How To Write a Cover Letter

Article Source:  http://jobsearch.about.com/cs/coverletters/ht/coverletter.htm

By Alison Doyle, About.com

How to write a cover letter for a job application. Tips on how to write an effective cover letter to apply for a job.

Difficulty: Average

Time Required: One Hour

Here’s How:

1. Take the time to write a targeted cover letter for each employer. This means customizing each cover letter you write, so it specifically relates your skills to the job you are applying for:
   how to write targeted cover letters
2. State why you are writing, indicating your interest in the job:
   what to include in your cover letter
3. State where you learned of the position and the title of the position you are applying for. This way the person reading your cover letter will know which job you are interested in.
4. Explain the reasons for your interest in the organization. Let the cover letter reviewer know why you are interested in the company.
5. Express your enthusiasm for the job.
6. Identify your most relevant skills and experiences. Don’t just duplicate your resume. Rather, include the skills that most match the job.
7. Refer to the qualifications for the position and illustrate how your abilities relate.
8. Communicate your interest, motivation, and strengths.
9. Emphasize your achievements.
10. Indicate how you will follow-up, typically with a phone call or an email. Thank the company for their consideration.
11. Review sample cover letters: cover letter samples

Tips:

1. Avoid cliches and meaningless or wordy expressions.
2. Your cover letter should complement, not duplicate your resume.
3. Your cover letter is often the first contact with an employer, make sure it creates a good impression.
4. Take the time to target your cover letter to the job you are applying for.

What You Need:

• Word processing software
• Spell checker and grammar checker
• Cover letter samples to review

Press Release: Anti Poverty Crusader Appeals to the Spirit of America

Press Release Source:  http://www.pr.com/press-release/147257

Grass roots nonprofit organization is taking the unemployment situation by storm and has devised five programs to stop and reduce unemployment throughout the United States.

 Goodyear, AZ, April 23, 2009 –(PR.com)– “Fighting Unemployment One Resume at a Time”

Founder and President Joshua Turner of the newly established charitable organization Help My Resume, (www.helpmyresume.org) is considered an idealist for holding to the firm belief that within the hearts of most Americans, resides a traditional spirit of hope and willingness to extend a helping hand to those who need it most. He recently made this comment as he reinforced his organization’s prime mission by announcing that: “We are here to fight unemployment one resume at a time.”

Outlining Help My Resume’s 2009 objectives, he says the cornerstone of his charitable group’s efforts is to fight poverty and the sense of hopelessness that comes with it. They do this by assisting the thousands of newly unemployed persons who are feeling the pinch in light of the recent economic downturn, with a no-charge professionally written resume.

Turner says his organization comes across scores of unemployed individuals from every corner of America, who although they may be equipped with an impressive set of job skills, a great deal of these don’t know how to clearly express and present their uniqueness and value to a perspective employer, via a well written resume. Subsequently, within the ever increasingly competitive job market, invitations from employers to discuss specific employment opportunities remain elusive and out of reach.

To counter this, a team of volunteer expert resume writers and industry specific specialists have been assembled. These volunteers will craft a professionally written resume on behalf of clients who come to them seeking help.

In support of Help My Resume, they are launching a second program entitled the Ready Start Program. “Ready Start furnishes clients who have secured a confirmed job interview with a new and fresh suit of clothes” Turner explains. He believes an individual also has to feel good about themselves in order to come across as someone who is collectively confident, competent and professional.

Other no-charge assistance being offered for the unemployed include a Get Healthy Program, which as the name suggests, gives job seekers a chance to improve themselves physically in a manner and way which also builds up confidence levels. Also in the works for 2009 is a Business Loan Program for persons who want to start a small business of their own.

When Job-Hunting: Dress for Success

Article Source:  http://www.quintcareers.com/dress_for_success.html

by Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.It’s probably one of the most overused phrases in job-hunting, but also one of the most underutilized by job-seekers: dress for success. In job-hunting, first impressions are critical. Remember, you are marketing a product — yourself — to a potential employer, and the first thing the employer sees when greeting you is your attire; thus, you must make every effort to have the proper dress for the type of job you are seeking. Will dressing properly get you the job? Of course not, but it will give you a competitive edge and a positive first impression.

