Archive for the ‘Cover Letters’ Category
Learn how to effectively create and use a cover letter to give your resume a greater chance of being read.
Posted by ayeshawrites4u on August 19, 2009
Stepping Up to a Better Career was created to help job seekers nationwide find fulfilling employment by providing advice on resume writing, interviewing, job searching and more. For the past year, I have upheld that goal by creating topics that I felt would be interesting to the 100 loyal readers I have each day.
Now I feel it is time to turn over the reigns. I want to hear your specific questions and concerns and provide you with advice that will aid you in finding fulfilling employment and fast.
Have a question about transitioning careers? Looking for employment while keeping your old job? Networking to find employment? Moving from nonprofit work to the business sector?
Explaining laid-off or fired status? Job searching on the internet? Keeping a job after your company has been bought out or your department is being phased out?
Creating a resume? Formatting a resume? Specific resume samples? Types of resumes?
Following up on an interview? Negotiating your salary? Creating a cover letter?
If you have any questions about your job search…
Contact me! You can choose to comment directly on this blog or you can e-mail me your questions at Resumes@AyeshaWrites4u.com and see your question appear in my next post.
All I ask is that along with your question(s), you send your first name and an e-mail address where I can contact you to let you know that your answer is being posted on the blog.
As always, good luck on your job search.
Ayesha Long
www.AyeshaWrites4u.com
Posted in Business Sense, Career Consulting, Cover Letters, Employment, Finance, Job Search, Job Searching & The Internet, Laid Off, Networking 101, Resume Formats, Resume Writer, Resumes, Social Media | Tagged: being fired, budget, budget crisis, combination resume, company acquisitions, company buy out, cover letter, effective job search, employee, Employment, finding a job, finding jobs, functional resume, good resumes, how to write a resume, how to write resumes, interviews, job, job change, job loss, job search, job searching, jobs, keeping jobs, laid-off, lay-offs, looking for a job, moonlighting, networking, new york state, professional resume, professional resume writer, professional resume writers, professional resumes, resume, resume format, resume samples, resume writer, resume writers, resume writing, resumes, unemployment, working | Leave a Comment »
Posted by ayeshawrites4u on July 20, 2009
Any serious job candidate must accompany his resume with a cover letter. This letter is your way of introducing yourself to the Hiring Manager. If done correctly, it is the impetus to encourage the manager to continue on to your resume and to begin considering you as a qualifed candidate. No one has ever gotten hired on their cover letter alone, yet it is still an essential tool to your job search.
So what makes for a successful cover letter?
- Sending it to the right person. To avoid your resume being handled by gatekeepers, always address your cover letter to the person responsible for hiring. To find out the name of the person hiring, simply call the company and ask. If they say that the information is unavailable, then address it to the person’s title. For example, Dear Hiring Manager or Dear Department Chair.
- Giving the job information. Always let the employer know to which job you are applying and how you found out about the position. Sometimes this knowledge can be from a website or classified ad, but the best results are through networking (see Importance of Networking).
- Keeping it short. Employers can receive hundreds of replies to one job opening – so you want your cover letter to be an quick read. Three to five paragraphs is sufficient and it should definitely be no longer than a page.
- Using bullets. While we all know that bullets make a resume easy to read, few people actually apply the same concept to their cover letters. Using bullets to pinpoint your skills and accomplishments in relation to the job you are applying will make it easy to scan your cover letter.
- Avoiding repetition. While your cover letter and resume are all about the same jobs and qualities you have as an employer, they should not be redundant. Find different ways of showcasing your accomplishments without using the exact same wording and terminology as your resume. Otherwise the employer will get to your resume, feel as if you have nothing new to say, and dismiss you as a serious candidate.
Remember, the number one rule to any job search tool is to keep your focus on the employer’s needs. Ask yourself what would I want from a candidate working in this position and how can I showcase my talents and skills to indicate that I am the perfect fit? Oftentimes, networking and the classified job descriptions are indicators of which qualities are most important to an employer.
Customize your cover letter to match these descriptions and you have the makings of a successful cover letter and job search. Failure to customize your cover letters could result in failure to getting a job.
As always, good luck on your job search.
Sincerely,
Ayesha Long
www.AyeshaWrites4u.com
Stepping Up to a Better Career with Professional Resume Services
*** Be sure to go to Ayesha Writes 4 You’s website and schedule your Free Resume Consultation. From now until August 15th, you can get 15% off any resume package. So go to www.AyeshaWrites4u.com to get started now!
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Posted in Cover Letters, Employment, Job Search | Tagged: cover letter, cover letters, effective job search, employee, employees, Employment, finding a job, good cover letters, how to write a cover letter, how to write a good cover letter, job search, job searching, jobs, looking for a job, unemployment, working | Leave a Comment »
Posted by ayeshawrites4u on October 14, 2008
Okay, that’s an exaggeration. But what is not an exaggeration is that without a cover letter, you are in steep trouble. Your cover letter is the icing on the cake. It has to look delectable before anyone even decides to see what’s on the inside. Of course, in this overly used analogy, the inside of the cake is the resume. So how many flavored icings does one need?
Typically job searchers should have 3 formatted cover letters. They are as follows:
- The inside contact cover letter to show you have a working knowledge of the corporation and you know a reputable, hard-working employee for the company. In this cover letter, you have to use the name of the contact and explain a litle bit about why you are interested in the company.
- The advertisement cover letter to explain that you have seen a posting on the internet or newspaper and am looking to respond to the ad because it’s caught your eye. In this cover letter, you have to be sure to include the title of the advertising, date posted, and be sure you’re skills directly correspond to whatever’s been posted .
- The inquiry cover letter is when you really want to work for a company but have not seen any postings for openings. In this case, you send a letter inquiring about a job or any openings. Even though this does resemble solicitation, many employers enjoy employees with initiative and even if there are no immediate openings, you can rest assured you’ll be on their mind when an opening does present itself.
As always, good luck with the job search.
Ayesha Long
President of Marketing
Ayesha Writes 4 You
Posted in Cover Letters | Tagged: cover letter, cover letter format, job search | 1 Comment »
Posted by ayeshawrites4u on July 28, 2008
I like to think of resumes as magazine ads – they have to be polished, quick to the point, and make a great sale!
Well, if resumes are like magazine ads, then cover letters are the magazines themselves. They have to have just the write wording and appearance to make people want to open the magazine in the first place. If your cover letter lacks pizzazz and doesn’t get an employer excited about you, then that great resume you’ve spent hours on will get you no where. IT WILL NEVER GET READ.
Cover Letters should be written with the same mentality as your resume. It should be written with the employer in mind. Therefore you have to make sure your qualifications shine through and tells an employer, “I am the perfect match for the position YOU posted”. Do not make the mistake of sending out the same generic cover letter for every position you apply.
Instead, read the job description and if there is anything you feel you can add to your cover letter to show you are more qualified…ADD IT. You are fit to get the position, you just have to prove it to your future employer.
If you still need help, visit www.AyeshaWrites4u.com to learn more.
Posted in Cover Letters, Resume Writer | Tagged: cover letter, importance of cover letters, writing a cover letter | Leave a Comment »
