Digital Portfolio As Volunteers/ Student/ Graduate Student/ Undergraduate Stu...Mehak Azeem
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This presentation is presented to the Jansons Institute of Technology in association with the IEEE Student Branch and WIE Affinity Group. A live webinar for TECNOCRATS on a topic of "Developing Digital Portfolio as Volunteer".
Smartest Resume Guide for Students and FreshersTwenty19.com
Â
First time in India â A Smart guide (e-book) that will take you through the entire resume making process in simple steps and ensuring youâre resume is extremely effective and will make the best impact on your potential employer whether youâre looking for an internship or a job.
1) Based on SmartResume â A product based on the study conducted on the Student Resume Technology in India in January 2010 â ensures the guide covers all the critical points to make an effective resume
2)Specifically designed for students and freshers
3)Comprehensive guide â Explains everything required to make a high-impact resume right from scratch
4) A thoughtfully crafted user-friendly step-by-step guide
Digital Portfolio As Volunteers/ Student/ Graduate Student/ Undergraduate Stu...Mehak Azeem
Â
This presentation is presented to the Jansons Institute of Technology in association with the IEEE Student Branch and WIE Affinity Group. A live webinar for TECNOCRATS on a topic of "Developing Digital Portfolio as Volunteer".
Smartest Resume Guide for Students and FreshersTwenty19.com
Â
First time in India â A Smart guide (e-book) that will take you through the entire resume making process in simple steps and ensuring youâre resume is extremely effective and will make the best impact on your potential employer whether youâre looking for an internship or a job.
1) Based on SmartResume â A product based on the study conducted on the Student Resume Technology in India in January 2010 â ensures the guide covers all the critical points to make an effective resume
2)Specifically designed for students and freshers
3)Comprehensive guide â Explains everything required to make a high-impact resume right from scratch
4) A thoughtfully crafted user-friendly step-by-step guide
Your resume is the most important paper you will write while in college. Employers spend less than 20 seconds scanning a resume before deciding what to do with it. Make sure they move you forward to the next step with a resume that wows.
Learn basic resume information to help make you competitive in challenging job market. Information will be helpful for college grads to career changers that have not written a resume in several years.
Do you wish to learn how to write a resume? This post will guide you on how to write a resume that gets you hired. A resume is a document that contains your personal, education qualifications and work experience. You submit when you are applying for a new job. Writing a resume can be quite complicated. That is because the requirement for a resume format sometimes varies from companies. Thus, it may be difficult to write a resume that will get you an interview. Read up to find out how to write a professional resume
Your resume is the most important paper you will write while in college. Employers spend less than 20 seconds scanning a resume before deciding what to do with it. Make sure they move you forward to the next step with a resume that wows.
Learn basic resume information to help make you competitive in challenging job market. Information will be helpful for college grads to career changers that have not written a resume in several years.
Do you wish to learn how to write a resume? This post will guide you on how to write a resume that gets you hired. A resume is a document that contains your personal, education qualifications and work experience. You submit when you are applying for a new job. Writing a resume can be quite complicated. That is because the requirement for a resume format sometimes varies from companies. Thus, it may be difficult to write a resume that will get you an interview. Read up to find out how to write a professional resume
Secrets to Building Job-Winning ResumÊs For BeginnersSOFTTECHHUB
Â
Learn how to optimize your resume for Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), use clear and concise language, and incorporate relevant keywords that match the job requirements. Discover the importance of using a skills-based format, and how to craft a compelling career summary that highlights your unique value proposition.
This ebook also covers best practices for personal branding, including how to create a professional online presence, leverage LinkedIn and other professional networking platforms, and optimize your resume for mobile devices. With these tips and strategies, you'll be able to create a resume that stands out from the competition and helps you land your dream job.
Employment Communication Assignment Job Search, Letter .docxSALU18
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Employment Communication Assignment
Job Search, Letter of Application, ResumÊ, Interview Questions, Follow â Up
Letter
The red is the summary for the overviewâthe green link in box (on overview page) is what is
below not highlighted
Many people will submit their resumÊs in hopes of being chosen to interview for a particular
position; however, those few individuals who are invited to interview are picked primarily on the
basis of the content and quality of their letter of application, their resumÊ, and their professional
references.
