A lot of people spend hours and hours checking and rechecking their resume. They include every aspect and details of their qualifications such as their skills, work experience and educational attainment to show their (hopefully) future employer that they are indeed the perfect and the best person for the job.

This is all good. Your resume can do a lot for you. But, some people have been so overly focused on their resume that they tend to neglect their cover letter. Your cover letter is an essential aspect of your application that is equal in importance to your resume. There are even times when the screeners would base their decisions on the cover letter alone.

This is because your cover letter is your very first chance to provide an impression. This is what most employers read first and judge your personality. A lot about you can be said through your cover letter. This will be your chance to convince the reader to move on to your resume.

To make sure that your cover letter gives a good synopsis about you, it should include a presentation of all your abilities and qualifications that would imply that you are the right person for the position. You must make sure that you present your cover letter in a very professional manner that depicts your seriousness and willingness to take the job.

Also, think about your cover letter as your marketing material, and what you are selling is yourself. It serves as an introductory material which will show off your good points. This should make the reader want more and capture his or her interest immediately. Like a good marketing strategy, your cover letter should grab attention and be very noticeable. This would then lead the hiring manager to read on more about you, and perhaps, know more about you by calling you for an interview.

To start off, your cover letter should be addressed to the appropriate person. This will show that you have done your research and took the effort to learn about such matters. This will also make your letter more personal and not just a template which could have been sent to other companies.

Explain why you want the job and why you think the job is right for you. You should paint a precise picture wherein the job was made especially for you and that no one else would be able to do it just right. Just avoid over exaggerating and telling lies. A lot of companies verify what you have written in your cover letter and if they find out that you are lying, you will definitely create a bad impression.

Detail out your strengths, but make sure to include only those that can be applied to the position that you are going after. You don’t want to mention you’re a crossword champion when you’re applying for a secretarial job, this may mean that you spend all your time just doing crosswords.

Never forget to include all your contact details and mention the times when you will be free for an interview. This will show that you are very positive and a take charge kind of guy. Also, make sure that you spend ample time to check and recheck your cover letter; an error-free cover letter connotes professionalism.

Mario Churchill is the President of CareerJimmy and author of “Amazing Cover Letter Creator.” Visit him at: http://www.amazing-cover-letters.com for your “instant” cover letters today.

If you’ve ever been on an active job search, you know how
crucial a quality resume is to getting the job interview.
Let’s take a look at five common resume mistakes people make
that you should avoid if you want your resume to stand out
in a positive light.

1) Fancy Paper - This is a big no no. White, off white, and
possibly manilla are the only colors you should consider for
your resume paper. Yes, neon green and hot pink will stand
out in that large stack of resumes that youre potential employer
is sifting through. It will stand out and make it easier for
them to pull it out of the stack and toss it in the trash.

2) Old and Outdated Information - At a certain point, some information
on your resume will really be irrelevant to whether or not you are
qualified for the job. If you are a new college graduate, part time
jobs you held during high school may be relevant. It shows your
responsibility at a young age and that you could manage your time
well by working and going to school. However, if you’ve been in the
workforce for the last ten years, your employer is not going to want
to see those jobs on your resume. Toss them.

3) Mispellings & Typos - This should never happen. Your resume is at
most two pages long. It’s an extremely important document in your life.
If you have typos or mispellings on your resume, your potential employer
is really going to question whether you can handle the responsibility of
the position. Read your resume thoroughly and then have someon you trust
read through it as well.

4) Falsified Information - AKA, LIES! I shouldn’t have to include this
point but it happens over and over again. Just don’t do it. It will come
back to haunt you eventually.

5) Other Information - Don’t include any type of attachments with your
resume, other than the cover letter. If you have other information that
is relevant but does not fit neatly into your resume, it’s something you
should save to bring to the job interview, if you get it.

While it’s important to know what information to include in your resume
and now to present that information in the best light, it’s also very
important to avoid certain mistakes and information on your resume as well.
By avoiding these mistakes you are halfway to a high quality resume that
will get noticed in a good way.

Learn more about href="http://www.resume-cover-letter-and-career-tips.com">how to write an effective resume with Freddie Johnson’s free articles on resumes, cover letters, interview and job search tips at http://www.resume-cover-letter-and-career-tips.com

When you write your resume (with or without advice and professional help), who is your target audience? Who are you trying to satisfy?

