Grab Attention with a Compelling Cover Letter -

Grab Attention with a Compelling Cover Letter -A resume is obviously a crucial part of a job application. It highlights your previous job, key accomplishments, and education. But before you can get a potential employer to give your resume a close look, you have to impress them with your titelbild letter. A titel letter is important for a number of reasons, and it deserves as much careful attention as you give your resume.Customize Your Cover LetterEven if you are applying for a number of jobs that all landseem the saatkorn, the companies are not the same. And, inevitably, each positioneven if for the same job titlewill have some different responsibilities or phrasing included in the job description. Your titel letter needs to reflect that you have read, and read carefully, the description for the job you are applying for.You also need to customize your letter for the company that you are applying to. Is one of the positions youre interested in with an environmentally conscious compan y? If thats why the company caught your eye, mention that in the titel letter and mention your volunteer work with a green organization here. If thats not a part of another companys mission or focus, dont leave that in there. Find another hook about why you are applying there.When it comes to cover letters, one size does not fit all, and a cover letter that speaks directly to the position and to the company that you are applying to will platzset you apart from the other applicants who have clearly just copied and pasted the same one over and over for multiple applications. A key giveaway that youre copying and pasting? Using To Whom It May Concern as the greeting. If the name of the person to whom it should be addressed is in the job announcement, including it becomes crucially important to show that you really are paying attention and have an interest in the position. If there is not a name listed, do your extra research and show the company that you cared enough to look at their website and find the contact name. With Google, its pretty easy to find the name of a human resources manager or other supervisors of a company department that you should address a cover letter to. Start with this simple step, and youll already be ahead of the game when it comes to your cover letter.Its time-consuming to customize cover letters, but when you land the job you want, it will have paid off.Make It UniqueNo, Im not talking about adding stickers or glitter to make your cover letter unique. Im talking about making it unique from your resume. Your cover letter offers you an additional opportunity to discuss your qualifications and your interest in the position. Use the cover letter to point out some of your major accomplishments and how they apply to the position you are applying for. You wont be able to fit all of your accomplishments, or even skills, on your resume, so use the cover letter to point out the most important and catch the hiring managers attention. In doing s o, you will be encouraging them to take a closer look at your resume.If your cover letter says exactly the same thing as your resume, then you are wasting an opportunity to share more information that could help secure your chances at landing a job.Focus on the CompanyWhile you are laying out your skills and your past experience, always link back to how they can help the company you are applying to. In your resume, you will just be listing out what you have done. It is in your cover letter where you can say why it matters.Saying why you are great and listing out how many wonderful things you have done certainly sets you apart, but it doesnt tell a hiring manager why you are beneficial to them and to their company. Dont make them guess at it say it outright. This will save them time, it will make sure you are getting your message across, and it will demonstrate that you are applying because you care about devoting your energy and skills to the company and not just talking about your own achievements and ambitions.Make It PerfectIn this age of spellcheck and Grammarly, there is simply no excuse for a cover letter (or a resume) to have a single typo or error in it. That said, it is amazing how many people still have errors in their cover letter. Spellcheck and Grammarly are great, but they arent perfect. Have a trusted friend or your local career center look over your cover letter before you send it in. They may spot something a computer program didnt, or be able to suggest a stronger way to word a sentence that will help you stand apart even more.Even things like misspelling an address or putting the date wrong (how many of us put the year wrong all the way through March?) can harm your chances of getting a job. In every job, details are important. Potential employers are looking at every detail of your cover letter as they decide whether to move forward with the kontrolle process.ConclusionYes, it may seem like a pain to draft up many different cover letters. Start with one template, and adjust it for every individual job that you are applying for. Your cover letter is your first impression with a company, and you need to show that you are interested in the company and that they should be interested in you. Think of your cover letter as your why and your resume as your what.Keep your cover letter briefno more than a pagebut make it interesting enough that the reader cant wait to move on to your resume to see what more you can bring to the company.Give your cover letter plenty of attention while you are putting together your applications. A resume is crucial, but a cover letter can make or break whether or not a potential employer gives it a glance or carefully studies it. You wouldnt show up to an interview in a wrinkled shirt, so dont throw together a sloppy cover letter. First impressions matter.Are you tired of your resume being rejected by applicant tracking systems? I know how frustrating it is to submit your resume and receive no r esponse. I hate seeing qualified people never breakthrough the screening process. It shouldnt be that way. Thats why I created this guide and I encourage you to download the FREE PDF so you can start seeing better resume response rates