When you realize the competitive nature of a job search in the United States, the quality of your
communication with the employer acquires added importance. Your resumÊ, cover letter, and
thank you letter should be personalized, concise and error free documents that you have
designed to reflect your particular accomplishments and academic and professional credentials.
This assignment consists of five related tasks:
âĸ Locate an existing, advertised full â time, part â time, or internship that is commensurate
with your current skills.
âĸ Write a persuasive letter of application.
âĸ Format and write a professional resumÊ that includes a professional reference page.
âĸ Answer behavioral and situational employment interviews.
âĸ Follow â up an interview with a properly drafted thank you letter.
Task 1: Job Search and Position Announcement
Begin this first task as a new document in MSWord.
Your first task is to find a position that is suitable with your current education and experience
level. This may be a full â time position, part â time position, or an internship; however, this
position must actually exist and be verifiable.
Once you find a suitable position, copy and paste this advertisement / job description into an
MSWord file and underline or highlight the specific job qualifications.
Tip 1: Review your Textbook
Tip 2: You may use any search engine you prefer; however, you should also explore FIUâs
Career Services Pantherlink.
âĸ FIUâs Career Services
âĸ FIUâs Career Management Services
http://career.fiu.edu/
http://business.fiu.edu/careers/index.cfm
Sample Advertisement And How to Highlight or Underline Job
Qualifications
Administrative Assistant
Disability Care Links requires and Administrative Assistant to work in its central London office.
The organization is a specialist in the field of disability care services. The successful candidate
will enjoy working as part of a dedicated team, with the added satisfaction of working for an
organization committed to the care and support of disabled people.
The job involves a variety of administrative duties. These will include filing, letter writing, sorting
post, obtaining information from a computer, photocopying and maintaining records. Training
will be provided, if necessary, to equip the job â holder with computer skills to enable them to
use the organizationâs computer system.
Applica ...
Hiring managers tend to spend between 10 and 20 seconds looking at the average resume! It is crucial that your resume is effective, focused, well formatted so that it creates a strong first impression and stands out from the pile. While a resume itself may not secure you a job, it is the key to getting that first interview.
2. 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 2
1 What is a Resume? 2
1.1 Definition 2
1.2 Purpose 2
2 Styles of Resumes 2
2.1 Reverse Chronological style 2
2.2 Functional style 3
2.3 Combination/Hybrid style resume 3
2.4 Online resume 3
2.5 Info graphic or video resumes 4
3 Brainstorming 4
3.1 Make a list 4
3.2 Assign a strategy 4
4 Structure of a Resume 5
4.1 The Header 5
4.2 The Tagline 5
4.3 The Objective 6
4.4 The Main Body 6
5 Content of a Resume 6
5.1 Contact Details 6
5.2 Professional Summary 7
5.3 Work Experience 7
5.4 Education 7
5.5 Academic/Social Activities and Leadership 8
5.6 Skill sets 8
5.7 References 9
6 Formatting 10
6.1 Margins 10
6.2 Font 10
6.3 Style 10
6.4 Sections 10
6.5 Paragraphs 10
6.6 Bullet Points 11
6.7 Grammatical Conventions 11
6.8 Saving Space 11
6.9 Reviewing and Directing Your Resume 12
6.10 Submitting your Resume 12
7 Cover Letter 13
7.1 Definition 13
7.2 Purpose 13
7.3 Tips for Writing an Effective Cover Letter 13
7.4 Cover letter Dos and Donâts 14
8 Action Verbs to Use for Writing Job Experiences in Your
Resume
15
3. 2
Introduction
In this E-Book, you will learn about guidelines and tips on how to write the perfect
resume. It should be the aim of every job seeker to write a resume that is not only
professional and presentable, but one that stands out from the rest. While there are no
specific set of rules or a magic formula for writing the perfect resume, this E-Book will
educate you on all the essential elements to include or exclude in a resume to make it
professional and highly effective.
1 What is a Resume?
1.1 Definition
According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, a resume is âa short document describing
your education, work history, etc., that you give an employer when you are applying for
a job.â
1.2 Purpose
In essence, a resume must include your educational and employment background in
order to convey to potential employers enough information to gauge your skills and
abilities against the job they are offering. The essential task at hand for you is to
prepare and present this vital information in a format that is not only professional, but
easy for your potential employer to understand. Remember that an employer looking to
hire suitable candidates for the job will have limited time and will appreciate a resume
that presents to him adequate information about the job seeker in a logical, well
presented and unique format.
