Before an employer agrees to an interview, they need to be convinced that you are a great candidate for the position. This is where your resume is an essential marketing tool. It demonstrates to an employer your skills, experience and writing ability. Make sure your spelling and grammar are impeccable.
You should be creative, bold and humorous in your Cover Letter, but always be yourself. Nothing impresses an employer more than your knowledge of them or the company. Try and key in on something that will make your cover letter stand out; find some pertinent information about the company. Of course you only want to focus on the positive.
Employers use the resume process to narrow their selection. They will choose the best of the best as perceived by what is in your resume. Your resume is your only initial sales tool to impress the employer enough to give you an interview. As the bad cliché goes – You can only make a first impression once.
It’s important that your resume be as strong and positive as possible. A poorly organized and haphazardly written resume demonstrates to the employer that you are not serious about yourself, and if you are not serious about yourself, you are probably not going to be an asset to the company.
The questions that are going through the minds of employer are:
• Can you solve problems?
• What are your strengths weaknesses?
• What are the benefits of hiring you over someone else?
• How will you fit into the company?
• Will you have a strong commitment to your job?
• How independent are you can you be a team player?
• Are you a fast learner?
Don’t forget to do your homework about the company, its history, its goals, products, etc. You can apply this information and dramatically stand out with a creative cover letter! Find information about the company by reading the company’s website, brochures, do a Google search, and look at competitors. There’s tons of good information out there if you look.
If you submit a boilerplate cover letter and boring resume, you find yourself at the bottom of the resume pile.
Tags: Brochures, Cover Letter, Essential Marketing, First Impression, Google, Google Search, Homework, Independent, Initial Sales, job, Knowledge, Marketing Tool, Resume Sales, Sales Tool, Spelling And Grammar, Strong Commitment, Team Player, What Are Your Strengths Weaknesses
Here’s a tip for cover letters to get more interviews. Use a bulleted format cover letter rather than a standard letter in paragraphs. The bulleted format is more eye catching, and is more likely to be glanced at by the hiring manager or other person assigned to sort through resumes. This format will help you get your resume seen by more people and as a result get more interviews and more job offers.
If you follow this advice and decide to use the bulleted format, make sure that each bullet point specifies a reason for the hiring manager to talk with you. This reason can be your number of years experience, your education, a personality trait that you have, or an accomplishment.
Examples of bulleted points would be:
• Over 20 years experience in Human Resource Management.
Or…
• Outstanding work ethic. Lead by example.
Or…
• Master of Science in Education. Currently enrolled in Doctorate program.
Or…
• Saved last employer $30,000 in revenue through modernization of accounting system.
Or…
• Increased sales by 25% last quarter.
This bulleted format allows you to toot your own horn, but in a way that does not seem egotistical because it is obviously part of a resume package.
Another tip that will increase the readability of your cover letter is to use bold faced fonts on occasion to emphasize points you want read. Bold face catches the eye, and is a common device used by graphic designers in advertising copy. Your resume and cover letter are marketing tools for you, just as a print media advertising piece is a marketing tool for a business. Consider using bold face as tip from the Fortune 500 ad agencies that you can use without charge.
The next piece of advice to consider concerns the final paragraph of the letter, and will help you in your follow up efforts. When following up often times the hardest thing to do is to get past the gatekeeper. The secretary or administrative assistant that screens calls for his or her boss has an important job to do, but so do you, and reaching the decision maker will make you look good. The gatekeeper will try to stop you if the decision maker is busy—after all, he has better things to do with his time than speak with job seekers. So, in the final paragraph of your letter, before the “sincerely” and your name, simply state “I will call you next week to check on a convenient time to speak with you in person.” You’ve told the hiring manager you will be calling. Logically he should be expecting your call. For this reason you may tell the gatekeeper that ” Mr. HR Manager is expecting my call this week.” This will increase your chances of getting through, and of getting the interview. This tip is a variation on techniques that good business-to-business sales people use, and will work for you as well, bringing you more interviews and more job offers.
Tags: Accounting System, Bold Face, Bullet Point, Bulleted Points, Cover Letter, Cover Letters, Doctorate Program, Fortune 500, Gatekeeper, get that job, Getting A Job, Graphic Designers, Hardest Thing, Hiring Manager, Human Resource Management, Increased Sales, Marketing Tool, Marketing Tools, Master Of Science, Personality Trait, Piece Of Advice, Print Media Advertising, Toot Your Own Horn, Work Ethic
