PROFESSIONAL ENGLISH
Course Description
Prof. Abdelmjid Kettioui
Email: [email protected]
2021/2022- S9
Course Structure
• The course expands over 9 weeks (18 hours)
• +2 hours (evaluation)
• The course consists of lectures, practice in reading + listening
comprehension + writing.
• It is student-centred + interactive + project-based
• Evaluation: written/ oral (pending administration approval)
• Test grade is based on team-based projects (see Projects Section):
cataloguing CVs and cover letters best practices for STEM graduates).
COURSE
• Develop the English language and
professional communication skills students
need to get the job they want.
OBJECTI • Enable students to cope with the targeted
situations to fulfil their prospective needs.
VES • By the end of the course, students should
able to design impressive CVs and cover
letters
This course covers:
Researching the market
Course Preparing a CV
Content
Writing a cover letter
Answering interview questions.
MANUAL: JOB-HUNTING ( Colm
Downes 2008)
WRITING AN IMPRESSIVE CV
• Week 1 Course description
• Week 2 Structuring your CV (pages: 19-22)
• Week 3 Avoiding Common CV mistakes
• Creating a strong first Impression
• Writing a personal statement (pages 22-24 )
WRITING AN IMPRESSIVE CV
• Week 4 Identifying your key skills
• Highlighting your work experience (pages 25- 28
• Week 5 detailing your education and qualifications
• Demonstrating your interests
• Providing references 38-33
EFFECTIVE COVER LETTERS
• Weeks 6 Identifying features of cover letters 34-37
Beginning a cover letter
• Week 7 Writing the main body of the letter
• Demonstrating your key skills and experience 37
Week 8 Matching your skills and experience to the position
Writing an effective final paragraph
Week 9 Using appropriate language
Writing a cover letter
WRITING AN IMPRESSIVE CV
SKILLS LANGUAGE TEXTS
Structuring your CV Sections of a CV Listening:
Avoiding common CV mistakes Common CV verbs Structuring a CV
Creating a strong first impression Section headings Common CV mistakes
Identifying your key skills Spelling Selling yourself effectively
Highlighting your work experience Personal statements The interests section of your CV
Detailing your education and Skills-based headings Selecting referees
qualifications Transferable skills Reading
Demonstrating your interests Action verbs Model CVs: chronological and
Providing references International qualifications skills-based job advertisement
Noun phrases Article: The education section
of your CV
UNIT 3: EFFECTIVE COVER
LETTERS
SKILLS LANGUAGE TEXTS
Identifying features of cover Phrases for opening a cover letter Listening:
letters Talking about the job you’re The dos and donts of cover
Beginning a cover letter applying for letters
Writing the main body of the Demonstrating skills and How to begin a cover letter
letter experience Ending a cover letter
Writing an effective final Closing expressions Reading:
paragraph Formal expressions Model cover letter
Using appropriate language Job advertisement
Writing a cover letter Bad cover letter
SUCCESSFUL INTERVIEWS
SKILLS LANGUAGE TEXTS
Preparing for the interview Small talk Before you arrive
Making a positive first Common interview questions Interviews: openings
impression Demonstrating interest and Body language
Dealing effectively with motivation Interviews: poor responses
interview questions Interview answer templates Interviews: an effective
Talking about yourself Positive adjectives answer
Avoiding common mistakes Giving details of your skills
Proving you’ve done your and experience
research Structuring your responses
Demonstrating you’ve got
what it takes
Presentations
Practical Case studies
activities Role play
Simulation
Background i
• This year crowns your five-year training (both theoretical and hands-
on) as well as a number of internships in a spectrum of professional
settings (companies, businesses, etc).
• Prior to these internships, a simple search on the profile of ENSAM
students on LinkedIn shows the involvement of students in a variety
of duties that range from writing and advertising calls for applications
to application for different positions to the recruitment of new team
members in the framework of organizing committees, whether in
actual projects or simulations of job interviews, etc.
• These processes involve CVs, cover letters, job interviews, etc.
WHY THIS COURSE?
• CVs and Cover letters are the centrepiece of a job hunting process
• Therefore, this course aims to enable you to write impressive CVs and
cover letters.
Which of these methods have you used?
• As recruiter/ job/ internship seeker:
• A connection
• Job agencies/ Head-hunting
• Newspapers and magazines
• The internet
• Networking
• cold-calling/ mailing
• There were 3 421 000 LinkedIn users in Morocco in September 2021,
which accounted for 9.1% of its entire population.
