California Endowment's Healthy Eating, Active Communities Initiative". I can TOTALLY do this. It sounds like something I'd like to be involved in, it's local (Oakland), and I actually meet all the required qualifications.
My problem: "Please send a resume, cover letter, writing sample and a list of references by February 22, 2007".
Yikes!
Two problems. First, I'm having not the best luck w/ my references. I'm sure most of it is due to Office Team's wierd demands of them, but my confidence in them is down.
Secondly, a writing sample? What the hell is that? I'm not a writer. I'd be an administrative assistant. I schedule and organize and be efficient. I'd help HR w/ invoices and payments and time sheets. Aside from needing to have "very good oral and written communication skills", I don't know what I'd be writing...
I've been searching online and most of the links are to legal websites. Send in a brief or other legal terms I can't remember right now. I don't have that! I may have been a poli sci major, but I've never had to write a legal brief. What else can I send? Other websites refer to assignments you've pillaged from previous works. You can send a memo you wrote, a letter to a client, pages of some reference manual you were a part of putting together.... I've got none of this from the county. As for Gma's office, well, I've redone the income questionnaire to make it more readable and useable in Excel. ??? Not exactly a writing sample. Anything else I've written while there isn't something I can show off. It's about people's taxes. It's letters asking for money/balance owed. It's letters to the IRS or FTB....
So, do I just make something up? What's the topic? What about sending an old paper from college? Not exactly recent, but... I wonder if I have anything short enough anyway... Towards the end of the college career, I wrote some pretty lengthy and edited papers. Oh, yeah, heavily edited papers aren't recommended, and you have to state that it was, so why submit them? I'm guessing you're supposed to write well "on your feet" w/o a lot of errors.
So, does anyone read this thing? Can anyone help me?
3 Comments:
i am reading but i don't know what to suggest. can you use a letter or two that you wrote for the tax office and black out the personal stuff and explain why it is blacked out? do you have a bio page you have written? maybe a cool blog entry you could use?
By
Anonymous, At
2/01/2007 01:44:00 PM
I dunno. Thanks for the suggestions, though. I have no bio page and I wouldn't call my blog entries "cool". I'll have to see what I can come up w/ from work.
By
amy, At
2/05/2007 05:04:00 PM
Use a letter you wrote for collecting money or for the IRS. Business correspondence you've written. Use that.
By
carolyn, At
2/06/2007 08:40:00 AM
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