First of all, you’re not writing your resume to satisfy yourself. For that matter, you’re not writing it to satisfy any “expert” – the author of the resume book you just read, or the recruiter you’re working with, or your career guidance counselor, or your cousin Fred who is a human resources manager, or even a professional resume writer.

You are writing for a particular kind of reader: a potential employer. And if you’re like most of us, you make some very, very optimistic assumptions about that reader. You are certain that your reader is eager to find the best person for the job. Your reader, you are sure, is going to read the important things in your resume, and that his or her eye will be drawn to all of those clever formatting tricks you’ve used (columns, underlining, different fonts, boldfacing, italics, strong verbs, skills, numbers, results, etc.).

But you’d better take off the rose-colored glasses. Your resume has a better than 98% chance of ending up in the garbage can (real or virtual).

Here are 7 characteristics of the psychology of the typical resume reader:

1. Resume readers are some of the smartest and most skeptical readers in the world. They know that at least half of what they read consists of lies, exaggerations, half-truths, and semantic and formatting “tricks.” They don’t accept anything at face value. Remember, the typical resume reader sees literally thousands; they know every trick in the book by now.

2. Most readers are in a bad mood, not a happy mood of eager expectancy. They’ve got 300 resumes to read, and nobody is giving them an extra penny to carefully peruse each one. They are rushed for time, annoyed at having to read yet another resume, and hostile rather than sympathetic. Reading yet another resume is a burden that is keeping them from their attention to what they consider much, much more important matters.

3. Therefore, the typical resume reader is looking for a quick and convincing reason to throw out yours. Some will even discard it if they don’t like the envelope or the way the email looks. Some will read only the resume and not the cover letter, or vice-versa. And they are unwilling to open up a zip file. You know how annoying it is to get an email that requires you to open up several files? For the resume reader, it is triply annoying.

4. They are unimpressed by the latest resume “fad.” For a long time, it was (and to a great extent still is) ‘verbs.’ Since a verb is an action word, we think, the reader will be impressed by lots of great verbs. They’re not. The latest craze is numbers. You’ve got to have lots of quantitative data in your resume, or no one will take you seriously. I see resumes now that are nothing but a bewildering array of numbers, and I do not believe it is any more impressive to the typical resume reader than is a bewildering array of verbs.

5. None will read in detail – that we all know. All will skim-read for about 20 seconds or less. They are looking for certain information FIRST, to see if the resume is worth reading in more detail. Usually they look for job titles and academic degrees first. Some look first for gaps in employment, some for certain skills, some for length of employment. Each reader has his or her own top priority to scan for first. And even if they read it in detail, they’ll give it to 5 other people who will skim it.

6. Most readers know that their company is in no hurry to hire. Even if they are interested in you, they will take their time responding. They are not interested in calling you back right away, even if they like your resume.

7. They are not interested in your personal objectives for your life and your career. They are only interested in how you can help their company solve its problems and achieve its goals—that’s why they hire. But they are totally unaware of your unique strengths and value that you can potentially bring to the organization. That’s because in most resumes, the person’s unique strengths and potential value are buried somewhere in the middle of the resume and not written for a skimmer/reader.

So, when you write your resume (or have anyone else help you write it), keep the above characteristics in mind. You have got to give your reader 1) what they are looking for FIRST, and 2) what you want them to find FIRST. That means that you cannot emphasize everything equally in your resume. You’ve got to write it so that they see their priorities and yours instantly. Make sure to keep that in mind, and you’ll have a much better chance of having your resume taken seriously.

Sander Marcus, Ph.D., is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Certified Professional Resume Writer in Chicago. He has over 3 decades of experience in providing career counseling, aptitude testing, job search coaching, and resume writing to tens of thousands of individuals. He is the co-author of 2 books on academic underachievement, various tests, and numerous articles. He can be contacted at marcus@iit.edu, 312-567-3358. href="http://www.iit.edu/~psyccrs/careermotiv8.htm">http://www.center.iit.edu

Are you confident in your ability to ace your job interview? While that
may be crucial to locking up job offer, you’ll never get the job interview
if you don’t wow them with your resume first. So how do you wow them?

