The Right Way to Send Your ResumeWritten by Don Goodman, President About Jobs
Having a great resume is first critical step in a successful job search. Unfortunately, most people don’t know best ways to get that resume noticed. In today’s job market, where you are competing with hundreds of other resumes, knowing right way to distribute your resume can make all difference.First of all you need to get organized and stay organized. When you get that call from 200 resumes you sent out, you need to make sure you are ready to show that you know all about company that’s calling. So keep a log detailing name of company, position advertised and dates you contacted them along with any notes. (Readers may request a free log by e-mailing success@gotthejob.com). Next post your resume on job boards. Note that job boards are not most effective way to get a job with most of them having an effectiveness rate of less than 3%. Nonetheless, they should be a part of your strategy. Put your resume on large job boards and be sure to find job boards that are specific to your profession as many employers are skipping expensive giants and focusing their search. To post your resume, you’ll need an electronic (or ASCII) version of your resume. You can do this by opening your resume in MS Word, hitting File-Save As and choosing Text Only. This will create a .txt version of your resume. Close file, reopen it and edit out any stray characters left over from your bullets and other graphics characters. This file will now cut and paste into web sites and e-mails and automatically format itself. When you post to job boards, remember to setup search agents that automatically tell you about a new job posting. This will let you be one of first ones to apply. Next find advertised positions that meet your criteria. You can do this by surfing job boards, checking papers and looking at company web sites. Don’t forget to look at trade publications as less people respond to those ads meaning you’re up against less competition. As much as possible, try to find name of hiring manager and address your correspondence directly to them. Now revise your cover letter to fit ad. Remember that an employer will look at your cover letter for 3-7 seconds, so keep it brief and easy to read using white space and bullets. Do not try to repeat what is already in your resume. Instead, tell them how you meet criteria they mentioned in their advertisement. Then proofread cover letter as any mistakes will eliminate you.
| | 5-Step Job HuntingWritten by Don Goodman, President About Jobs
The economy is picking up, budgets are new, positions are open and companies are hiring. Now is time to rev up your job search efforts. Use these tips to dramatically improve your results.Get on job boards and make sure you setup search agents so you get a daily e-mail whenever a new job is posted that meets your criteria. Look for niche boards that focus on your profession. Make sure your resume is great. If your resume has been posted for a while and you have not been getting calls, then run, don’t walk, to a professional resume writing service. This is one of best hiring times of year and an investment of a couple of hundred dollars to have a resume that gets you noticed is well worth it. Identify companies that you like and focus on opportunities with them. When you find one, see if you can find name of hiring manager. Then, after researching company, call manager and say something like, “A friend told me you might be looking for a XYZ. I have over 8 years in XYZ and have been very successful with such companies as (NAMEDROP).” Then, and this is important, ask him intelligent probing questions that demonstrate your knowledge. By building some rapport with hiring manager, you will be on top of his mind when he is looking at resumes.
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