How to Block Stress--Before the Interview
Just the thought of an interview can set your heart a-thumping. Even the word itself--interview--can bring on cold hands and stomach jitters. When you enter the office and face the employer you may have yet another outbreak of stress--fuzzy thinking and nervous chatter--all of which can result in losing the opportunity to make a good first impression toward landing the job.
So what can you do to rid yourself of these unwanted behaviors? How can you appear calm, cool, and collected, and at your best?
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Posted by Sarah Ennenga on May 15, 2008 at 10:45 AM | Leave a Comment (0)
Using Your Cover Letter to Turn Weaknesses into Strengths
When applying for a new job, it can sometimes be difficult to explain a huge gap in employment, or lack of relevant employment, when all you have is your resume to do the talking. This is why it is recommended that you include a cover letter with your resume.
But what can a cover letter do for you? It can give the prospective employer insight into who you are as a person, as well as why you want to work for their company. And it can also give you the opportunity to turn what may look like weaknesses on your resume into strengths. Let's look at a few ways this can be accomplished.
Focus on Your Special Skills
If you don't have a lot of jobs to list on your resume, but you do have relevant skills that you've acquired over the years, you can use your cover letter to explain what looks to be a lack of experience. A great way to get started is by creating a list of skills you've developed that match the company's job posting, mission and culture. Next you can use the cover letter to explain how those skills can enhance the company.
For example, you may be an expert typist capable of accurately typing 80 WPM, which is perfect for the data entry position you're interested in. The only drawback is that you didn't gain your expertise from your last 20 years as a housewife and part-time babysitter. Instead, you picked it up while volunteering as your church's secretary over the past decade. In this case, you can use your cover letter to highlight this skill and turn around what might be perceived as a lack of job experience.
Hobbies Are Not Off-Limits
Many people have hobbies that they spend a lot of time focusing on and eventually want to turn into careers. For example, you may love to work on computers and have expertise with both hardware and software applications, which has nothing to do with your string of jobs working in factories.
You decide that you are interested in applying for a position with a small start-up company that needs an entry-level IT technician. You know you're perfect for it but don't know how to prove it. That is, until you remember that you keep up with all of the technology, have taken some classes at a local college, and have years of experience fixing computers in your community. By explaining all of this in your cover letter, you have a chance to showcase the experience you've gained.
Keep Your Explanations Simple
While you want to use your cover letter to fill in gaps in your job history, you don't want the employer to spend too much time thinking about the possibility of you being a weak candidate. So instead of spending a lot of time explaining why your skills and hobbies are stellar, it is a good idea to instead keep this part as brief as you would in any other cover letter.
Having gaps in your work history doesn't have to define your capabilities as an employee. So try using your cover letter to highlight your special skills. You might be surprised by the success that follows.
Heather Eagar is a former professional resume writer and owner of http://www.ResumeLines.com who is now dedicated to providing job seekers with resources and products that promote job search success from beginning to end.
Posted by Heather Eagar on May 15, 2008 at 8:08 AM | Leave a Comment (0)
Four Cover Letter Secrets To Get YOU The Job Interview!
Dear Job Hunter:
Have you ever asked questions like these?
"May I have a chocolate ice cream sundae, please?"
"Are you free for lunch tomorrow?"
"Can you give me a hand moving my desk?"
"Will you loan me a few dollars till payday?"
Life is filled with such mundane questions. In order to get what we need and want we must ask for it--whether it's a snack, a date, an extra hand. Yet, when it comes to including in a cover letter, the all-important request for a job interview, some job-seekers shy away from asking, "May I meet you to discuss the opening for restaurant manager (or whatever the position may be)?" or "May I come to your office for an interview?"
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Posted by Sarah Ennenga on May 9, 2008 at 6:37 PM | Leave a Comment (0)
Bait Your Resume
Yuck! Why would you want to bait your resume?
Do you want your resume reader to have a desire to learn more about you? Do you want your resume's reader to see that you're something special, unique, extraordinary, a "must have on my team" player?
Or do you want your resume to look like the hundreds, maybe thousands of other resumes that your employer sees?
Most resume writers and recruiters will encourage you to leave no questions unanswered on your resume, so you look prepared. And most job seekers follow this advice. Sadly, it doesn't work well.
I disagree with that old school advice. I guess it works if you want to look like all the applicants. But who can afford to be average, when you are competing with large numbers for just one job?
Today, you've gotta stand out. Be different.
Bait makes you different.
So what's bait, and how can I get some? I'm not referring to nightcrawlers, minnows, Pillsbury dough, or anything else fish eat.
Bait is a statement that causes your reader to want to know more - and has to talk to you to find out more. A statement where you tell part of the story - the sizzle. But you've 'forgotten' to tell how you got the sizzle.