Writing your resume, while being the key to a successful job search, shouldn’t
fill you with dread. You don’t have to write the great American novel. You
don’t need to come up with some exciting and surprising plot twists. There
are definite resume writing tips and techniques you can use to make your
resume stand out in a large pile of other resumes.

You need to tailor your resume so that it highlights all the qualifications,
work experience and any education that you’ve had that best represents the type
of work you are applying for. You should also include any other work experience
that you’ve had, as well as any accomplishments that you have made in your field.

While you want your resume to be formatted properly, as well as look very professional,
it should stand out because of your qualifications and skills, not because it’s in
green calligraphy font on hot pink 11 x 14 inch paper.

Let’s take a look at some crucial resume writing tips you should know to improve your
resume. These are some of the things you need to avoid if you want your resume to
stand out in a positive way.

* Don’t leave out or try and bury crucial information that needs to be on your
resume.

* If you have major gaps in your work history, it’s best to address that right
up front. This is probably something you’ll want to include in your resume
cover letter. If you just list your work history and there’s a big gap of time
that you didn’t work, the employer is not going to call you and ask you about it.
There are plenty of other resumes to look it. Yours will go in the trash.

* If you have a summary, make it short and concise. Employers and recruiters
don’t want to read your life story.

* Use a standard and simple font like Times New Roman, or Courier. Like I mentioned
above, stay away from fancy fonts on your resume.

* Avoid writing your resume as a narrative. It should not be in the first or third
person. Your resume will sell you as being arrogant or egotistical. That’s not the
way to get a job interview.

* No pictures or graphics!! No! No! No! Your resume should be text only. Period.

* I know this one seems obvious but you’d be surprised at what gets put on a resume.
Do not lie on your resume. It will come back to haunt you. It may not be until well
after you get a job, but it will happen.

* Forget about the trivial stuff, like hobbies. It doesn’t help and it could hurt
your job search.

* Don’t use long paragraphs in your resume. Everything should be short and concise.

* Keep your resume length at two pages maximum. You don’t have to worry about fitting
your resume on one page but don’t go longer than two. Everything you need to convey on
your resume can be handled sufficiently in two pages.

* Spelling and grammar errors will kill you. Proofread and proofread again and then
get someone you trust to proofread it as well.

Avoiding these resume writing mistakes will go a long way toward writing a resume that
gets you a href="http://www.resume-cover-letter-and-career-tips.com">job interview.

Learn more about how to write an effective href="http://www.resume-cover-letter-and-career-tips.com">resume with Freddie Johnson’s free articles on resumes, cover letters, interview and job search tips at http://www.resume-cover-letter-and-career-tips.com

Writing a resume may not be the most exciting thing you have ever been challenged to do, but it may be one of the most important. Well, it is if you are interested in finding a great job.

There are six essential elements of a professional resume that you must be aware of when drafting your personal copy. While there are a lot of things to keep in mind, these six elements are extremely important to crafting a professional resume that gets read and establishes your credentials in the eyes of a prospective employer.

Take a look at these Six Elements and see how your resume stacks up.

The Contact Information section will always appear at the top of your page regardless of which format you choose. It contains your name, address, phone number and email address. Be sure this information is correct or the employer will have no means to contact you.

The Objective Statement is a vital part of the professional resume. It lets the employer know how you will contribute to the organization as well as the specific type of work you are interested in doing. Don’t be vague or the employer may not be able to figure out what you are after.

Accomplishments are the most important things you can list on a resume. This is true regardless of how old you are or how much experience you have. The reason is that accomplishments show that you worked hard, were involved and got things done.

The Education section is presented in reverse chronological order, meaning the most recent school you attended is listed first. List your GPA if it is significant. If you haven’t completed your course of study yet, list your expected date of graduation and your intended degree.

Proofread everything until you are certain that your resume contains no mistakes. Also, have someone else read your resume in an effort to ensure it is error-free. Typos and grammar errors are the first things an employer looks for when weeding out the good resumes from the bad ones.

Target your resume to best garner the attention of the prospective employer. According to distinctiveweb.com, “A targeted resume is used to focus your resume toward a specific career objective, performed in a specific industry, and for a specific company. The content of a targeted resume is written to highlight the skills, qualifications, and experience that match the requirements of your job target.”

