Resumes, applications, and cover letters

Free Resume Cover Letter Articles : Resumes, applications, and cover letters

You have skills that employers want. But those skills won't get you a job if no one knows you have them.

Good resumes, applications, and cover letters broadcast your abilities. They tell employers how your qualifications match a job's responsibilities. If these paper preliminaries are constructed well, you have a better chance of landing interviews-and, eventually, a job.

Modern technology has added a new twist to preparing resumes and cover letters. The availability of personal computers and laser printers has raised employers' expectations of the quality of resumes and cover letters applicants produce. Electronic mail, Internet postings, and software that "reads" resumes help some employers sort and track hundreds of resumes. Technology has also given resume writers greater flexibility; page limits and formatting standards are no longer as rigid as they were several years ago. "The only rule is that there are no rules," says Frank Fox, executive director of the Professional Association of Resume Writers. "Resumes should be error free-no typos or spelling mistakes-but beyond that, use any format that conveys the information well."

However, the no-rules rule does not mean anything goes. You still have to consider what is reasonable and appropriate for the job you want. Advertisements for a single job opening can generate dozens, even hundreds, of responses. Busy reviewers often spend as little as 30 seconds deciding whether a resume deserves consideration. And in some companies, if a resume is not formatted for computer scanning, it may never reach a human reviewer.

This article provides some guidelines for creating resumes and cover letters that will help you pass the 30second test and win interviews. The first section, on resumes, describes what information they should contain, how to highlight your skills for the job you want, types of resumes, and formatting resumes for easy reading and computer scanning. The next section discusses the four parts of a cover letter-salutation, opening, body, and closing. A final section offers suggestions for finding out more about resumes and cover letters. The clipboard on page 5 provides advice on completing application forms.

Resumes:

Marketing your skills

A resume is a brief summary of your experience, education, and skills. It is a marketing piece, usually one or two pages long, designed to make an employer want to interview you. Good resumes match the jobseeker's abilities to the job's requirements. The best resumes highlight an applicant's strengths and accomplishments.

There are four main steps to creating a resume: Compiling information about yourself and the occupations that interest you, choosing a resume format, adding style, and proofreading the final document. You may also want to prepare your resume for computer scanning, e-mailing, and Internet posting, especially if you are pursuing a computer-intensive field.

Gathering and organizing the facts

Start working on your resume by collecting and reviewing information about yourself: Previous positions, job duties, volunteer work, skills, accomplishments, education, and activities. These are the raw materials of your resume. This is also a good time to review your career goals and to think about which past jobs you have liked, and why.

After compiling this information, research the occupations that interest you. Determine what duties they entail, what credentials they require, and what skills they use. Your resume will use your autobiographical information to show that you meet an occupation's requirements.

You will probably need to write a different resume for each occupation that interests you. Each resume will emphasize what is relevant to one occupation. Remember: Even if you do not have many specialized and technical skills, most occupations also require abilities like reliability, teamwork, and communication. These are particularly important for entry-level workers.

The next step is to organize the personal information you have assembled. Most resume writers use the following components.

Contact information. This includes your name; permanent and college campus addresses, if they are different; phone number; and e-mail address, if you have one. Place your full legal name at the top of your resume and your contact information underneath it. This information should be easy to see; reviewers who can't find your phone number can't call you for an interview. Also, make sure the outgoing message on your answering machine sounds professional. If you list an e-mail address, remember to check your inbox regularly.

Objective statement. Placed immediately below your contact information, the objective statement tells the reviewer what kind of position you want-for example, "Seeking a position as an administrative assistant." Some objectives include more detail, such as "Seeking an administrative position using my organizational, word processing, and customer service skills."

Objective statements are optional and are most often used by recent graduates and career changers. "I like to see an objective on a resume because it shows focus," says Jannette Beamon of Dell Computers' Central Staffing Division in Round Rock, Texas.

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