Resume and Cover Letter Guide

Cover Letter Guide


How to Create Resumes a Cover Letters that works

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/coverletters/a/coverletters.htm


Ten Tips for a winning resume

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/resumetips/a/tenresumetips.htm

Ten Resume Writing Tips

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/resumetips/tp/resumetips.htm

In addition to sending cover letters and thank-you notes, recruiters say there are also small tweaks you can make to your résumé to help it stand out. The following catches their eye most:

Bulleted list of accomplishments (51 percent)
Career summary at the top (40 percent)
Relevant keywords (39 percent)
Résumé that is customized to the open position (36 percent)

Cover letter

Your cover letter is the first impression you give to a potential employer. This is where you convince human resources they need you. Remember these three things when creating a cover letter:

It should expand on, not just reiterate, the most relevant skills and experiences from your résumé.

It should be employer focused. While it’s important to state why you are interested in the position, your cover letter should demonstrate how you can help the company by working there, not how landing the job will advance your career goals.

Do some research on the company before you write your cover letter. Then, incorporate that research by telling the employer how your experience supports the company’s mission statement or a new business initiative.

Résumé

Your résumé can be a little trickier, because it might not only be a human eye that you’re trying to catch. Companies both large and small are using keyword-search software in their hiring processes these days, so it’s important to make sure you always send out a search-ready résumé by incorporating keywords from the job description.

Also, focus on bulleting accomplishments instead of just job duties. Highlight how you saved previous companies time or money, or new ideas you had that the company implemented. The more quantifiable results you can emphasize, the better.

Finally, ditch the résumé objective in favor of a summary of your work experience. Objectives focus too much on what you hope to gain from the job, not what you can offer the company.

Thank-you note

According to the CareerBuilder survey, more than one-in-five hiring managers said they are less-likely to hire a candidate who doesn’t send a thank-you note, so don’t take any chances by neglecting this small but important step.

You may feel like you’re being repetitive, but use the thank-you note to restate your enthusiasm about the job and your qualifications for the position. Also, be sure to cover all your bases. If you interviewed with more than one hiring manager, send a thank-you note to each person.

Last but not least, says Haefner, be professional and concise in all of your correspondences. “One-in-five hiring managers say they spend 30 seconds or less looking at a résumé, so all your communications need to be professional and to the point,” she says.