If you are able to incorporate these six essential elements of a professional resume into your personal resume, you stand a much better chance of getting selected for an interview. Other job candidates are doing it, so to compete for those great jobs, you have to do it, too.

Take the time to do it right. You’ll reap the rewards.

Carla Vaughan, Owner/Webmaster Professional-Resume-Example.com

Carla is the owner of Professional-Resume-Example.com, a web site devoted to assisting candidates in the job-search process. She holds a B.S. in Business from Southern Illinois University and has authored several books.

For more information about writing Professional Resumes, follow this link to: Resume Examples

One size fits all resumes are a thing of the past. The marketplace requires new resume techniques and the sooner you recognize this and act on it the more your resume will help Y-O-U. The best way to build your resume is to use the bullseye technique. This means your resume will need to target the specific needs of the employer you are approaching.

Statistics tell us that a resume gets only a few seconds of time during the review process. With this in mind it is important for the top-half of your resume to be right on target with regard to the employers requirements. Think of the top-half of your resume as your billboard or advertising section. This is the section where you will want to point out your specific strengths and use bullet statements to highlight results that you have delivered during your previous employment. This is ‘not’ where you put a boring objective statement of what you want to achieve. That is passé. If you list an objective you must build it around what you will bring/deliver to the employer. Always keep in mind that when the employer is reviewing your resume they will be thinking “what’s in it for me” and not how they can make you a happy camper. So, if your objective focuses on what you want it will be a turn-off right from the start.

The top-half of your resume should also include your ‘professional highlights’ or ‘key achievements’. Again, when writing these make sure to highlight how you have done something the employer needs as part of the job requirement.

Using action words/phrases to begin your sentences is also critical. Just imagine how many resumes the employer gets – literally hundreds, if not thousands. How will yours stand out from the pack and keep the ‘reviewer’ from falling asleep? Action words, that’s how. Here are a couple of examples of how to start your sentences with action words that convey energy and entice the reader to continue:

· Achieved…
· Created…
· Reduced costs by…
· Delivered…
· Generated…
· Spearheaded…
· Improved…

Use this technique throughout your entire resume. Get rid of any wording that is ‘job responsibility’ or ‘job description’ sounding. Employers want to know about your accomplishments – they do not want a copy of your job description! Make sure to write about your achievements with descriptive words that help the reader visualize you in the position. And take a look online for ‘sample’ resumes to get a good feel for a fresh new layout. There are plenty of resume service providers that have samples listed on their websites.

Stay in sync with the marketplace – a resume should be no more that 2 pages (unless you have patents or publications to list). Be sure to stick with communicating key information and use language that makes the reviewer want to read more about you and most of all – get you in for the interview!

About the Author
Robin Ogden is a co-founder of FiredUP Careers, a career coaching company focusing on career products and services for professionals who wish to stay aligned with their careers, achieve success and truly dig what they do. For more information about FiredUP Careers and to receive our FREE ‘career death traps’ report, visit http://www.firedupcareers.com and check out Robin’s blog at http://careeradvicetalk.com

It has been well known now for many seasoned job applicant advisers and experts that having a good and well-written cover letter can greatly enhance as persons chance to be employed. While the resume is undeniably an integral part of the job application process, a cover letter is your first chance to get a good impression and to build the foundation on how a potential employer looks at you.

It is for this reason that every person who is out looking for job should appropriate ample time in writing and rewriting a cover letter that is worthy of the hiring manager’s time. These people sit in their desks all day long reading applications, if you submit an error stricken and dull and boring cover letter, chances are high that your resume will not even be read and will be thrown away.

If you haven’t the experience or the knowledge in writing cover letters and you don’t have anyone to help you out in writing one, then you have one thing left for you, a cover letter template. Cover letter templates list down what you need to put on your cover letter and in what order. It shows the order in which things should be written down, but remember that it is only a guide, you should be creative enough to put little touches to make your cover letter more personalized and show your personality.

Here is a sample of a cover letter template.

Applicant’s Contact Information

Name
Address
City, State, Zip Code
Phone Number
Email Address

Date

Employer’s Contact Information

Name
Title
Company
Address
City, State, Zip Code

Salutation – it is better if you are able to use the name of the person who will be reading your letter.