2 Styles of Resumes
Resumes can be styled in various ways. Below are some of the most common styles of
resumes:
2.1 Reverse Chronological style
In a Reverse Chronological style resume, a job applicantâs professional experience is
catalogued in a reverse sequential order through time. This section consisting of the
applicantâs professional experience is included in the Main Body of the resume. It starts
from the most current job held by the applicant, followed by each previous job in reverse
chronological order. Usually, the applicant lists his professional experience ranging from
the last 10-15 years, with each job position held being accompanied by a date of joining
and date of leaving the job. The applicantâs current job position lists the starting date till
the present date, or in some cases, the current year.
4. 3
The Reverse Chronological style resume is useful for an applicant who wants to show
reliability on the basis of work experience and career progress. It is not useful for
applicants with long gaps between jobs in their career timeline.
2.2 Functional style
In contrast to the Reverse Chronological style resume, the Functional resume instead
highlights an applicantâs job experience on the basis of job function or skill range, rather
than chronological order of work experience. The work history is usually summarized at
the bottom of the Functional style resume.
An example of functional resume work experience section:
EXPERIENCE Sales
īˇ Worked at a retail electronics store in Sales
īˇ Sold electronic blender devices door-to-door during junior year
Supervision
īˇ Act as assistant manager of ABC Burger Palace on weekends
īˇ Supervised a group of ten employees
Public Speaking
īˇ Offered case study statistics to business classes
īˇ Assisted student discussion groups at XYZ University
The Functional style resume comes in handy when an applicant is either applying for a
first job, changing careers, or has long gaps between jobs in his/her career timeline.
The functional resume is also useful in portraying a broad variety of job experiences.
However, a disadvantage of a functional resume is that employers may sense that you
are trying to hide something, like employment gaps in your professional career. For this
reason, functional resumes are looked down upon by many employers.
2.3 Combination/Hybrid style resume
As the name suggest, this style of a resume uses elements of both Reverse
Chronological style and Functional style resumes. Usually, the applicantâs job skills are
listed first, followed by the chronological work experience. This type of a resume is
useful for combining job experiences acquired from activities and internships.
2.4 Online resume
With the advent of the Internet, the number of online searches for jobs has become
common, leading to many employers choosing to accept applicantsâ resumes online.
This has resulted in changes of trends in the way resumes are composed and read.
Employment ads require applicants to email their resumes to the employerâs given
address or submit them electronically by using a website page on the employerâs
5. 4
website. Some employers locate resumes of prospective applicants using web
searches, which have led to applicants including keywords in their resumes for
increased web accessibility by potential employers. According to their preference,
employers may require resumes formatted in different file types, such as Microsoft Word
documents, or other formats, such as PDF, HTML, etc.
2.5 Info graphic or video resumes
As online multimedia technology has developed, some job applicants have chosen to
abandon paper or email based resumes, by developing video resumes or info graphic
resumes. Resumes made by using the Vine website have recently gained popularity for
job applicants seeking employment in media industries.
3 Brainstorming
The purpose of writing a resume is to inform about significant features of your work
experience, in order to acquaint yourself with the recruiter and to allow him to gauge
your value as a potential employee in his organization. While writing a resume, you will
have the liberty of choosing the most relevant features of your employment history, as
well as assigning category headings, text and layout format and language of your
resume.
So where do you start? Well, it is advisable to first brainstorm and note down all the
significant facets of your work history and include especially those ones which are
related to the job position which you are applying for.
3.1 Make a list
Here is a list of all the features you may want to include in your resume which will help
you start off:
īˇ All the jobs you have been employed in, including all jobs that were salaried,
unpaid, grant funded, part-time, seasonal (such as summer jobs), etc.
īˇ Internships
īˇ Training programs, seminars, conferences which happened as a result of an
affiliation with schools, companies, educational institutes
īˇ Jobs related to volunteer work and serving the community
īˇ All leadership roles affiliated with political, religious and other groups
īˇ Activities related to campus (sports teams, debate teams, music-related)
īˇ Computer skills
īˇ Notable jobs linked with international travelling
3.2 Assign a strategy
6. 5
Once you have accumulated all the necessary data, start picking out the most important
and significant job experiences you have been involved in. You may have to choose
carefully if you plan to make a one-page resume, which is recommended, as potential
recruiters donât have the time to go through a resume exceeding more than a page in
length.
