You need a practical cover letter that summarizes your accomplishments and highlights vital elements in your background, as well as convincing the reader to want to review your resume.  A good cover letter should be customized for your job search and include an interchangeable template so you can cater each cover letter towards the exact position (even requisition ID number) for any specific employer, right down to how you can provide a solution to that particular company’s specific needs, thus making your knowledge appear superior to your competitor.

What are you seeking in this position?  Tell them your objective.  For example:  “I am a 20-year banking expert seeking a financial advisory position with a progressive, leading company in Cleveland, OH”.  Even better, use the company’s name.

When preparing a cover letter, a good thing to remember is that it needs to be attention-worthy.  Do not say “Dear Hiring Manager,” but rather find out the person who is making the hire and personalize it (target the letter) for them.  Do not just state that you need a job in marketing, but rather why you want a job in marketing at this particular company.

A client of mine used LinkedIn to locate a specific hiring manager at a company that had posted a position she was highly interested in.  She then utilized my Google search methodology (see “How I Contact Hiring Managers to Find a Job”) to find the hiring manager’s email and sent him a customized cover letter.  The hiring manager told her that he immediately picked up the phone to contact her even before looking at her resume because of her cover letter.

Follow-up Letter Preparation

Post-interview can be the most crucial time for a job seeker.  While you are still fresh in the hiring manager’s mind, you need to act…and quick!  You need an effective follow-up letter that:

- Shows the employer your relevant interest in the job

- Shows your appreciation of the correspondence and interview they provided

- Reiterates your skills and any important information you might have not provided while interviewing

- Reminds them about some key highlights that occurred during the interview

- Updates them with important information they might have requested

- Tells why you can be the solution to their human capital needs

When I recruited for a hiring manager at an Aerospace company, he explained to me that if he does not receive a follow-up letter, he would not even consider a candidate.  Now that is a bit extreme, but the point is that you never know the type of person that is hiring candidates, so you must accommodate everyone in every way that is in your control.  So if a follow-up letter is something extra you can do to exceed expectations, why not do it?

In conclusion, I think a cover letter and follow-up letter are just as important as a resume.  All of these documents belong in your job search “toolkit” and must be precise and just as good as your resume.  I have had clients in the past that did not put the time and effort into their collateral and wondered why they would not garner an interview.  It’s simple: provide the potential employers with everything possible that showcases your abilities and motivation to be better than the competition, because your competition is making sure they have all the right tools in their toolbox.

Become the first to get into a company and become more competitive by accessing daily information pertaining to your industry and in your metro. Set up Google news and Yahoo news alerts for the words “relocating” or “relocation” and your city’s or near-city’s name to find companies who are relocating to your area. Set up alerts for “expansion” and “growth” to identify growth companies and emerging opportunities for you to seek out hiring decision makers and recruiters at those companies.  I had a client that was set on being in one particular city, so her chances of receiving new employment were lower than if she would have been tolerable with relocation.  Well once her husband was laid off and they were open to relocation, she requested some pointers to find new employment over 200 miles away.  I showed her this process of setting up alerts, and her first interview came from a hiring manager whom was mentioned in a Google News article.  My client tracked down this hiring manager she read about, submitted her resume and landed a job post-interview.

Review leading online and published newspapers like Forbes and The Wall Street Journal (and your local paper) to keep up on those growth industries. This also allows you to be fully- informed on what is going on in your market.  Be an expert!

Obviously you cannot get a job unless you put yourself out there. You must answer ads, contact recruiters at staffing companies, network, post resumes on niche and general job boards and employer websites. There is still more you can do! Research growing companies that hire your job description. Connect with hiring managers and decision makers on outlets like LinkedIn. Cover all your bases!

Making Contact

Hiring personnel get annoyed very easily. Do not be overly pushy and take yourself out of the running before the race even starts. If the hiring managers and recruiters can find a job for you, trust me, they will! They want to hire a qualified candidate as fast as possible, but they know what they want and hopefully (if you market yourself correctly) they know what you can bring to the company. If it is a match, great! If it is not, let it go and move on. I once had a candidate that contacted our recruiting office numerous times a week and applied to every single job that every single recruiter posted, he became blacklisted from any future opportunities.  It was not the fact that he was eager, but the fact that he then would lie to each of the recruiters and create tension between the office.  It was company policy to document every conversation, so thus he was not eligible for any future opportunities with our company.

Great ways to search for hiring contacts:

- Looking up resumes posted online and searching through references on a resume. This can provide direct contact with managers and can be a good way to begin a networking campaign.

- Contacting associations and respected leaders in a certain industry and finding out who they know does the hiring at various companies.

- Communicating with college instructors or career service personnel who can provide contact information of employers who have performed on-site speeches during a class or attended a career fair.

- Networking with past colleagues and managers to find out if they know of anyone looking to add talent. Sometimes a past reference might be looking to hire someone of your skill-set again.

Another trick is to utilize the Google search command to find email addresses of your targeted hiring managers. Find the hiring manager’s name either by using sites like LinkedIn, on the company’s website, a professional forum or even in a job posting. Then search the company’s email format. By that I mean search how the company sets up their email address for the employees. For instance, Google’s might be setup like “John.Doe@google.com”. So now you know that the hiring manager at Google, Jane Doe, whom you are targeting will be “Jane.Doe@google.com”. Now you have the direct email address and therefore can initiate contact and even send a resume.

The goal again is to get your credentials in front of the people making the hiring decisions. Sometimes it can be Human Resources, but most of the time it is a departmental person who will physically be making the decision because that will be your new boss. So get yourself out there and work the networking route for a higher number of interviews and thus, a higher chance of interview success.

Company Portals

Almost all companies post their job openings on their company portal (or website).  This is the spot on a company website where it says “Careers”.  When I worked in Human Resources, we always had to post our job openings on the company portal so the internal employees could apply to the opening.  So we would usually just check the second box stating “share to company website” just to see if we could drum up some outside resumes.

I suggest searching all the portals of main industry players and also larger companies that hire your profession and click on that company’s “career” section.  Create an online profile and post your resume so that company’s hiring manager or recruiter can find your resume.  Also, set up an alert before you log off the company’s portal.  Alerts are email triggers that are sent to your Inbox once a company posts a position matching your credentials.  Not only does this help you get pulled up when a company’s internal recruiter is searching for resumes on the company database, but it also allows for you to apply to the job instantaneously.  As a recruiter, we can become inundated with upwards of 1000 resumes for one job, so we sometimes can only get to the first 250 resumes.  If you apply to a company’s opening while it’s still a fresh posting, your chances of your resume actually being seen are increased dramatically.
But remember, set up alerts on both company portals and niche and general job boards.  Once a position opens up with your title, you receive an email instantly and you can have an edge on competitors by applying that same day the job was posted before the next 2,000 resumes come through.

Also, set up Google and Yahoo News alerts for your specific title/industry and general job-hunting techniques.  Use relevant keywords such as “job hunting tips”, “apply mechanical engineer” and “automotive production supervisor opening”.

General Job Boards

As much as they have become flooded, continue to post your resume on CareerBuilder and Monster because that is where recruiters typically search for resumes first; and why not, when there are more job seekers on there than anywhere else in the world.  Also use Craigslist, which is a great place to find local job postings in your area.

Niche Job Boards and Forums within Your Industry

Perform an online search with your industry title plus “job board” and review the results.  Post your resume on those sites and set up alerts as well.  Sometimes these sites display forums where you can participate in discussions on industry topics or trends.  I had a client in the past that utilized a forum and networked his way into a new position, solely based on a discussion about a particular piece of equipment he had worked on and a hiring manager just happened to have been engaged in this discussion.  The hiring manager was so impressed by my client’s knowledge, he offered him an interview the next day.

Association Websites within Your Industry

Most professional associations are easy to find online and by checking out an association’s website, you might find a job board or resume posting access.  Even if not, you may find industry events being held, networking groups or even an opportunity to create a profile and join an online chat-board to stay in the loop.

Job Board Aggregators

Instead of going to the major job boards (e.g., CareerBuilder, Monster), start by using Indeed.com or SimplyHired.com which are called job board aggregators.  These sites search jobs on all the other job boards including company web sites and local newspapers and pull the results into one, nice place for you to view.

In conclusion, some people are growing more tired because they think they have exhausted all of their online resources, but the truth is that there are so many companies that are hiring, you just have to be a little more savvy in finding those openings.

www.mjwcareers.com

MJW Careers Commercial – Truck Leap

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Listen to the podcast here: http://mjwcareers.blogspot.com/2011/04/jobstickers-podcast-8-how-to-search-for.html

On the show, we discussed some tips and don’t forget about our Free Resume contest. For more info about these and other great job hunting tips, please visit www.jobstickers.com or our website www.mjwcareers.com.

For more information on the “Free Resume” contest, check out http://mjwcareers.blogspot.com/2011/01/announcing-free-resume-contest.html

While working in Human Resources as a Recruiter, I once had a hiring manager hire a candidate simply because of their interview. He was so pleased with the candidate’s knowledge and their pertinent closing questions relating to the company’s current situation and the actual position being advertised. The hiring manager favored the interviewee over another candidate strictly due to the fact that he showed enthusiasm to learn more and really cared about the organization.

How was that candidate able to do all this? Researching the company. You always want to make sure you research a company prior to attending an interview, so you can:

1. Know if you would enjoy working there.

2. Find out if you would fit into their corporate culture.

3. Ask educated questions throughout the interview.

4. Use verbiage during the interview that relates to the company, industry and specific job for which you are interviewing.

5. Ask insightful closing questions.

Remember, your competition is doing this legwork. There is nothing worse than having no questions at all. You want to add some of these following questions in the mix to make you that much more effective:

1. Is there any other information you need from me regarding my application?

2. Do you have any hesitations about me for this position?

3. How do I compare to my competition?

4. Is there any reason why I would not be an asset in the job I am interviewing for?

5. I want to work for your company; can you see any reason how I might not fit into your corporate culture?

6. Is there anything hindering me from moving forward in the interview process?

7. Where do I go from here? Can you tell me about the rest of the interviewing process?

8. Do you know when I might hear correspondence regarding the next step?

9. Is there any reason why we can’t set up the next interview now?

So before you go to an interview, research the company and prepare a list of closing questions. The more work you put into the preparation process, the greater your chance of impressing the interviewer and getting hired!

1. Don’t ask about time off and salary up front! Wait to find out about salary when they bring it up and wait to hear about perks once they present the compensation package to you. Asking about medical benefits is acceptable though.

2. Don’t ask about what the company does! You should’ve researched that info so don’t waste their time (and yours)! I once worked with a hiring manager that grilled candidates about the company and the current state of the company and industry. He wanted to make sure he only had passionate people working on his team.

3. Don’t get too casual. I once had a job interview with a highly respected insurance company that I felt real cozy in because I knew the human resources professional. Well, one slip up and it cost me big time. I accidentally used an explicit word because we got a little personal between each other. Later the hiring manager told me I did not get the job due to that fact. Casual only gets you to a place where you lose focus on what you’re doing there in the first place. Unfortunately, that’s when things may come out of your mouth that shouldn’t unless you’re with your buddies at happy hour.

4. Don’t bash your previous or current employer! It can show that you aren’t very loyal and that you don’t respect those that aren’t on your current radar screen. Hiring managers don’t want you to do that to them in case you leave and they certainly don’t want anyone who uses and abuses to get ahead. Just because you aren’t happy with your previous employer does not mean you have the right to express your true feelings about it to a stranger.

5. Always dress one level up! Just because you might be a tradesman and your job dictates you wear jeans and a shirt to work does not mean you should be wearing that to your interview! Wear one outfit above the job you are interviewing for so in this case, the tradesman would wear a collared shirt and slacks. A salesperson would wear a suit and tie.

Stay positive and show that you really want the job throughout the interview. Asking about salary and perks shows that you don’t care about anything else. Research the company before you go. Don’t speak negatively about anything, especially your previous jobs. Dress to impress. Practice these simple acts and watch the offers start rolling in!

A resume that stands out can create a sense of urgency for a recruiter to present it to the hiring manager without even calling the candidate first. Of course, that isn’t the reality, because we do have to pause and track down the one with the “golden eggsume.” Recruiters investigate all candidates to see if they really do match up with the opening.

Now you’re asking, “what did that person have on his or her resume to make them stand out?” Simple… they can do the job and the resume reflects that. As much as I would like to just spend time on top candidates, I still want to help the rest of the fold, should they ask why they didn’t get chosen. With that, I give you five surefire resume killers that can become deal breakers, in no particular order.

Get Rid of the Fluff – People tend to use too many adjectives (i.e., “fast learner”, “hard working”) when describing themselves or their experience. Do not be one of those people! Anyone can say they are a “team player”. These descriptions are subjective and cannot be proven. We also don’t need to know how you helped Bill get to work for a week when his van broke down.

It Isn’t a Novel – You do not need to write a paragraph for each job description. I once had a candidate send me a summary of his work experience, as opposed to a nicely formatted section including employment dates, employer, location and title. My hiring manager told me it had to be cleaned up before he would even review it, so I passed the memo along to the candidate and apparently he was too lazy (or offended) to make any edits. Even though he was a fit for our opening, it was on to the next candidate!

Lack of Depth – Write tangible descriptions relating to your skills and duties. Provide numbers or results you produced and quantify the statement with that information. Anything is better than broad statements. They are annoying and a major turn-off for HR people and managers. Data and numbers showcasing your ability to impact the bottom line is what they want to see. So find out how you were able to increase revenue or decrease expenditures for your previous employers and make it known on your resume.

One Title, One Resume – Tailor your resume to the job you are attempting to land and market yourself specifically for this job. Hiring managers are focused on what they need and expect your resume to be geared towards that need. If you are interested in multiple job titles, create multiple versions of your resume. Make sure they are based on the company’s job descriptions/titles you apply to and tailor them towards those openings.

Not Enough Buzzwords – Use words from the job posting to customize your resume each time you send it out. If the job posting says “project management,” use that same term in your resume as it relates to your experience. Most recruiters are not experts on every single facet of every single opening, so they constantly are seeking out information from actual candidates to further their knowledge about the openings. With that said, try to help them out and put buzzwords onto your resume so they can see that you actually have comparable skills to that job posting. Plus, when recruiters search databases to find your resumes, most of the time they use those same buzzwords.

A superior resume displays your marketable or transferable skills and experience and “pre-sells” you. Not to only gain an interview, but make it so that when you walk in, the interviewer’s reaction is: “I’ve read your resume, and I’m really looking forward to meeting with you.” A superior resume puts you ahead of the ever-increasing competition, so you can be confident that you get noticed over the hundreds of other people applying.