The first paragraph of your cover letter should inform the person why you are writing. Mention also the position you are applying for and where you found out about the opening.

Your next paragraph should then sell you. It should show what you have to offer the company you are applying to. Also, it should convince the hiring manager and persuade him or her as well to grant you an interview. Connect your abilities and the needs of the position that you are applying for. This should show that you are the perfect person for the job. Try to use bullets to strengthen your points, this should make it easier to read and comprehend. Remember though that this is only a synopsis of your resume, don’t go into long details.

Your final or closing paragraph should be on thanking the employer on considering your application. Tell them once again that you will greatly appreciate being given an interview. Tell them your plans on following up your application and when you will be doing it. Also, mention when you will be available to go for an interview.

Complimentary close.

Your signature.

And that in a nutshell is a cover letter template. You can add more to what is being mentioned but always remember to keep it short. Only the salient points should be given and keep everything in perspective.

As a last note, always remember to make your cover letter professional looking, error free and grammatically correct. This will reflect upon you and you do want to show the best of you.

Mario Churchill is the President of CareerJimmy and author of “Amazing Cover Letter Creator.” Visit him at: http://www.amazing-cover-letters.com for your “instant” cover letters today.

Are you a physician, therapist or other health care professional looking to brush up your resume? Here are seven smart tactics you can employ right now to give your resume a check up and promote your professional expertise.

1. Structure your resume to match the priorities of the position you’re aiming for. When recruiters are screening resumes, it’s the information at the top of the page that’s likely to be noticed first. So make sure that you highlight the most telling aspects of your background in a skills summary or profile statement at the beginning.
2. Choose a resume format that suits your preferred career summary. If the progress of your work history from job to job is a persuasive factor, a reverse chronological format may be right for you. If, on the other hand, you wish to promote groups of skills more strongly, you may be better off choosing a functional format which emphasizes your specialist knowledge under appropriate category headings.
3. The first two strategies give you the opportunity to create the right resume ‘architecture’ for your application. It’s up to you to decide how to prioritize the information that you’ll include. For example, job candidates often put their educational details after their work history — but would that suit your needs best? Depending on your experience and specialist medical area, you may want to indicate your training and its practical application earlier in the resume to lend it greater emphasis.
4. Have you carried out research into particular conditions, diseases or methods of treatment? Such investigative work may be a powerful influence in your favor, along with any papers or reference work you may have published.
5. It’s likely that your resume will be screened by fellow professionals who have an understanding of the kind of medical terminology or expert language that is common currency between fellow practitioners. It can be useful show your familiarity with clinical terms, acronyms and other vocabulary in your field. These keywords may also be important if recruiters employ automated scanning techniques to make a preliminary selection.
6. Clarity of presentation will enhance your resume, particularly if it contains a lot of important detail. So ensure that you make it easy to read by sensible use of typography and layout. Bullet points help the reader to absorb detail and white space between sections makes a document easy on the eye. If you have too much information to fit on one page, it may be better to continue onto a second sheet rather than reducing font sizes.
7. You can benefit greatly by asking for a second opinion of your resume’s appearance from someone whose judgment you trust. Ask them about your resume’s legibility — and also ask for their help in checking spelling.

If you would like to see a sample physician’s resume or get more related information about resume objectives and formats, cover letters and interview technique, visit http://1stclassresume.com

You can also sign up for a newsletter to find about helpful tips, videos and other resources to support your job hunting.

Dante, in his famous “Inferno,” described the 9 circles of the netherworld in great detail. But there were no résumés in Dante’s time. Had there been, he undoubtedly would have reserved a special version of Hades, as follows:

Like Dante’s Inferno, Résumé Purgatory is a funnel-shaped structure that extends down, down, down to the very center of the earth. The funnel is like a winding staircase of circles, each getting smaller and smaller until we reach the very bottom, where we find Résumé Devil (who has actually been guiding us all the way down).

1st Circle: The Self-Reliant. This outer level is reserved for those who do not know what to do, but who have been convinced by the Résumé Devil that they have to do it all by themselves. They have never had to look for a job before. Or, sometimes, they haven’t had to write a résumé in 10 years. They are bewildered about how to go about it. If you in the 1st Circle, you truly believe that writing a résumé should be easy. You think it is a sign of weakness to ask for help. How can you escape this level of Résumé Purgatory? Read everything you can get your hands on, and ask for help.