Should you be judged by what you wear? Perhaps not, but the reality is, of course, that you are judged. Throughout the entire job-seeking process employers use short-cuts — heuristics or rules of thumb — to save time. With cover letters, it’s the opening paragraph and a quick scan of your qualifications. With resumes, it is a quick scan of your accomplishments. With the job interview, it’s how you’re dressed that sets the tone of the interview.

How should you dress? Dressing conservatively is always the safest route, but you should also try and do a little investigating of your prospective employer so that what you wear to the interview makes you look as though you fit in with the organization. If you overdress (which is rare but can happen) or underdress (the more likely scenario), the potential employer may feel that you don’t care enough about the job.

How do you find out what is the proper dress for a given job/company/industry? You can call the Human Resources office where you are interviewing and simply ask. Or, you could visit the company’s office to retrieve an application or other company information and observe the attire current employees are wearing — though make sure you are not there on a “casual day” and misinterpret the dress code.

Finally, do you need to run out and spend a lot of money on clothes for interviewing? No, but you should make sure you have at least two professional sets of attire. You’ll need more than that, but depending on your current financial condition, two is enough to get started and you can buy more once you have the job or have more financial resources.

Hints for Dress for Success for Men and Women
Attention to details is crucial, so here are some tips for both men and women. Make sure you have:

• clean and polished conservative dress shoes
• well-groomed hairstyle
• cleaned and trimmed fingernails
• minimal cologne or perfume
• no visible body piercing beyond conservative ear piercings for women
• well-brushed teeth and fresh breath
• no gum, candy, or other objects in your mouth
• minimal jewelry
• no body odor

Finally, check your attire in the rest room just before your interview for a final check of your appearance — to make sure your tie is straight, your hair is combed, etc.

Go to Dress for Success for Women for specific tips for women.

Go to Dress for Success for Men for specific tips for men.

Other Dress for Success Resources

1. Books:
   • Quintessential Careers: Dress for Success Books — all the best books for making a first great impression!
2. Web Sites:
   • SYMS Dress to Achieve — a career site created to help college students and recent grads about the basics of proper job interview attire, as well as other helpful career tips to present yourself in the best possible light during job interviews. For both men and women. No cost to job-seekers.
3. Donations:
   • CareerGear — a non-profit organization dedicated to helping low-income men and men struggling to get off public assistance to obtain and keep jobs by providing men with interview clothing, motivation and follow-up support that helps them get and keep jobs. Donations of suits (and more) accepted.
   • Dress for Success — a non-profit organization established in 1996 that provides programs that help economically disadvantaged women acquire jobs, retain their new positions, and succeed in the mainstream workplace. Donations of suits, time, and financial support are all accepted!

Questions about some of the terminology used in this article? Get more information (definitions and links) on key college, career, and job-search terms by going to our Job-Seeker’s Glossary of Job-Hunting Terms.

Dr. Randall S. Hansen is founder of Quintessential Careers, one of the oldest and most comprehensive career development sites on the Web, as well CEO of EmpoweringSites.com. He is also founder of MyCollegeSuccessStory.com and EnhanceMyVocabulary.com. He is publisher of Quintessential Careers Press, including the Quintessential Careers electronic newsletter, QuintZine. Dr. Hansen is also a published author, with several books, chapters in books, and hundreds of articles. He’s often quoted in the media and conducts empowering workshops around the country. Finally, Dr. Hansen is also an educator, having taught at the college level for more than 15 years. Visit his personal Website or reach him by email at randall(at)quintcareers.com.

Have you seen all our job interviewing resources?

 

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Motivation When the Job Search Dries Up

Article Source:  http://www.sage4change.com/blog/?p=70

The Pipeline Dry…Now What?

You’re out!  You’ve told everyone you can bear to tell you’re on the market and what you would like to find.  You’re networking like the books say.  You’re doing everything right.  It’s just not falling into place as fast as you would like.   Now what?  Just like you wouldn’t allow your staff or the sales team or your kids to quit until they’ve finished the job, you can’t quit going after the right job until you’re placed in the position which satisfies your career goals.  You have consulted your financial advisor and you know your situation with the impact of losing income.
How do you stay motivated?   You were are so driven in your career that you don’t get why you might be slipping here.

