Posted by ResumeHelp on January 5, 2010
It is astonishing how many recruiters say they receive resumes and cover letters filled with spelling errors. A spelling slip-up, even a minor one, says more about you than the most articulate choice of words. For instance, is it “too” or “to”? Did you write “it’s” or “its”? Just those two words alone count for a lot of mistakes.
Get as many people to proof and edit your resume and cover letter as possible. You can never have too many eyes. The corporate content manager of a large instrument company says she sees a lot of spelling and grammatical errors. Once she sees a mistake she won’t read any further. She is not alone. When asked about the worst resumes and cover letters they have ever received, those that read them can come up with some hilarious shockers. How about the person applying to work at ExxonMobil? Nice resume, great cover letter, but he spelled the company’s name Exxon Mobile. There goes that job prospect.
While such big blunders are not that common, many people do make simple mistakes that could be easily avoided.
The top four common mistakes are:
Spelling and grammar are at the top of the list, probably because people rely too much on spell check. Spell check is a useful tool, but you also need several sets of eyeballs to catch everything. Spell check doesn’t check the context and use of words—your or you’re, four or for?
Repeating verbatim what’s in your resume on your cover letter
Forgetting to replace a company name when cutting and pasting parts of a letter
Carelessness — “I’d like to work for your company” (and the organization is a non-profit or government agency) or “I read your ad in the Philadelphia Inquirer” and it was run in another publication.
To make your way through the maze of errors that inevitably pop up, follow these simple steps:
Find people who will critically read each resume and cover letter you write for the content as well as the details. You might not notice that a period is missing from a sentence or an indentation that should be there isn’t. A reader hunting for errors will find them.
Read your resume and cover letter backwards from the bottom up, word by word. It sounds silly, but doing so allows you to see errors you would probably gloss over reading it from the top down.
Read the resume and cover letter aloud to find words that don’t make sense or aren’t meaningful. If you still are not satisfied with how it reads then it is a good idea to have a professional resume writer review it. This can make all the difference in getting the job of your dreams or getting passed over (again). Resume Edge is the best company in this field!
If you send a resume or cover letter to several companies, highlight each specific change so you make sure not to send Company A’s letter to Company B.
Finally, if you send a resume and cover letter via e-mail, stick it in the draft folder for an hour and then read it again before actually sending it. However sending something this important email is not recommended.
Posted by ResumeHelp on October 22, 2009
Job Seekers who believe that they have an ideal educational background and job experience for a particular job, when later find out that another applicant has been selected, should know that they are not alone. Even with a perfect resume, excellent skills set and brilliant interview talent, things can go twisted.
This article contains some of the basic reasons of why job seekers miss out on good job opportunities. We have also included some key solutions that will help our job seekers minimize their chances of losing one of their dream jobs.
1. Importance of a Cover Letter
A well-presented Cover Letter definitely creates a good impression on the employers. Getting the basics right, easily makes a difference and allows an application to stand out in the competition. The cover letter is your first sales pitch to a potential employer. A good one introduces you to the employer and explains why you are superior among other candidates applying for the same job.
2. Make Your Resume Precise and Attractive
We have all read novels and stories that take forever to get going, which insists on recounting every single insignificant detail of the central character’s existence before finally getting to the heart of the account. This is not a luxury affordable for your resume. First impression really matters! Your resume is a marketing document, and hence, must attract the readers’ attention.
3. Shortage of Time at the Employers’ End
Employers get to see loads and loads of resumes during their recruitment period. Applicants can make the employers’ life easier by keeping their resumes’ content short and accurate. It is essential that you set fire to the readers’ attention in the very beginning or within thirty seconds/less.
4. Incorrect English
Why risk a dream job on poor English writing? Only job applications written in grammatically correct and fine English are given importance by busy employers. The rest go to the bin.
You might be well-qualified and perfect for a particular job, but the employer may disqualify you if your resume contains incorrect sentences and wrong use of vocabulary. We can’t stress enough just how important this is. Don’t depend on the spell checker because they miss grammatical mistakes.
