Using Cover Letters and Customized Resumes

Written by Scott Brown


I'd like to briefly discussrepparttar concept of "resume targeting." This isrepparttar 139538 practice of customizing your resume for a specific audience. Targeting with resumes isrepparttar 139539 same concept as advertisers customizing their message to a particular demographic. Recently, many big brand marketers have started customizing their messages to make their commercials more interesting so people using TiVo don't fast forward past them and so they stand out from other commercials. For example, Mercedes Benz recently started running commercials in New York City where a couple drives first to La Guardia and then to JFK Airport. Forrepparttar 139540 average viewer who sees a few hours of commercials a week, one that mentions two local places they're familiar with will stand out in their mind. The same goes for recruiters and employers who may receive hundreds of resumes a week. If they get one that's customized for their interests, it has a better chance of standing out.

It's a smart idea to have several versions of your resume available forrepparttar 139541 different types of positions you're applying for. For example, if you're applying for jobs in bothrepparttar 139542 insurance and financial services industries, you could have two different resumes available with two slightly different Objective statements. Further customizing your resume forrepparttar 139543 specific position you're applying for makes sense if it's a position you're really interested in and you want to stand out fromrepparttar 139544 pack. Keep in mind though that if you're sending out 100 resumes, it may not pay to spend 5-10 minutes customizing each one since landing a job is also partly a numbers game.

Cover letters can be a powerful way to establish a relationship withrepparttar 139545 potential employer - especially if you haven't metrepparttar 139546 person yet. They also provide more room for you to discussrepparttar 139547 synergies between your goals and theirs than is afforded in a resume. The goal of a cover letter is to establish a personal relationship. To that end, a cover letter needs to at least appear that it was customized forrepparttar 139548 specific person it's being sent to. A good cover letter will referencerepparttar 139549 name ofrepparttar 139550 company it is being sent to andrepparttar 139551 position title. Even if you're sending out a lot of cover letters, this can be accomplished usingrepparttar 139552 Mail Merge function in Microsoft Word.

Workplace 911

Written by Nan S. Russell


I've watched a few episodes of Nanny 911 and withrepparttar chaos, out of control children and seemingly irreparable behavior, it strikes me as a precursor to Workplace 911. No, not a new reality TV show, but everyday workplace problems.

You see, kids who don't get their way, who learn to hit, manipulate, scream and throw things, grow up and go to work. Byrepparttar 139444 time they're adults, they've replaced their aberrant behaviors, like spitting, with more socially acceptable ones like sarcastic zingers and verbal tirades. They'rerepparttar 139445 liars,repparttar 139446 saboteurs,repparttar 139447 bullies, andrepparttar 139448 road-blockers we meet up with at work. And I've met my share.

But here'srepparttar 139449 thing. Just as those parents are challenged byrepparttar 139450 Nanny to identify and correct what they're doing to encourage and reward their children's behavior, we need to challenge ourselves to dorepparttar 139451 same at work. If you want to be winning at working, you need to uncover what you're doing to encourage and reward behaviors that you don't like. You need to recognize which hot buttons hook you into unproductive patterning at work and which, like those parents desperate to contain their children's behavior, reduce your results.

I learned in twenty years of managing there's one key that can change everything. Figure out what you're rewarding. It doesn't matter if you're five or thirty-five, whatever gets rewarded gets done. But, it's not as easy as it sounds. And don't confuse rewards only with something positive. If a co-worker gets you irritated enough to yell at him, he may feel rewarded because he's "gotten to you."

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