Motivation is intrinsic.   What does that mean?  Yeah, I need a job…so this is brilliant?  Actually “they” have been studying motivating employees since the industrial revolution (20’s and 30’s) where changing the lighting, either making it brighter or darker increased productivity.  One study in the Harvard Business Review from the 70’s from Harry Levinson called the “Great Jackass Fallacy” where the leaders are genuinely stunned the employees don’t actually have the same motivation as they do.  They had no idea that employees should be involved in decision making.  But of course you’re well aware of all that.

McClelland, who widely speaks to the motivation need theory and groups managers three ways – whether they need to be likes (affiliative), ones who need to achieve (achievement) and get things done, and then there are the ones who are driven by power.  I am sure each one of these descriptors has a face when you read through these.
Frederick Herzberg makes more sense to me.  His study from the sixties Motivation-Hygiene Theory proposes that employees are motivated more by the job than the pay or benefits.  The environment, the pay, benefits, social aspects or how you get along with your co-workers won’t actually de-motivate you.  They won’t motivate you beyond a certain point either.  But he contends that the level of challenge in the job, how autonomous you are in your job, your intrinsic interest and how much opportunity for creativity you bring to your job.

Yeah, yeah, get to the part where I can be more motivated in my job search.  Well, glad you’re still reading.  I believe that once your job search is up and running the challenge diminishes. Really your resume looks good and even you’re comfortable with it.  Your contacts all (first tier and part of the second tier) know that you’re looking.  And quite frankly it doesn’t take you all day to do the search.  It’s quiet.  Going from being attached to a bberry 24/7 to managing the search details in a few hours a day is a cultural shift that’s odd.  New behavior is odd.  Silence is de-motivating.  Or is it?

Tactical tips on how to stay motivated using evidence based motivational theory:

• Challenge yourself to sit in the silence – great ideas fill a vacuum.
• Know that doing the same hours from the corporate drive is going to burn you out fast. Put in the effort in 3 to 8 hours a day and then do something replenishing.
• Find a job that you think would be fun but not directly related to your past – challenge yourself to find experience and transferable skills you would bring to the job.
• Go to the library – librarians are the least used resource as a brainstorming partner.
• Go hit balls at the driving range – not as expensive as a round and you never know who will be next to you or in line to get a beverage.  (do something of interest while networking)
• Paint your house.  By doing something outside your norm you are challenged and the head space leaves room for creativity.
• The job search is entirely autonomous as it is up to you to create the pathway to new employment.
• Ensure that your target job search is true to your intrinsic interests and values.
• If there is a to-do item that goes from day to day without?  Take a strong look at it.  Is it important?  What will it feel like to finish?  Either take one step towards it or take it off.
• Work doing something for a non-profit or someone in need, volunteering will at least help you know that you have something to contribute.

Your challenge when the immediate energy dwindles is to pull out the motivation to create a list that might be what you thought of second tier.  Maybe you’re on the third tier.  It’s still up to you to come up with new ideas and stay positive and more importantly stay engaged in the search. If you need help find a job search group of like-minded colleagues.  If you can’t find one – start one.   If you want help with ideas, motivation or support — call a coach.

Job Searching in a Shaky Economy

Article Source:  http://tinyurl.com/l3htjm

By Kerry Knapp, Monster Contributing Writer

With the economy ailing, stock markets in free fall and job cuts making headlines day after day, it’s easy to give in to the doom and gloom. Especially if you’re looking for employment. And yet, people are still working, consumers are still buying goods and factories are still churning out products. Even companies laying off employees in some areas are still hiring in others. There may be fewer jobs out there, but they haven’t disappeared entirely. So how do you find a job when times are hard?

In this article, we’ll bypass standard job-hunting techniques and focus on timely strategies for finding work when the economy’s stuck on life support. Here’s your prescription:

Get your skills working for you!

When the competition’s fierce, you have to stand out.

List your top skills and the achievements you’re most proud of, and play them up in interviews. Now’s not the time to be shy. Pay special attention to soft skills that can be transferred to a wide variety of positions, like communication, teamwork and leadership. If your resumé is looking a little sparse, volunteer or work part-time work to give it a shot in the arm.

Market yourself

Like it or not, you’ve got to sell yourself to prospective employers.

Step 1 focused on perfecting your product (that’s you!). Now it’s time to think about the packaging. Start with a flawless resumé and compelling cover letters.

Then dress for success, rehearse your sales pitch and practise your interview techniques to make sure you communicate clearly and effectively.