Once you have achieved this, start arranging the information you have chosen
according to a timeline. Relevant category headings you assign will be helpful in doing
so. For e.g. if you are a student who has been involved with unpaid campus activity,
then choosing a category like âLeadership Experienceâ instead of âWork Experienceâ will
seem more appropriate. If you have been employed in both paid and unpaid jobs,
assign each type according to âWork Experienceâ and âLeadership Experienceâ or
include both with a more general âExperienceâ category form. Always keep in mind to
specifically include particular types of job experiences, skills and training that may be
relevant to the job position you are applying for.
Your resume must contain information that will help your recruiter in determining
whether you are appropriately qualified for the position you are applying for and that you
will be a valuable member for the organization or company you are applying to for
employment. If you are unsure about a specific position you want to apply for, make the
content of your resume of a more generalized kind. In such a case, include skills and
job experiences in correlated or diverse areas of work. You may need to prepare
yourself to convince the recruiter that you are a quick learner and significantly
motivated, as well as suitable to perform well in the job position you are applying for.
4 Structure of a Resume
A good, professional resume consists of the following sections, placed in the order
given below:
4.1 The Header
The resumeâs header is the top section in which you will include certain details, such as
the following:
īˇ Your full name
īˇ Your house address
īˇ Your home and cell phone numbers
īˇ Your e-mail address
4.2 The Tagline
Below the Header, you must include a Tagline, or a short headline, which is basically a
small phrase or sentence that portrays you as a career seeking employee with a certain
skill set or quality desired within a professional environment.
7. 6
4.3 The Objective
For the Objective, you should state:
īˇ The goal you hope to achieve for the particular job you are applying for
īˇ How this will assist or enhance your professional abilities
īˇ The rank or position you ultimately aim to achieve in the company hierarchy
The Objective should only be a few sentences, but must explain the above points in a
clear, concise fashion.
4.4 The Main Body
The Main Body of a resume contains list of your job skills, work experience or a
chronology detailing your employment background. When writing out the Main Body of
your resume, make sure to be accurate, to-the-point and emphasize on clarity. In order
to do so, you may structure the Main Body of your resume using effective writing tools
such as bullet points, keywords, numbering, etc. Take special care to use professional
terms, action verbs, symbols and other such tools to emphasize your strengths in a
manner to highlight your abilities for the job you are applying for. Remember - be
positive!
5 Content of a Resume
Letâs take the example of the most common type of resume in use, a Reverse
Chronological style resume and explore the various sections and content within it to
understand what to include in a resume.
5.1 Contact Details
Within a resume, the Contact Details section is added first and is the main feature. It
starts with your name which should be centered and put in the top of the resume in
large, bold font to make it prominent. For verification purposes, use your official name
which appears in your legal documents and college records. Underneath your name,
you will put the following:
īˇ Your recent mailing address
īˇ Your phone number (residential and cell)
īˇ Your email address
īˇ Your website URL (if any)
īˇ Your LinkedIn profile â majority of hiring managers employ social media to reach
candidates and LinkedIn is a major resource
A suitable format for contact details will be as follows:
8. 7
Name
Address
City, State Zip Code
Telephone number
E-mail address
Web address or LinkedIn profile
5.2 Professional Summary
The Professional Summary is your âsales pitch.â The recruiter will always look at it first
and thus, it should be a brief list emphasizing the main features of your qualifications. In
short, the professional summary gives the recruiter a sense of your value as an
employee and why the company should hire you. Make sure that it contains your career
highlights and main strengths in an easily readable format. If necessary, it should also
include your professional objective. It is strongly advised to avoid including any personal
information, such as religious beliefs, ethnicity details, marital status, etc. in your
Professional Summary.