5. Proof Reading
Nothing looks worse on a job application than spelling errors. It shows that you didn’t take enough care or time to look over your application. Spelling errors can result in depicting your wrong impression on an employer. Check and recheck your curriculum for spelling and grammatical errors prior to sending it off to the employers. Small catches make a big (and bad) impression, silently implying that you are careless, linguistically challenged, or both.
6. Highlight Your Achievements
You need to highlight your achievements. Remember your resume is your sales document, if it does not say clearly and unequivocally why you should be employed then it has failed.
An employer will only want to hire you if they can see a benefit in it for themselves. So, do tell them that you are beneficial for the company.
Listing your achievements in your resume can also benefit you, in case the employer you have applied for uses some application to filter candidates from his resume database. Such applications are useful for employers, as they can filter candidates using their desired keywords. Honing your Interview skills can help also. You may have the best resume in the world yet fail with the interview. If you need help interviewing, here’s where to get help.
Reprint from http://blog.rozee.pk
Posted by ResumeHelp on November 28, 2008
Today’s economic news may be gloom and doom but it needn’t derail your job hunt. You can still win a great job, even in a lousy economy. You WILL have to get smarter in your job search strategy, though.
Here are 5 tips to incorporate into your job search approach during the recession:
1. Research Your Options
Does your industry or line of work offer little promise of employment in the coming months? If so, now is a good time to step back to identify the projected top performing industries and jobs. The best place to find this info is on the web through Google or Yahoo. Start with “best industries work recession” or “recession jobs 2008″ to uncover articles describing some of the more “recession-proof” sectors to target.
2. Change Your Focus
Start asking yourself the question, “What’s in it for them?” as opposed to, “What’s in it for me?” Especially in an economic downturn, you’ll want to stay focused on what you can accomplish for your next employer. Show them that you understand the macroeconomic “bigger picture” of the role you play in moving the company forward.
3. Sell Results, Not Skills
Leave behind that old mindset that your job-related skills or length of service are selling factors. The new mindset is to think of yourself as a mini profit-and-loss center rather than just an employee. Employers today buy results and are less impressed with candidates promoting a long laundry list of skills. You’ll want to define the many ways your past and present job performance are assets to your next employer.
4. Start Talking Money
The recession has made the private sector economy even more bottom-line oriented than ever. Hiring managers categorize employees into one of two distinct groups:
- those who help make money
- those who help save money.
Which One Are You?
For example, Barry worked as the human resources manager of a mid-sized company. While much of his work focused on compliance issues, he noticed that the company was paying many thousands of dollars to locate and hire good employees. As a result, Barry developed and implemented an in-house employee referral program that netted three quality hires in a six-month period. This saved the company almost $70,000 that the company would have paid for recruiters and advertising costs.
Barry saves money for his company and this is an accomplishment future employers will want to hear about.
Rethink your current or past job to understand your position in the bigger corporate P&L picture. Here are some questions to ask yourself:
- How did my work improve the performance of my department or company?
- How many roles did I perform that saved the company the expense of added employees or contractors?
- How has my work made the work of others (employees and managers) easier, faster and more effective?
Collect specific examples of the benefits that your company gained from the work you’ve already performed. Clarify the specific benefit your company received by making money or saving money, and write them down.
5. Add Achievements to Your Resume
Employers don’t hire employees, they hire problem-solvers. Your new resume should be a hard-hitting sales tool designed to accomplish one goal: get the interview. To demonstrate this, add a specific achievements list to your resume. Take the list that you developed in the previous section and hone it down to your biggest and most notable accomplishments. Now, describe the benefit that your employer gained from each example. This will put you several steps ahead of your job-seeking competitors. Plus, you’ll now have some talking points ready for that next phone interview.
Summary
Don’t let all the hype about the recession spook you into a state of panic. By revising your tactics to include a more solution-selling approach to employers, you stand a better chance of getting hired in today’s faltering economy.
Authors Bio
As a recruiter, Joe Turner has spent the past 15 years finding and placing top candidates in some of the best jobs of their careers. Author of “Job Search Secrets Unlocked” and “Paycheck 911,” Joe has interviewed on radio talk shows and offers free insider job search secrets at: http://www.jobchangesecrets.com.
