Professional Materials
 Prof. Jack Reilly
 Fall 2026

•	Due: Week 15 (Friday, December 11)
•	Points: 5
•	Submit to: Blackboard
•	Submission: By Individual
Instructions
There are two parts to this assignment: a resume and cover letter review meeting, and the professional materials themselves.
A resume and cover letter review meeting
Meet with Shannon from the Resume lecture slides. You may schedule your meeting via Orange SUccess, or you may use the email on the slides to make an appointment (srvanbev@syr.edu).
You must meet with Shannon or your advisor.
•	If you meet with Shannon, there is no need to submit any proof of meeting, as she will inform us which students met with her at the end of the year.
•	If you meet with a different advisor, have them email Prof. Reilly.
•	If you have already met with another advisor for resume and cover letter review this semester, you may email your UCA with proof.
•	If you have already met with Shannon this semester for resume and cover letter review, please email her to remind her.
Professional materials
Your professional materials must include the following five items.
1. A one-page professional resume
2. A one-page cover letter
Tailored to the job or internship of your choice.
3. A LinkedIn profile
Your profile must include at least the following:
•	A work-appropriate headshot for the profile
•	A completed “About” section
•	Completed educational information
•	At least one professional experience. We strongly encourage using this course as a professional experience – the position name is “Research Consultant,” and the location is your client agency.
•	A connection request sent to all UCAs and Professor Reilly
4. A one-page draft reference letter
Written about yourself from a professor’s perspective (Coplin, Professor Reilly, or someone else).
•	Include information a professor would reasonably know about you that describes your professional experiences and strengths.
•	This is meant to help a professor write you a recommendation, so save this for future use. Should you ever request a recommendation from Coplin or Professor Reilly, they will ask for this letter.
5. A draft Instagram post
Written as a summary of your project for the Policy Studies Instagram.
•	Choose a photo for the post – either your client organization’s logo, your photo from the Organizational Assessment, or something similar.
•	Draft a caption. Include a short summary of your project and the most interesting finding, 1-2 sentences in length.
•	Tag yourself and your client.
•	When you submit this, please indicate whether you consent to have your project featured on the Policy Studies Instagram page.
Files
•	Instagram Post Template (Word)
As always, your UCAs are available by email to answer any questions.