Job Application 1 Rubric

Overall Grade

You overall job application grade will be 15% from the resume, 15% from the cover letter, and 70% from the data analysis.

Tip: When the word “relevant” is used, look at the job advertisement to decide what is relevant.

Resume Rubric

Criteria	Excellent (4)	Good (3)	Average (2)	Needs Improvement (1)
Contact Information	Complete, professional, and easy to find.	Complete and professional.	Complete but not easily found.	Incomplete or unprofessional.
Skills	Comprehensive list of relevant technical skills, including proficiency levels.	Good list of relevant technical skills.	Adequate list, but missing some key skills.	Limited list of relevant skills.
Experience and/or Projects	Detailed descriptions of relevant experience, with quantifiable achievements. Detailed descriptions of relevant projects, with clear outcomes and technologies used.	Good descriptions of relevant experience, with some quantifiable achievements. Adequate descriptions of projects, but lacks detail on outcomes or technologies used.	Adequate descriptions, but lacks quantifiable achievements.	Limited descriptions, with few or no quantifiable achievements and few or no relevant projects listed.
Education	Relevant degrees or certifications, with details on coursework or projects.	Relevant degrees or certifications.	Adequate education listed, but lacks detail.	Limited education listed, with little relevance to the role.
Soft Skills	Clear evidence of communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills.	Good evidence of soft skills.	Adequate evidence, but lacks detail.	Limited evidence of soft skills.
Formatting	Professional, clean, and easy to read, with consistent formatting.	Professional and easy to read, with minor formatting inconsistencies.	Adequate formatting, but some sections are hard to read.	Poor formatting, with multiple inconsistencies.
Overall Impression	Strong candidate with a well-rounded resume that stands out.	Good candidate with a solid resume.	Adequate candidate, but resume lacks some key elements.	Weak candidate, with a resume that needs significant improvement.

Cover Letter

Criteria	Excellent (4)	Good (3)	Fair (2)	Poor (1)
Opening	Grabs attention effectively, states the purpose clearly and professionally	States the purpose clearly, with a professional tone	Vaguely states the purpose or lacks a professional tone	Fails to state the purpose clearly or lacks professionalism
Customization	Tailored specifically to the job and company; demonstrates deep knowledge of the company and role	Some tailoring to the job and company; shows knowledge of the company and role	Limited tailoring; shows minimal knowledge of the company and role	No customization; generic and could be sent to any company
Experience & Skills	Clearly highlights relevant experience and skills; demonstrates strong alignment with job requirements	Highlights relevant experience and skills; shows alignment with job requirements	Mentions experience and skills but lacks clear alignment with job requirements	Fails to mention relevant experience and skills; no alignment with job requirements
Language & Tone	Professional, engaging, and error-free; uses active voice	Mostly professional and engaging; minor errors; uses active voice	Some errors; tone may be inconsistent; uses passive voice occasionally	Numerous errors; unprofessional tone; predominantly uses passive voice
Closing	Strong, confident closing that reiterates enthusiasm for the role and invites further discussion	Clear closing that reiterates enthusiasm for the role	Vague closing; enthusiasm for the role is not clearly reiterated	Weak or absent closing; lacks enthusiasm
Overall Presentation	Well-organized, visually appealing, easy to read; follows all formatting guidelines	Organized, visually acceptable, easy to read; follows most formatting guidelines	Some organization; visually cluttered; does not fully follow formatting guidelines	Poor organization; difficult to read; does not follow formatting guidelines

Data Analysis Rubric

Your analysis will be assessed in each of the following four areas on a scale of 0-5. The questions below will be used as a guide to determine the quality of your analysis in each area.

Writing, Organization, Editing, and Professionalism

Is the report well-organized?
Is the modeling process described in a clear, logical, and engaging manner?
Are the motivations for different modeling decisions clearly described?
Is the analysis free of spelling and grammatical errors?
Are there walls of data?
Are there large unbroken walls of code?
Are there warnings and messages that should be suppressed?
Are all plots labeled and displayed professionally?
Are tables displayed neatly?
Is there too much detail and is the report unnecessarily long?

Data Analysis

Are the mathematical and statistical methods used correctly and appropriately?
Are appropriate predictor variables used in the analysis?
To what extent does the analysis showcase skills described in the job advertisement?
Are the reasons for excluding and/or transforming the data sensible and well-explained?
How was the model chosen and validated?
How were the parameters of the model tuned (if applicable)?

Curiosity

Is the analysis complex and insightful, showing evidence that the data have been analyzed in multiple different ways?
Is the explanation and presentation creative, going beyond superficial observations and simple graphical summaries?
Are the findings and conclusions supported by sound reasoning and/or additional research?
Are the possible implications of the results discussed in context?

Skepticism & Interpretation

Is the handling of missing data, unusual observations, and outliers described and is there sound rationale for it?
Are multiple explanations given for a particular finding and multiple approaches used to explore surprising results?
Are limitations of the data and of the analysis identified and are the potential impacts on the conclusions discussed?
Are suggestions for future work and additional exploration identified and useful?