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10 Common Cover Letter Mistakes
When you decide to launch a job search, chances are one of the first things you'll do is write or update your resume. But what about your cover letter? Before a hiring manager even glances at your resume, he or she will assess your cover letter and form an impression of you and your qualifications. A well-written cover letter can earn you a call for an interview, so it's important to take this document seriously. For many job seekers, however, cover letters are an afterthought and are quickly written at the last minute; others don't even bother to include them, assuming their resumes will speak for themselves. Following are some cover letter mistakes to avoid:
- Failing to personalize. Avoid saying, "Dear Sir or Madam" and take the initiative to find out the appropriate contact name. Often a quick phone call to the company can help you fill in the blank. You'll show that you're resourceful and truly interested in the job.
- Starting off wea....
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What Are Hiring Managers Thinking?
If you're like most job seekers, the hiring process can sometimes make you scratch your head in confusion. For example, how many times have you come across the "perfect" position, quickly submitted your resume and eagerly anticipated the hiring manager's call ... only to hear nothing from the company? Unfortunately, the frustrating reality is that the majority of resumes you submit will elicit little or no response from potential employers. Much of the time, the situation is out of your control: The position may have already been filled by the time you inquired about it or simply wasn't as good a fit as you thought. However, that doesn't mean that there's nothing you can do to improve your odds of being called for an interview. Following is an inside peek into the questions hiring managers ask themselves when evaluating resumes. By understanding potential employer's thought processes, you can craft stronger application materials. Can the applicant fill my need?<.... |
Resumes That Get Interviews
In a job search, your resume plays an important role. It highlights your strengths and qualifications for prospective employers and can entice them to call you for an interview. But when you apply for an opening, your resume could be just one of dozens, or even hundreds. Lacking the time to examine every document in depth, the hiring manager or human resources recruiter may give each resume only a quick once-over. How can you ensure your resume stands out? Using green or pink paper and multicolored ink is one option, but not the best one, since you're likely to come across as unprofessional. Instead, follow these guidelines. Keep it short. Unless you have decades of experience or are applying for a high-level position, keep your resume to one or two pages. To save space -- and impress the hiring manager -- prune anything not germane to the specific job you seek. Leave off personal, biographic details such as you hobbies and the names of your family members.... |
Keeping It Real On Your Résumé
A word to the wise on stretching the truth on résumés: Don't.
Many professionals -- especially those who are just starting their careers -- are tempted to pad their résumés in an attempt to look more impressive to potential employers. The frustration of a long job search has also caused more than a few applicants to embellish their résumés.
But being dishonest about previous positions, qualifications or degrees can quickly land you in hot water. It calls into question your integrity and will quickly eliminate you from consideration.
Many companies perform background and reference checks on prospective employees, and just a small white lie is enough to disqualify someone. It takes only one quick call to a previous boss or a university office of the registrar to uncover a falsehood -- putting an end to your chances of securing the job. If an overstatement is initially overlooked, it could still come back to haunt you, even once you're employed. .... |
How to Identify Your Transferrable Skills
This "finding a career" thing is tricky business. You go to college and major in one thing -- but find yourself in a job opposite from what you spent four years studying. Or, you land a job that's exactly in line with your college major -- but discover it's not what you had in mind. Or even still, you score a gig doing what you love and are content for many years -- until you get bored and want to make a switch. So what happens to the experience you've gained from your current job and those before it? What about the hours, years and dollars spent studying this vocation in school? Do you really have to start at square one if you decide to drastically switch careers? Not at all. Your experience turns into transferable skills; you just have to learn to recognize and sell them to employers. Need help? Here's everything you need to know about identifying, applying and marketing your transferable skills. What are transferable skills? Tra.... |
Six Serious Résumé Blunders
Résumés are tricky: If done well, they can put you in the running for a job; if done poorly, they end up in the hiring manager's recycling bin. They should be easy since you're just talking about yourself. No one knows your work history, qualifications and skills better than you. Unfortunately, they are hard work.
Making years of experience fit on one or two pages is no easy task. Yet, while there is no one way to craft the perfect résumé, there are some moves guaranteed to hurt your job hunt.
Here are some résumé blunders you should avoid at all cost.
1. Forgetting the employer
Although the résumé is about you, it's not for you. After all, if you were the intended audience, you wouldn't bother sending it out. The résumé is meant to show prospective employers why you're the perfect match for the job. They want to see the skills, experience and qualifications mentioned in their job postings. If you have skills th.... |
Tailor Your Résumé Without Starting From Scratch
Job hunts are hard work. Looking through job ads, going on interviews and networking take up a lot of your time. So how can you be expected to do all these things and still rewrite your résumé every time you apply for a job?
Well, you are expected to because generic résumés don't impress anybody and surely won't land you a job.
Luckily, you don't have to start with a blank page each time you want to send out your résumé. The key is to edit and rearrange your existing résumé so that it appeals to the employer and saves you time. To make the process a little easier, we've listed some tips for you.
Keep track of your accomplishments.
Rearranging and editing your qualifications is simple if you keep a running list of your accomplishments and skills as you accrue them.
Keep an updated list of specific work accomplishments and outcomes you've achieved to make targeting your résumé easier, suggests Dave.... |
Don’t Apply Without a Cover Letter
Chances are you went through several drafts of your résumé before you submitted it to a prospective employer. You wrote and rewrote each line several times and had friends, family, even strangers proofread it. But if you send it off without enclosing a cover letter, your hard work may never be seen.
According to a CareerBuilder.com survey, 66 percent of hiring managers prefer a good cover letter attached to a résumé. Think of it as the first chance to stand out in a sea of applicants. Your cover letter, if done well, tells the hiring manager you are qualified for the job and a serious candidate. Perhaps more important is the opportunity to show your personality.
For this reason, many hiring managers discard any résumés that don’t have cover letters. Omitting a cover letter tells the employer that you can’t make the effort to sell yourself and to save him or her some time. Writing a cover letter is an easy way to keep yourself in the game.
Here .... |
10 Most Overused Résumé Phrases
Throughout your career, you’ve accomplished many feats, exceeded several goals and mastered countless skills. Now you’re on yet another job hunt and you can’t remember a lick of any of it.
Such is the importance of keeping your résumé up-to-date, whether you’re looking for a job or not. When you don’t, not only will you forget the important details that’ll help your résumé stand out to employers, but in your rush to submit your application on time you’ll end up using the same words and phrases as everyone else – ruining your chances altogether.
Career experts always advise job seekers to avoid common résumé mistakes, but one grave error often left out of the mix is the overuse of clichés and vague phrases – and perhaps it’s the worst gaffe to commit.
“If a job seeker places overused phrases on his or her résumé, the chances of standing out from other candidates are greatly diminished,” says Kathy Sweeney, a certified professional résumé writer..... |
Successfully Sell Yourself With Your Cover Letter
It is often said that finding a job is a job in itself. But what you may not realize is that it’s a sales job. To win over hiring managers and convince them to invest in the product you’re pitching — you — it’s important to take full advantage of every marketing tool at your disposal.
In recent years, however, some job seekers have hurt their causes by overlooking a key self-promotional document: the cover letter. The majority of applications today are submitted through e-mail. As a result, many candidates forgo the cover letter, offering little more than “Please see attached résumé” instead.
That’s a huge mistake.
While your résumé provides an overview of your professional background, a well-written cover letter allows you to explain in depth the unique skills and qualifications that make you ideal for the role. Following are tips on successfully selling yourself to prospective employers using your cover letter:
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