2nd Circle: The Misinformed. At this level, the Résumé Devil has convinced you that there is only one way to write a résumé, and this was given in a certain book. So you simply follow the guidelines and sample résumés in the book. You are totally unaware that writing a résumé is like writing a sonnet, in that it is an incredibly constricted format in which you have to make clear your uniqueness as an individual. How to escape this level of Purgatory? Read more than one book.

3rd Circle: The Protégés. This next level is reserved for those who realize that they answer is not in a book. The Résumé Devil tells you to ask your friend, Fred, who works in a Human Resources department and who has read 5,000 résumés. Fred critiques your résumé, but of course reads it differently than the 5,000 he has taken only seconds to skim, and has no idea how to write a résumé for a skimmer. Fred takes a half hour and goes over your résumé with a level of detail he has never done for anyone else. You end up with a complicated mess that a skimmer would throw away. How to escape this level of purgatory? Ask Fred to take only 30 seconds to scan your résumé, and tell you what he has learned about you from that brief glimpse. THEN let him attack it with his red pencil.

4th Circle: The Copiers. At this level of Résumé Purgatory, the Résumé Devil puts a model résumé in front of you, and you are convinced that all you need to do is copy the wording and the format. So that is what you do. Your résumé is a model that the author of the book you read would be proud to include. There’s only one problem: You can’t figure out how to word the things about your experience and skills that are the most important. And, your résumé looks just like everyone else’s. How to escape this level of purgatory? Copy what fits who you are and what makes sense to you. But do not follow the model exactly.

5th Circle: The Verbed. This is a special level of Résumé Purgatory reserved specifically for those who believe that verbs – action words – are impressive and highly desirable to a résumé reader, and are therefore a prime necessity as the beginning word for each descriptive item in your job list. This is such a strong belief, that the Résumé Devil tells you about the lists that are published of the best “action words” and “strongest verbs” to use in a résumé. However, there is no company on earth that concludes, “We’ve simply GOT to hire the person with the best verbs.” And, if all that is visible as your reader skims his or her way through your résumé is one verb after another, all they’ll read is “developed, initiated, worked on, assisted, managed, served as, planned,” etc. It’s like reading a thesaurus, and it says little about you. How to escape this level of purgatory? Think ‘key words,’ NOT ‘verbs.’ You want your reader to see the key words that really paint a picture of you. If it’s a verb, fine; but it doesn’t have to be.

6th Circle: The Readers. Here we have that special Circle of Résumé Purgatory reserved for those who hope that any potential employer is actually going to read every word of their résumé. Oh, sure, everyone knows that most résumé readers don’t really read, they skim or scan your résumé for a few seconds. But when it comes to actually writing a résumé, the Résumé Devil tells you to emphasize this, emphasize that, and of course emphasize these ten other things. Your résumé ends up with a dozen different fonts, unsystematic underlining and bold-facing, columns in some places and not in others, and in general a disorganized mess. You now have NO control over a skimmer’s eye. How to escape this level of purgatory? You have to set ruthless priorities: What is your reader going to want to see FIRST? What do you want your reader to find FIRST? That’s what should be emphasized, and in a graphical way that your reader’s skimming eye will not be drawn away to somewhere else on the page.

7th Circle: The Internetted: This level is reserved for those who have finally constructed a résumé they have faith in and are ready to launch into the job search world. And how, pray tell, do they do that? If you are like most people, you will rely primarily on the Internet, and send off hundreds (if not thousands) of résumés to the many wonderful job search websites that are getting bigger and more important every day. The Résumé Devil tells you that it is not only a great strategy, it is the ONLY strategy. So, at the 7th Circle of Résumé Purgatory, this is the ONLY job search method you rely on. Yet the Internet accounts for a very small percentage (perhaps lower than 10%) of the jobs people obtain. Guess what accounts for about 70%? Some form of personal contact (personal networking, recruiters, referrals, and the like). Why spend 95% of your time on the Internet (which has a 10% yield) and less than 5% on personal networking (which has a 70% yield)? It’s a lot easier and less stressful. How to escape this level of purgatory? Learn to network. Take a course on networking, read books, get advice from others. And there are other strategies (looking up old want-ads, job fairs, and cold-calling, for example).