5.3 Work Experience
This section should include at least the previous five jobs of your professional career. It
must start with your current job and then state the rest of your jobs in a reverse
chronological order. You can use this section to include all your previous work
experiences, including salaried jobs, paid and unpaid internships and any volunteer
work you had been involved with. Make sure that each job you state should include:
īˇ The time period of your employment (e.g. 10 November, 2010 â 20 June, 2012)
īˇ Name of the company you were employed in
īˇ Location (city, state and country) of the company you were employed in
īˇ Your job title
īˇ Chief responsibilities of your employment, while highlighting those duties which
could play an important part in the job you are applying for
A suitable format is as follows:
Marketing Associate, January 2012 - March 2014
ABC ENTERPRISES, Washington, DC
īˇ (text)
īˇ (text)
īˇ (text)
5.4 Education
This part of the resume includes information about your college, graduate and post-
graduate degrees. You can also state in this section any extra certifications or courses
9. 8
that you have undertaken. Remember to list your education details in a reverse
chronological order, starting from your most recent degree down to the first notable
qualification you achieved.
List the name of your educational institute, its geographic location, the degree you
achieved and the graduation date. Then list the scores you achieved, for e.g. your GPA.
A suitable format is as follows:
EDUCATION XYZ UNIVERSITY, Columbus, Ohio
Bachelor of Arts May 2015
Major: Marketing
Minor: English
GPA: 3.00/4.00
5.5 Academic/Social Activities and Leadership
Including your academic, social and leadership activities will not only help convey your
professional pursuits and job related interests, but your skills as well. If you have served
as a leader or have been involved with any campus activities, include these as
appropriate to your career aspirations in your resume. Make sure to list details.
5.6 Skill sets
This section of the resume may include:
īˇ Language skills. State your level of proficiency in any foreign languages that
seem pertinent to include. Also add whether you can read, write and/or speak
these languages.
īˇ Computer skills. You can include any programming languages you know, as well
as your skills with graphic or web designing software, web app designing, word
processing, PowerPoint, Excel, network management, etc.
īˇ Content related skills. These may include editing, proofreading and more
specifically, transcription, shorthand, etc.
īˇ Laboratory skills
A suitable format is as follows:
RESEARCH Effect of Smoking on Social Behaviors, Winter Semester 2012
THE XYZ LABORATORY FOR BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH
īˇ [Area of study, examination, tests, etc.]
īˇ [Your learning, and conclusions]
īˇ Paper presented at Capital Universityâs Annual Symposium on
Undergraduate Scholarship.
COMPUTER Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe Photoshop CS6
10. 9
LABORATORY NMR, IR, HPLC
5.7 References
Including references in a resume is not a highly required option anymore. When you
submit your resume, it is assumed that you will be able to provide references upon
request.
If you are required to include references, do so at the end of the resume.
A common format is as follows:
REFERENCES Available upon request
However, some employers may require a list of references. You will be required to
provide addresses, telephone numbers. The references will then be contacted by the
recruiters over the phone to provide the information they need about you.
Make sure to contact your chosen references at least a few weeks before you may need
their help. Always obtain the most available phone number to include for your chosen
reference.
Inform your chosen reference before you go in for a job interview. This way they will be
prepared beforehand to receive any calls from the recruiters who will be interviewing
you.
You may list references in a format as given below:
Tom A. Patterson
Director of Marketing
ABC Incorporated
306 Watercross Lane
Rowley, Massachusetts 34534
(339) 555-3467
tpatterson@abc.com
Ray Morrison
Graphic Designer/Illustrator
XYZ Graphics House
89 Park Lane
Frankford, New Jersey 53700
(201) 555-2973
raymorrison@xyz.com
11. 10
Jane Doe
Supervisor
Criton Enterprises
201 Plescon Heights
New York, New York 52441
(646) 555-8389
jdoe@criton.org
6 Formatting
Keep in mind that recruiters will usually spend less than a minute glancing through your
resume before they decide whether to call you for an interview or not. Therefore, you
must make sure that your resume is formatted in a visually positive and symmetrical
manner and also easily readable. It is also highly advisable to avoid making your
resume more than a single page long. If you have an extensive work experience and
compose a two-page resume, then it is important that you minimize blank spaces.
Following are a list of useful tips and techniques to help you format your resume in a
professional manner.
6.1 Margins
A professional resume format requires margin settings to be at least one inch all
around. In case of necessity, do not exceed one and half inch for margins. The point is
not to give your resume a âcrowdedâ or âcrampedâ look. Left-aligned margins are the
most suitable for resume formats. Right-aligned margins can be included as well to
include text related to job information such as job location, dates, etc. while employing
the left margin for your past recruitersâ names or your position title, to maintain balance.