Resume Style Resume Format, Length and Fonts

Resume Style Resume Format, Length and Fonts Resume PresentationWriting a resume is like exercising You may notlage look forward to it, but you feel better once its done. And like the results of a good workout, a well-presented resume can help you keep your career in shape.But when writing a resume, what works and what doesnt? We thought wed turn to Monster members like you for advice. Here are some tips from both job seekers who write resumes and hiring professionals who read them for a living. Keep in mind that like resumes, opinions can vary -- what works for one person may not work for you.Title and ObjectiveA strong, descriptive resume title will help you stand out in a sea of resumes. Titling your resume Joes do-it-all resume or 1975 hottie looking for a job resume gets your resume passed over by a busy recruiter, says one Monster member who should know -- hes a recruiter himself. Make the title useful. For instance, Nursing Director, Pediatrics Labor and Delivery or IT Telecom Project Manager, Microsoft and Cisco Certified or Enterprise Software Sales Manager, Life Sciences -- enough with the stupid titles we dismiss and make fun of. This is your career were talking about.And an objective must get an employers attention quickly or it wont get any attention at all, says a district manager for a wireless company. I receive hundreds of resumes on a monthly basis, he says. Two-thirds of the resumes are rejected due to the applicant having no clear objective in seeking employment with my company. Your resume must grab my attention within the first few words of the objective. It must be clearly written and relevant to the lage you are applying for. Take a little extra time and customize the objective to the position you are seeking. If you cannot sell yourself with your resume, you might not have the opportunity to sell yourself at an interview.Look and FeelAs for typeface, you had definite opinions. Dont use Times New Roman font, advises one seeker. Your resu me will look like everyone elses. Georgia and Tahoma are both different, professional and pleasant to look at.But another job seekers font advice is more practical Use Times New Roman or Arial Narrow instead of other wider fonts to keep your resume to only one (or two) pages and save paper.Monster Resume Expert Kim Isaacs recommends using a standard Microsoft Word-installed font so the layout will be consistent when an employer opens your resume. No matter what font you use, she suggests you stick with one per resume. Also, the type should be large enough to be read on screen without causing eye fatigue, she says.For the hard copy of your resume, make sure you invest in good paper stock, says one HR professional who has also composed and drafted resumes for professional clients. Before our prospective employer even takes one glance at our resume, there is something they do first, and that is FEEL it, she says. Having handled nearly hundreds of resumes each week, I think most people would be amazed how much notice you can get with a resume on good-quality paper. Sometimes it is not even a conscious thought, just as you shuffle stacks of resumes from here to there, making all the appropriate piles to serve your needs, you always tend to linger just a little longer over that one resume with paper that feels a little heavier, like the cotton/linen blends or the one that feels just slightly different than normal, like the parchments. You can double the effect if you choose good-quality paper in a professional color other than white.LengthWhen President Lincoln was asked how long a mans legs should be, he said they should be able to reach from a mans body to the floor. Likewise, your resume should be long enough to sell you properly without overstating your accomplishments.But of course, you had opinions on this, too. The consensus on resume length is simple Keep it short. There are exceptions, though. Never exceed one page, unless you have 15-plus years of experien ce and are applying for a job in upper management, advises one job seeker. Make sure that your resume remains one page and formatted properly, even when viewed in different formats and different views -- if someone opens your resume in a view other than the one you created it in and sees a hanging line, it looks unprofessional.Style and GrammarFinally, it may seem like grade-school advice, but it bears repeating Although I try to counsel people on how to write a raving resume and an awesome cover letter, Im consistently shocked at how many resumes and cover letters I receive from people that are plagued with misspelled words, grammatical mistakes and basically little or no time spent proofreading prior to sending, says one Monster member whos been in the staffing industry for 15-plus years. In an era when competition seems to be one of an applicants worst enemies, it seems that one would want to do everything possible to stand out in the crowd. Trust me I wont give a second thought to deleting a resume and/or cover letter that is fraught with mistakes.