Using Personality Theory to Craft a Cover Letter

Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Refer to the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric under the Settings icon above for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated.

Prior to beginning work on this discussion, review the Cover Letters PDF  provided by the Ashford University Office of Career Services and the What Is a Cover Letter?  and Writing the Dreaded Cover Letter  online resources. It is recommended that you also review the e-book by Noble (2004) and the How to write cover letters (examples) video which include more information and a number of sample cover letters to assist you.

For this discussion post, you will use the knowledge you have gained about personality, the career specific reports you have created in the previous weeks’ discussions, and assessments associated with various fields of psychology you have studied to help you to choose and develop a cover letter for a job in the human services sector. To begin, determine what type of job within the human services sector related to personality psychology is of interest to you. Using career websites, including those listed on the Ashford Career Services Job Search website, and/or other third-party search engines such as the American Psychological Association’s PsycCareers website, Monster.com , Indeed.com , and SimplyHired.com. Once you have found a suitable job posting, carefully review the requirements and note these for inclusion in your cover letter. Before you begin designing your cover letter, review the required readings, videos, and websites to help you determine how best to formulate it. Within the letter, you will address the person or title of the person that is listed as the contact for the job in the job posting. As you draft your cover letter, consider the elements within the job post and use your knowledge of personality theory to make yourself appear to be the best candidate for the job. Assess the various types of personality measurements that might be most effective in the position listed and mention how you might use these on the job. Once you have developed your letter, save it as a document and attach it to your discussion post. In the discussion post itself, copy and paste the link to the job posting for which you wrote your cover letter. Describe your experience(s) writing the cover letter including the ways in which you may have attempted to manipulate the reader to get the best response. Analyze and describe any ethical issues that could be associated with this process.

Guided Response:  Review several of your colleagues’ posts and respond to at least two of your peers by 11:59 p.m. on Day 7 of the week. You are encouraged to post your required replies earlier in the week to promote more meaningful interactive discourse in this discussion. 

Review the job posting and cover letter created by your colleague.

• Was your colleague’s cover letter appropriate for the job indicated?
• What were the strengths of the cover letter? 
• What area(s) could have used more detail? 
• Suggest changes to the letter that would make it more effective for the job as listed. Include specific rationales for any recommended changes.
• Address the potential ethical issues your colleague mentioned as well as any you see that were not mentioned.

Continue to monitor the discussion forum until 5:00 p.m. MST on Day 7 of the week and respond to anyone who replies to your initial post.