6.2 Font
Keep the font size of your resume between 10 to 12 points to ensure easy readability.
The font size of your name should be set in a larger, bold lettering. It is recommended to
use more traditional fonts such as Arial or Times New Roman for your resume content.
6.3 Style
For the purpose of clarity, use different styles such as CAPS, bold, underline, or italics
to distinguish between different sections of your resume. Assign repeating parts within
your text (such as job titles, employer names, dates, etc.) with a consistent, cyclical
style. Do not use too many different styles and stick to one or two at the most to avoid
clutter and irregularity. Also, avoid putting two sections in bold font too close to each
other, in order to keep your text looking more consistent and viewable.
6.4 Sections
12. 11
It is advisable to surround each section of your resume with a fair amount of space, in
order to distinguish it from other sections. For more visual clarity, you may format
different sections in a slightly different manner. For example, category titles should be
positioned either along the left margin or in the center.
6.5 Paragraphs
You can use paragraphs to state your job responsibilities. Within paragraphs, it is
effective to use small phrases. Employ action verbs to start of each phrase and use full
stops at the end of each job description.
6.6 Bullet Points
Another effective way to state job duties is by using bullet points. Use a single bullet
point to describe a specific job duty. Traditionally accepted types of bullet points include
dot and circle bullets. At the most, you may use little squares or hyphens as bullet
points. Keep it simple.
6.7 Grammatical Conventions
Standard acceptable forms of grammatical conventions include the following:
īˇ Capitalized abbreviated conventions for American states, such as MA, NY, NJ,
etc.
īˇ Apart from the US, cities in countries should be stated as âcity, country.â
īˇ Use complete words to state job titles. if not, then stick to traditional
abbreviations such as âAsst.â or âAssoc.â with a period at the end of each
īˇ For acronyms, use full names, succeeded by the acronym in parentheses
īˇ Do not use symbols such as â&â unless it is used officially within an employerâs
name
6.8 Saving Space
Saving space in your resume is crucial when you have an extensive work experience to
catalogue, or even when you are trying to restrict your resume within a single page.
Here are some useful tips:
īˇ Restrict margins to one inch (left, right, top, bottom). Do not exceed one-half-inch
īˇ Below your name, try to keep your address restricted to a single line
īˇ Eschew bullet points for a paragraph format when writing job descriptions. Place
date range for each job at the end of the paragraph when stating job
responsibilities
īˇ When using bullet points to describe job responsibilities, set job duties by using
categories, instead of using a different bullet for each job duty
īˇ For describing skills, for e.g. computer skills, cut down on words by putting only
names of computer courses or programs
13. 12
īˇ Evaluate paragraph and section tabs/indentations only when required
īˇ Use lesser section partitions by breaking down content into related sections
īˇ If you plan upon using smaller font, donât go below 10 point size
īˇ Cut down job descriptions by lessening details
īˇ Remove unnecessary information
īˇ Remove high school records
6.9 Reviewing and Directing Your Resume
Be truthful and effective when describing yourself and your abilities in your resume. Be
confident in portraying your abilities and skills in accordance with the job position you
are trying to achieve. Remember that you should portray a genuine and legitimate
image of yourself, your achievements and the direction you are trying to pursue. You
will be asked to provide details about the content you have put in your resume.
Therefore, it will help if your content is positive in terms of job experience and portrays a
positive image of yourself. Use the following tips:
īˇ Avoid generalizations when describing your past job duties. Use precise facts
and figures
īˇ Use language specific to the industry you were previously employed in. This will
portray to the recruiter that you have some knowledge of that industry, if not
actual working experience, which could prove advantageous for you
īˇ Portray undesirable working conditions of past employment in a positive manner.
For example, state character-developing experiences you had as a result of
coping with tense working conditions by employing resourcefulness, for e.g.
6.10 Submitting your Resume
Prior to finalizing your resume before submission, review the following points:
īˇ Make sure you have included your phone number
īˇ Ensure that your contact details are accurate
īˇ Proofread your resume several times and check for any wrong spellings,
grammar, formatting, etc.
