Cover letters can be referred to as the sales copy of the job seeker. They are used by employers as a means to separate candidates based on their communication skills and past accomplishments. Job seekers should use resume cover letters as a way to promote themselves and to start a dialogue with a potential employer early on, even before they land an interview. In extremely competitive job markets, having an edge is critical to getting your dream job. A professional cover letter can be the one thing that pushes you past the other applicants in your field.
Writing a cover letter can be as frustrating as that dreaded resume. How much to include about yourself and your job history. What to use from the job posting, it’s all too much. You’ve even got to find the proper recipient that it should be sent to. All of these things have to be carefully considered before completing your cover letters and putting them in the mail. So let’s start with the must haves and build from there all right?
Resume writing is a difficult task. While you can research information online, or seek assistance from a professional resume services, it is always helpful to have resources on hand that can assist in writing a new or rewriting your existing resume and/or cover letter. The following four books can provide you with a wealth of information on resume writing:
The most difficult and time consuming section of any resume is the listing of your work experience, no matter the level you have reached in your professional career. If you have just graduated college and don’t have any full-time professional experience, you are concerned if your part time job and summer internship are enough to get your foot in the door. If you are a seasoned professional with extensive work experience, you are worried how to fit all of your hard work on only one page. If you are changing careers, you are unsure which skills best showcase your qualifications. Listing work responsibilities on our resumes doesn’t get easier as our career progresses. The key is to consider your career objective and prioritize your work in accordance to your goals.
Facing a blank page when you are trying to write a resume can be very scary. You may think that you don’t have enough to say about yourself to fill a page; you may be wondering just how to list all of your skills and experience within a single sheet of paper. To get started, ask yourself some questions about your past jobs and your career goals.
Your resume, in addition to listing your professional experience, education and qualifications, is a reflection of who you are. When you take the time to compose your resume well, make sure that there are no errors or gaps that would raise questions, and highlight the qualifications that present you as the best candidate for the job, you show your employer that you are a polished, detail-oriented professional. In addition to having your professional life presented in the best light, you want to make sure that your resume and your cover letter showcase your ethics and your sincerity. This is a difficult task, as it is hard to convey honesty and your good intentions in a form letter and a resume. But many employers hold a strict no tolerance policy against dishonesty. Thus, you have to take extra care in making sure that all of the information on your resume is authentic and truthful. Intentional lies on a resume are not acceptable. However, there are certain areas of your resume may cause you to unintentionally list incorrect information. Pay attention to the following aspects of your resume to assure that you don’t find yourself appearing untruthful to your potential employer:
With every resume submission, you should have a cover letter that accompanies it and presents you as a positive and qualified candidate for the job. A cover letter should highlight areas of your resume which promote your professional experience, and should address any questions an employer may have about hiring you for the job. There are five common cover letter mistakes outlined below that you must avoid in order to get through the first round of resume review and move one step closer to getting the job that you want.
Many professionals spend hours writing and re-writing their cover letter. With each resume submission, we tend to revise our cover letter to make sure that it is personalized for the position we are applying for. While we spend so much time on the content of the cover letter, we seem to disregard a very important and prominent area of the letter – the address line. Most mistakes in the cover letter are made in the address line. This is very problematic as this is the first piece of information that the potential employer sees on your resume. If mistakes are made in the address line, it is likely that the potential employer will discard the letter and you will lose an opportunity to be considered as a candidate for the job that you want. The following three mistakes are most common in addressing the cover letter and should be considered before your cover letter is sent to the employer:
One of the most commonly made mistakes in resume writing that many professionals make is not taking the time to proofread the document before sending it to the potential employer. While writing a resume is a time consuming process, not reviewing your final document with fresh eyes may cause your resume to end up in a recycling bin. To assure that all your efforts are not wasted, make sure that you take the following three steps to assure your resume is in top shape before it reaches your potential employer.
As a health care professional, creating a resume for your field is somewhat different that all other corporate professional resumes. There are certain elements of professional experience and education that play a significant part in the health care industry and make a difference in attracting the employer’s attention. Therefore, to compose a winning resume as a health care professional, you will need to consider and include the following information:
