Before You Click ‘Send Your Resume’! Cover Letter Basics

Before You Click ‘Send Your Resume’! Cover Letter Basics

by | Resume

You might spend days and even weeks preparing that perfect resume. However, the manner in which you send it over, which includes the cover letter, is very important. This determines if the prospective employer is even going to get to the stage of reading your resume. In this post we have tried to put together most of the things that you need to tick off the checklist before you send in your resume for the dream job.

Cover letter basics while emailing your Resume

1. Pay attention to the guidelines –

Most companies have detailed guidelines about how to send them a mail. Find and read these instructions carefully to avoid getting rejected despite having a great resume. If you know someone who works in the organization, get in touch with him and take his advice. If there is a referral system in place, see if you can get your resume submitted through it.

2. Address your email to a specific person-

Find out the name of the person you are mailing your resume to. Even if the organization has a generic email to send resumes, they sometimes mention a contact person who handles all recruitment requests. It is your job to scour the organization website to find out the person and address the email to him/her. It gives the reader a sense that you genuinely care about joining the organization.

3. Be thorough with your cover letter –

The mail should have a cover letter stating your interest in the organization and your intent behind applying for the job. Introduce yourself briefly and clearly state why you are writing the mail. In case the person you have sent it to is not the right person, then he/she can forward it to the person in charge instead of having to read all of it.

4. Be VERY thorough with your cover letter –

The rest of the cover letter needs succinctly describe your skills and experiences, as required by the organization. Be careful not to copy as is from your resume: it shows you are lazy. Try to include important experiences and skills pertinent to the position you are applying for. Write in complete sentences. You also have to explain briefly why you would be a valuable asset to the organization if they hire you.

5. Find out about their referee policy –

If required by the organization, mention the name of your referees and how they are related to you. Give correct contact addresses for these people and make sure you notify them in advance regarding your application. Also include your own contact information at the end of the cover letter as well as in the resume so that the recruiters can easily get in touch with you.

Make sure the cover letter is not generic. The reader should feel that you have read about their organization before mailing, and not simply sent a generic mail to all companies that you are applying to. Browse the organization website and get to know about their work culture, ethics and history. You should write how these qualities match your own beliefs, and how this would help you thrive in the organization. Customizing the cover letter according to the organization grabs the reader’s attention and gives you a definite edge over other applicants with generic letters.

And finally, before you click “send”, send it to yourself first so that there is absolutely no margin for error. This would be your final step in proof reading!

All the very best!

The Best Tips for Writing Your Resume Right – Write up a Stellar Resume Today!

The Best Tips for Writing Your Resume Right – Write up a Stellar Resume Today!

by | Resume

Writing the perfect resume is no easy task.  And it is always a work in progress – getting revised whenever you have a new career milestone.  It takes hours, days and weeks to make it perfect. However, pointers for what to write and what not to write always help. Here are a few do’s and don’ts we recommend you keep in mind while writing that stellar resume! Also check out this super resume cheat sheet created by Business News Daily that we found to be quite comprehensive.

Do’s while writing your Resume:

The Design of Your Resume: Keep it simple, keep it readable. Make use of bullet points instead of paragraphs, also use sufficient white spaces. It makes your resume more readable. Font size 11/12 is ideal. Let it not be strenuous for the reviewer to read your resume!

Your Digital Footprint is important: Your LinkedIn profile (or any other platform you mention in your resume) should be up-to-date and should lead your prospective employer to your publications, patents, volunteering experiences, and other information relevant to the post you are applying for.

Objective: Your objectives for applying should be apparent, clearly stated and employer-centric. Give them reasons to call you for that interview! Keep working on that cover letter and bring forth relevant information in your resume.

Action words: A judicious use of what we call action words can have an impact on the reviewer when used in the right way. “Growth”, “Build”, “Driving force”, “Lead” are a few examples.

Edit: Be a merciless editor. Do away with all the words you can afford to delete! Keep it as short and crisp as you can. This always helps a resume stand out!

Don’ts while writing your Resume:

No typos! There is absolutely no margin for error when it comes to grammar and spelling errors in a resume. Be extra cautious, check, double-check, triple-check and then have a friend check again!

No fancy email id:  rahulrocks@yahoo.com, or anjalicutiepie@rediff.com may be the first ever email ids you created, which are extremely close to your heart, but they make your otherwise outstanding resume look highly unprofessional. Use simple email ids, if you don’t have one, do create one!

Genuine Information: The information you publish on your resume must be genuine. Do not inflate or make up accomplishments. If a background check contradicts the information you have sent out, it reflects very badly upon your profile and may also lead to serious consequences for your career.

Strictly avoid using ornate fonts and fancy layouts: Of course the appearance of your resume matters. However, do avoid use of ornate fonts, colors, designer layouts. These distract the reviewer and take away from the importance of your profile. Bullet points, emboldened characters wherever necessary, sufficient use of white spaces and a proper format are your best bets for a fab looking resume!

Don’t make it an autobiography: Before you set out to pen your resume, demarcate what is personal and what is professional with utmost clarity. Leave out whatever is personal and of no consequence to your prospective employer. For example, your marital status, spouse and parents’ names, your height, weight, etc. are not required. Do not write a long paragraph about why you should get the job, let your qualifications speak for you and leave the speaking for the interview. Be careful how you list your achievements, so that you do not come across as an individual blowing his own trumpet!

Writing An Effective Resume – Write it Right.

Writing An Effective Resume – Write it Right.

by | Resume

The single most important thing while applying for a job is your Resume. What you write and how you write it has a direct impact on your job hunt score. There can be various ways you can build a resume. In this post, we have put together three best templates – depending on the kind of skills you want to show case. And how you want to do so. Read on and follow the links for the sample layouts!

 

Chronological Resume: For the Star

This format of resume is most popular and common. It is almost always sought after by the employer for its efficient timeline layout. The contents, i.e, your work experience, education and other details are listed in a reverse chronological order – the most recent being on top. Each position you list has to be supplemented by the qualifications you hold for the position and accomplishments achieved while in that position. Your education section is to have your latest degree first followed by any other degrees you may have acquired previously, and information about your schooling (up to 10 +2). Additionally a Skills section would help you to highlight any additional skills-centric workshop/certificate courses you may have participated in (again listed in reverse chronological order with the most recent one being on top).

Pros:

If your career graph has been steadily growing with little or no slack, the chronological format is the best format to use. It instantly communicates your diligence to your prospective employer. The reviewer of your resume gets a sense of the amount of work you have been able to accomplish and skills you have been able to acquire across a given span of time.

Cons:

If your career has had its hibernating moments, the timeline makes it apparent. Thus, this format, which focusses more on the timeline of your career and positions held at various points instead of your overall skills, may not work for you while designing your resume.

A sample Chronological Resume:

http://jobsearch.about.com/library/samples/blretailresume.htm

Functional Resume: For the Jack of All Trades

Going by the name, a ‘Functional’ resume is one which focuses more on an elaboration of your skills and experiences rather than a timeline-d format of positions held by you. Thus, if you have skills in the categories of Human Resources, Communication, Customer Service, and so on, your skills, experience and accomplishments pertaining to these categories are to be listed in bullet points under each heading. It has to be followed by a separate heading – ‘Employment’ in which you list your work order in reverse chronological order. This format gives more focus to skills than your work experience, however any kind of resume has to have a section in which your employment history is listed.

Pros:

Emphasis on potential through emphasis on skills, hence a good way to show the reviewer that you do have potential even if you may not have acquired adequate work experience. Excellent for candidates with diverse education and experience – helps display a more vibrant and flexible skill set.

Cons:

Unless properly structured, it may be a struggle for the employer to make sense of your objectives. In that case, your resume is bound to be eliminated in the screening stage itself – cannot blame the reviewer for not having the patience to decode your resume. More so because, this format doesn’t show your job progression clearly. You have to be extremely conscious of the fact that yours is not the only resume the reviewer has to go through, this consciousness will help you cut redundancy and be efficient while structuring your resume.

A sample Functional Resume:

http://jobsearch.about.com/library/samples/blresumefunct.htm

Combination Resume: For the Yoda Master

This format lets you have the best of the Chronological Resume and the Functional Resume. It helps you highlight your skills as well as your progressive work experience in a timeline format.

Pros:

Ideal for you if your career has been completely free of glitches and you have more achievements than you can possibly put down on paper (if that’s the case, take care to curb the arrogance which may be apparent through how you write!). It gives the employer the satisfaction of knowing your work history and also your potential through an evaluation of your skills which you may list.

Cons:

Making this resume requires a lot of time and patience. Golden words to strictly adhere to while writing it: ‘Be efficient, cut the redundancy (and the arrogance!)’.

A sample Combination Resume:

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/resume-examples/fl/software-engineer-resume.htm

Hope this post helps you to write your resume right! 🙂