• People aged 25 to 34 were the largest user group (2 000 000).
• LinkedIn users in United States of America
• September 2021 There were 184 400 000 Linkedin users in United
States of America in September 2021, which accounted for 54.9% of
its entire population.
• People aged 25 to 34 were the largest user group (110 000 000).
BACKGROUND ii (Project)
• Create a career paths handbook for future generations of ENSAM and
other STEM graduates in Morocco
• This project is motivated by the dearth of information on career paths
for STEM graduates in Morocco
• No written traces are left: Most of the information is handed by word
of mouth
• What about building a legacy for future graduates?
Career Hacks for ENSAM Graduates (CVs + Cover
Letters)
• Survey + description of
• trends in the Moroccan/ international job markets
• local and global recruiting cultures (changing cultural views on gender roles)
• Collecting data from
recruitment platforms/ portals (LinkedIn…)
interviews and testimonials by
engineering students with internships (autoethnography)
ENSAM graduates already in the job market
The OUTCOME
A catalogue of CVs and cover letters best practices for STEM
graduates/ engineers/ professors/ administrators, etc.
A booklet/ magazine that outlines the spectrum of
career paths
hacks
tips
Case Study: ANAPEC (by Jobboard
platform)
• Site's statement
• ANAPEC : National Agency for Promotion of Employment and Skills
(Agence Nationale de Promotion de l'Emploi et des Compétences in
French) is a public institution whose mission is contributing to the
organization and implementation of skilled employment promotion
programs decided by the government. ANAPEC aims to help 230,00
job seekers integrate the job market and identify 100,000 training
opportunities.
Mission
• - Prospecting and collecting job offers from employers and matching
supply and demand;
- Ensure the reception, information and guidance of job seekers;
- Inform and guide young entrepreneurs;
- Assisting and advising employers in defining their skills needs;
Jobboard Finder’s opinion
• Summary: According to our statistics, Anapec is one of the least visited job boards in
Morocco. It is ranked 25 186th in the country, even though it’s definitely worth
checking out, especially if you’re an up-coming business. On social media, there are
1 666 followers on Viadeo, 78 822 on LinkedIn, 1 314 on Twitter and 1 115 371 on
Facebook.
• Design: The website is both clear and full of organized information. An emphasis
on the country promotes Anapec’s goal of helping Moroccans find jobs in their area.
It resembles that of Blocket (Sweden) or Leboncoin (France).
• The job board objective: Informing young entrepreneurs and businesses in general
and helping young Moroccans find work.
• Recruiter observations: To add your company to the list of those already on Anapec,
you will need a Moroccan social security number. They ask a lot of questions in
order to create an account, but the job adverts are relatively uninformative.
Jobseeker observations:
• You’ll need your visa card number or an ID card number to create an
account on this website. Personally, I don’t like giving out that kind of
information just to apply to job offers. To create your candidate profile,
you need to fill out a long form with the typical questions (like your
education and your experience) as well as some we aren’t used to seeing
as much (like where you work and how long you’ve been unemployed for).
• The job offers: There are currently 5 070 jobs on Anapec and around 1 057
006 CVs, with about 50 new job offers per day. The job title is clearly
indicated which is good, but there is little to no information about the
company or the job requirements.
• Reactivity: Still waiting.
• Special features: A list of recruiting companies; statistics on the most
in-demand jobs by region in 2017-2018; a useful Q&A section with
information about hiring and advertising in Morocco. For everything
legal and government related, it’s worth perusing some of the more
frequently asked questions.
• Verdict: Anapec looks like a multipurpose governmental website. If
you have a specific inquiry about anything work related in Morocco,
Anapec has answers! However, its low visibility rating, the skeletal
format of the job adverts and the slightly intrusive subscription
requirements are rather deterring when it comes to posting any job
offers.
PRACTICE
• You are a business (whether established or a start-up) that aims to recruit
highly qualified STEM graduates. Design an effective job advertisement.
• Job advertisement aka:
• Job ad
• Job advert
• Job announcement
• Employment ad
• Hiring ad
• Recruitment ad
• Job posting
REFERENCES
• Kruger, Michele and Hannelie Nel. 2020. The Development of Women
and Young Professionals in STEM Careers Tips and Tricks. Boca Raton:
CRC Press.
• Greer, Paul. 2017. STEM Careers: A student’s guide to opportunities in
science, technology, engineering and maths. Bath: Crimson Publishing.