If you tell an employer that you solved their problem, BUT DON'T TELL THEM HOW YOU DID IT....don't you think they'd want to talk to you, to hear how you slayed their personal dragon?
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Posted by Candice Arnold on May 9, 2008 at 11:05 AM | Leave a Comment (0)
Creating the Right Resume for the Right Job
So you've recently started searching for jobs in your field and have discovered an opening that matches your qualifications and career goals to a tee. The only problem is that you're not sure how to create a specific resume for this job.
Don't be discouraged if you feel this way. In all honesty, you are probably already one step ahead of those who believe that updating a resume is accomplished by adding the most recent employment/school/skill information where appropriate, saving the changes, and sending it on its way. Of course, you'll need to dig deeper to create a great job-specific resume. So let's look at a few ways you can get this done.
Study the Job Posting for Keywords
One great way to make the prospective employer feel that you are truly qualified for the position is by studying their job posting. By doing this you can find company-specific skills, job titles, jargon, certifications, and other keywords to be included in your resume.
For example, if you are applying for a position in healthcare, you might notice words like "imaging" and "pharma" show up in the job posting. It is a good idea to add these and other relevant words to your resume because they apply widely to the field. Likewise, if you're in marketing, you might find words like "branding," "campaigns," and "trade shows" within the posting. These are also relevant and can be included to populate your resume with great keywords.
Visit the Company's Website
Once you've studied the job posting for relevant keywords to use in your resume, it is a good idea to visit the company's website. There you can learn even more about how the company's goals can fit in with your specific career goals.
Some important information to look for on the website includes the company's values, mission statement, and even their organizational culture. This information can help you better describe who you are, what you're looking for, and how you think you can enhance their business with your skills and personality.
Strategically Combine Action Words and Keywords
Using action words in your job-specific resume is just as important as incorporating the keywords you've found through the job posting and website. In fact, the action words and keywords work together in your resume to create a picture of the type of employee you are likely to be.
For example, if you were responsible for the success of a major ad campaign at your previous employer then try to describe it by saying that you "developed and executed an intense 9-month ad campaign with the marketing team that resulted in a $1.2 million year-end profit increase." The action words in this example were "developed" and "executed" and the keywords were "ad campaign" and "marketing team." Using these action words along with others like created, planned, organized, recommended, advised, and trained - and of course your relevant keywords - will help you write a great job-specific resume.
Creating the right resume for the right job can result in you securing the position of your dreams. So take your time, do your research, and most importantly, have a good time writing a great job-specific resume.
Heather Eagar is a former professional resume writer and owner of http://www.ResumeLines.com who is now dedicated to providing job seekers with resources and products that promote job search success from beginning to end.
Posted by Heather Eagar on May 8, 2008 at 2:02 PM | Leave a Comment (0)
The STAND-OUT Resume
Standing out from the crowd can be a good thing or a bad thing - it depends. Take the ongoing saga of Britney Spears - she certainly stands out in the highly populated celebrity arena but not necessarily with positive spin. Contrast that with Oprah and her mission of giving back - her personal brand consistently conveys caring for others and integrity.
In the crowded job search and careers arena, your resume can also stand out - for better or for worse. In fact, Seth Godin's post "Why bother having a resume?" captured the potential employer's frustration with the overwhelming lack of resume quality. While I do not agree with Seth about totally eliminating resumes (HR folks do still expect to see such a document and application systems are currently set up around collecting and screening resumes), I DO agree that your most critical self-marketing piece (your resume) had better be remarkable.
To learn more about creating a STAND-OUT Resume that will create positive traction for your job search, sign up for this complimentary webinar 3 Steps to a STAND-OUT Resume that I am presenting on Thursday, May 8th at 1:00PM ET for the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and The Center for Association Leadership. You'd best hurry as I hear the 200-seat webinar is filling up fast!
By Susan Guarneri and courtesy of CareerHub.com. The Career Hub blog connects job seekers with experts in career counseling, resume writing, personal branding and recruiting.
Posted by Candice Arnold on May 8, 2008 at 8:23 AM | Leave a Comment (0)
Do You Create Employer Value?
Do You Create Employer Value? Or do you just take up space?
Employers today have problems that need solutions. That's why they hire staff, because their problems require too much manpower or specialized knowledge for the hiring manager to solve on their own.
What kinds of problems you ask? Problems reaching sales goals, or expanded sales forecasts, problems lowering costs, problems increasing production, labor problems, tax problems, technology problems, getting goods & services to market problems, making that great idea into a better mousetrap problems - those kinds of problems.
Candidates that clearly demonstrate how they can help solve employer problems create value, and are aggressively recruited. Candidates that don't demonstrate a track record of solving specific problems end up with a long job search and either unemployed or underemployed.
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Posted by Candice Arnold on May 5, 2008 at 12:07 PM | Leave a Comment (0)
