Resumes and Cover Letters

[defscarlett]

What is the best advice you all have for resumes and cover letters. A new position and promotion opportunity opened up at work and I would love to apply for it. The competition will be very stiff so I'm hoping to put the best foot forward. Any assistance at all will be beneficial.

[koenigtv]

You should customize your cover letter and resume specifically to the job you are applying for. Use as many of the keywords in the position description as possible. Most experts will tell you summarize your professional experience in your cover letter and try to talk up how your experience can contribute to the organization. While I agree with that formula, I would recommend that you keep your cover letter short and concise. Busy hiring managers will rarely read your entire letter while on the other hand most HR managers will - so you have to strike a balance between too long and not detailed enough.

With resumes, again, if it's possible, try to customize your resume to the job description, using keywords and appropriate industry jargon that highlight your experience. As a hiring manager (and professional job seeker) I prefer a functional resume that starts with 3-bullet points that summarize your strengths/professional qualifications, then your most current job and work backwards chronologically. Follow that by training, certifications, special skills and education. When describing your work experience, try to use strong adjectives/verbs to start off your sentence descriptions, for example instead of saying "I did", or "responsible for", try phrases like "effectively managed", "provided leadership", "led","oversaw", "supervised"... You get the idea. Make sure when describing your current job use the present tense and when describing former jobs use the past tense.

If on the other hand you are a recent graduate or have little relevant work experience, again start with 3-bullet points that highlight your strengths, then followed by your education, highlighting relevant course work, GPA or other knowledge relevant to the job. The same principle should be applied when summarizing your job experience. For example, If you worked as a cashier, compare the overall experience with higher function work skills, "managed cash", "maintained inventory", "reconciled receipts", etc.

What ever format you decide on, make sure your resume is formatted properly, organized and visually symmetrical. Avoid fancy fonts, colors, extra large fonts, overuse of bolding and underlining, or graphics (an exception to this rule is possible for creative fields like design, graphic arts, etc.). The most important rule regarding resumes and letters is correct spelling. Triple check your spelling.

It's also nice to have visual consistency with your letter and resume. Same font, same identifying information (name, address, phone, email, etc.), same line spacing.

Other tips that can help you get an interview from your resume and letter is to try to send your materials to the hiring manager. Apply however it is stated in the advertisement (usually to HR) but do a little research, google or call the company operator and try to find out who is the hiring manager. I would not recommend calling the hiring manager directly, as most are too busy to entertain calls and it could possibly leave a bad impression with them. One of the best ways to get your resume to the top is to FedEx your resume to the hiring manager once you know who it is. This bypasses HR and people are "programmed" to immediately open a fedex envelope addressed to them. Obviously you can't do this for every job, but if it's your dream job or an important position you want to be considered for, give it a try. Costs about $15.

Finally, if you have an interview, or any contact with HR or the hiring manager, send a thank you note. An email is fine, but a handwritten or even typed and mailed letter shows that you are professional, have manners, style and proper business etiquette.

[defscarlett]

Thank you. The position is with a company I already work at as a contractor. I have some interaction with the department hiring authority, but will still need to make it through Human Resources to get with him. The other issue is that the job description that is out there is not very good. It's only 3 sentences long. I am familiar with the position because it would be as the supervisor of what I'm currently doing. The stiffest competition will come from the current supervisor, whose position they are splitting in two. I think that he wants the same one that I want.

[defscarlett]

Would someone be willing to look over my resume to give me ideas?

[AlbaTiVo]

I have had good luck using this site to improve the bones of my resume, then using this one to tweak it for a particular posting. I can look at your resume if you like, but what industry are you in? Someone else on the board might be in something similar and offer better feedback and I know some of our members work in HR.

[rebel100]

Happy to take a look, sent you a PM.

I had a similiar situation that I conquered back in January. We all chatted about it here http://www.degreeforum.net/off-topic/207...ideas.html the info on how I presented my resume starts on the second page: "I have put together a small professional dossier on myself, resume, some recent achievements, a couple of letters or reference, some writing samples, and a goals and objectives page. I had 8 copies of it bound up at fed-ex kinkos...I think its spiffy." By taking things up a notch I really did stand out from the other applicants, people still talk about my little "book on me" and ask for help producing something similiar for themselves.