īˇ Check if all the organization names are correctly recorded in your resume
īˇ Determine whether you have used correct formatting, spacing, tabs, grammar,
spelling and styles
īˇ Portray an accurate image of yourself and your career goals
īˇ Remove/minimize time gaps in your resume
īˇ Avoiding using sensitive matter
īˇ Make sure you have included all positive and unique job experiences in your
career
īˇ Review the authenticity of your resume content. Make sure you are prepared to
explain and discuss in detail about any facts you may have included in your
resume
14. 13
7 Cover Letter
7.1 Definition
The Cover Letter serves as an introductory letter, or a letter of application that is
attached to another document, in this case, a resume. The purpose of writing a cover
letter for job seekers is to introduce themselves to a potential recruiter and provide an
explanation of their appropriateness for a preferred job position. Besides acting as a
letter of introduction, the cover letter is used to emphasize a few of your job skills or
experience and to request an opportunity for meeting the potential employer for a job
interview.
7.2 Purpose
In todayâs highly competitive work environment, creating a favorable first impression is
crucial. Job recruiters have to deal with hundreds of resumes and have very little time to
survey each single job application. Hence, it is imperative to make your application
stand out from the rest in the very short period of time a recruiter will have to spend
glancing through it.
Writing an effective cover letter not only provides a favorable first impression to a job
recruiter, but also shows the recruiter how effectively you can communicate. So for this
reason, you should take extra care in writing a highly impressive and professional cover
letter. Most employers require a cover letter because it helps them screen job applicants
for available positions in their organizations and enables them to choose the most likely
candidates to call for job interviews.
7.3 Tips for Writing an Effective Cover Letter
īˇ State your reason for applying for a job in the first few sentences
īˇ Remember that you are promoting your âbrand valueâ to the recruiter and aiming
to convince the recruiter that your distinctive qualities as an employee will make
you the ideal candidate for the job
īˇ Avoid submitting a generalized cover letter. It is more professional to
individualize your cover letter design and content and aim to specifically target it
at the job you are applying for
īˇ Highlight your skills in your cover letter in a manner that they are aligned with the
skills that an employer needs from the ideal candidate
īˇ Emphasize specifically those of your skills and abilities which portray you as
exclusive and unique for the job
īˇ Give examples of your skills and abilities that may be suitable and add value to
the organization you are applying to
īˇ Be truthful about your abilities in your cover letter and avoid clichÊs
15. 14
7.4 Cover letter Dos and Donâts
Write your cover letter in a standard letter format. When submitting a cover letter online,
it is advisable and recommended to place it within the body of your email. The reasons
for doing this are as follows:
Dos
īˇ It will take less of the recruiterâs time to view your cover letter in the main email
body when he/she opens your email, as opposed to opening it up as an
attachment
īˇ Seeing personalized text in the email will ensure the recruiter that your email is
not spam
īˇ It will eliminate the possibility of the recruiter not being able to open your cover
letter if it is in the form of an attachment, maybe due to some technical reason
īˇ If the recruiter is unable to open your resume attachment, reading an impressive
cover letter in the email body will convince him to respond to your email and
request for another copy of your resume
īˇ Make sure to also include an attachment of your cover letter in your email,
should the recruiter want to print it out for official purposes
Donâts
īˇ Donât start your cover letter with the words âMy name isâĻâ as it creates an
unprofessional impression
īˇ Donât write a lengthy cover letter. Recruiters are pressed for time and are unlikely
to read more than a few, short paragraphs. Keep your content interesting and
emphasize only important details
īˇ Donât address your cover letter to the wrong person or company
īˇ Donât include grammar or spelling mistakes in your cover letter. Proofread before
submitting
īˇ Donât forget to include contact details in your cover letter
īˇ Most importantly, DONâT neglect providing a cover letter
Remember that your cover letter is as important as your resume. Recruiters have very
little time when screening applicants for a job interview. Often, recruiters will be faced
with dozens of applications, out of which they might have to choose 5-10 for interview
calls. Having little time to decide, they will always be on the lookout to eliminate some
applications quickly. A resume without a cover letter will create a most unfavorable first
impression and will be likely to be eliminated. For recruiters, an application with a cover
letter will give them the impression that the applicant took the time and trouble to write it
and is genuinely interested in the job position being offered.