Finally, you’ve got to get that project to market. Develop a marketing plan that utilizes all available resources to find job leads, including research, job fairs, recruiters and personal referrals, and lets you effectively represent yourself to prospective employers. Set realistic goals and determine your time frame.

Make your plan as detailed as possible. If you can stick to it, you’ll set yourself apart from everyone else who has lost confidence and given up the search.

Start early

When times are tough, some younger job seekers choose to go back to school or prolong their studies. Others put off or abandon their job search all together. For you, this is an excellent opportunity to get in there early. By looking for employment while others are sidelined, you cut your competition in half.

If you’re a student, take advantage of campus career centres and job fairs as early as possible.

Network, network, network!

Work all your contacts, not just for job leads but also for introductions to employees at companies that interest you and people who can provide vital information on trends affecting your field.

Get the word out that you’re looking for work. Talk to professional associations, fellow job seekers, past employers, school career placement staff and even your Great Aunt Matilda. Don’t be shy to ask friends of friends for favours, and don’t forget online networks like LinkedIn and Facebook.

Target your job search

Concentrate your job search on organizations most likely to be hiring. Read the business section of local newspapers to learn which companies are expanding or what new projects are getting under way.

You can also find out what industries are still experiencing job growth by using websites like the Canadian government’s Job Futures or Looking Ahead, employment indexes and information on industry trends.

Good bets include small to medium-sized businesses of 200 to 300 people, which experts say account for most hiring across the country, along with “recession-proof” industries like healthcare, education, environmental sciences, security and government.

Broaden your search techniques

To improve your chances of finding employment, try new ways of getting in touch with employers.

Ask job holders in your industry for an “informational interview” just to sound them out on industry trends and labour market realities. Or place “cold calls” (calls to people who can hire you but whom you don’t know) to ask employers if you can meet with them—even if they haven’t advertised a position. Use the opportunity to bring up your skills and qualifications.

Informational interviewing and cold calls are great ways to get your foot in the door and tap into the hidden job market, the great majority of jobs that are never advertised in newspapers.

Be flexible

We all go into the job market with visions of scoring a cushy $100K dream job with full benefits and a company car. Well, best put that dream on hold a little longer!

As a new recruit, you may have reduce your expectations and settle for an entry-level position, a lower salary or fewer benefits. You might also have to consider moving—literally—to a hotter job market.

To really put the odds in your favour, you may even have to shift career tracks—at least in the short term. Instead of insisting on a position as an investment advisor, for instance, consider starting in a related field like banking instead. (Remember those transferable skills? This is where they come in handy.)

Consider part-time or casual work

Don’t rule out temporary assignments, part-time positions, job-sharing, leave replacements and other short-term contracts, internships and project-oriented roles—maybe even volunteer work and unpaid contract work, for a limited time. While opportunities like these may not be what you had in mind, they can provide steady income, a chance to network and invaluable experience while you continue to look for full-time employment. They can also give you exposure to fields you might not get to explore otherwise. Who knows, some could even turn into full-time jobs down the road!

 

Think outside the cubicle

If you’re the entrepreneurial type, why not create your own job? With employers reticent to take on extra staff, this could be the ideal time to leverage your skills through self-employed contract or consulting work.

Don’t panic!

Hunting for a job hunt is always an emotionally charged process. In a challenging economy, it’s twice as stressful.

In the last major economic downturn, many first-time job hunters reacted by abandoning their job search or picking up a study program that really didn’t interest them. Be careful not to make rash decisions, and understand that finding a job may take a lot of time and work. Tackle each step as it comes up, and keep your sight firmly on your goals. In time, you’ll get there!

To learn more about our FREE services including help with my resume, volunteer resume, free resume rewrite, resume rewriting, cover letters free and the help my resume blog follow us on Twitter and become a FaceBook Fan!

YOUR #1 SOURCE FOR FREE UNEMPLOYMENT SERVICES

The cornerstone and namesake of Help My Resume is our no-charge professionally written resume rewriting service. Although an individual may be equipped with an impressive set of job skills, many don’t know how to clearly express and present their uniqueness and value to a perspective employer, via a well written and strategic structured resume. Subsequently, within the ever increasingly competitive job market, invitations from employers to discuss specific employment opportunities remain elusive and out of reach.

To learn more about our FREE services including help with my resume, volunteer resume, free resume rewrite, resume rewriting, cover letters free and the help my resume blog follow us on Twitter and become a FaceBook Fan!