8th Circle: The Inactive: We’re almost at the lowest level of Résumé Purgatory. You have now sent off your résumé like the proverbial note in the bottle that is tossed into the ocean. At this level, you wait for something to happen. And you wait, and wait, and wait, and wait. Usually, not much happens. No one calls you back. The Résumé Devil whispers in your ear that it must be a problem with your résumé. In reality, no company is in a hurry to hire. They can wait; it’s you who is in a hurry. How to escape this level of purgatory? Two words: FOLLOW UP. Call, send an email, write a letter, but do SOMETHING. But, the Inactive do not follow up, figuring that they do not want to make a “pest” out of themselves. The reality is, if you do not follow up, it is a sure thing that the company will conclude that you are not interested in the job. So, follow up.

9th Circle: The Discouraged. Now you are face-to-face with the Résumé Devil. You are at the bottom of Résumé Purgatory, the last stop before oblivion. Nothing has happened, and you have become totally discouraged. You no longer have any faith in your abilities. You dwell on your weaknesses. You become convinced that nobody wants you and that you have no value to anyone. You stop doing anything about your situation and sit and watch cable TV all day. The Résumé Devil has you in his clutches. You now believe that the only way out is to cleanse yourself of your weaknesses. Then, maybe, you will be acceptable in the eyes of others. How to escape this level of purgatory? You have to make a concerted effort to focus on your strengths, get a good job counselor, an expert résumé writer, and professional guidance in all phases of job search, give it maximum effort, and surround yourself with people who are in your corner and who give you nothing but support and practical advice.

Oh, and one more thing: Tell the Résumé Devil to go jump in the lake.

Sander Marcus, Ph.D., is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Certified Professional Resume Writer in Chicago. He has over 3 decades of experience in providing career counseling, aptitude testing, job search coaching, and resume writing to tens of thousands of individuals. He is the co-author of 2 books on academic underachievement, various tests, and numerous articles. He can be contacted at marcus@iit.edu, 312-567-3358. http://www.center.iit.edu

Yes, your resume is crucial to landing the job interview. And yes,
it’s true that the employer will only take a few seconds to glance
at your resume before deciding whether it goes in the consider pile
or the rejected pile. Yes, there’s a lot of pressure to make your
resume stand out. But let me ask you, how does your resume get even
that short look from the employer?

That’s right! Your resume cover letter has to be top notch. It’s
the very first thing they know about you. If your resume cover letter
doesn’t wow them, they’ll toss your resume and the cover letter in
the reject pile without even looking at the resume. You may have
just completed the world’s best resume but if the resume cover letter
doesn’t match up, that resume may never get read.

So, please don’t write a resume cover letter that goes something like
this:

“Dear Hiring Manager,

Enclosed is my resume in response to your ad in the classfied section
of the Super Duper Journal from this Sunday.

Thanks!

Sincerely,

Ivanna Job”

No way. That’s just not going to cut it. The resume cover letter has
to wow them just like the resume does.

If it’s at all possible, you have to find out who your resume will be sent
to. You do not want something like ‘Dear Hiring Manager’ or ‘To Whom It
May Concern.’ Address your resume cover letter to a real person.

In the first sentence or two explain how you learned of the position. This
will let the reader know how well you know the company or position.

Now you will want to draw the reader’s attention to your resume by pointing
out your top two or three qualifications for this particular position. Don’t
rewrite your resume but summarize the most important points.

Proofread! Proofread! Proofread! I know it seems silly that your future
employment could hinge on a typo or the use of the wrong word (you’re instead
of your, for example) but it can and does. Let’s face it, if you can’t take
the time to proofread a simple one page letter, what kind of mistakes are
you going to make on the job? Mistakes that could cost the company thousands,
if not millions of dollars. An employer won’t take that chance. Give your
resume cover letter to someone you trust to proofread it as well. It’s a lot
harder to see our own mistakes.

Keep these simple points in mind and you’ll be writing an effective resume
cover letter in no time.

Learn more about resume cover letters

Learn more about how to plan an effective job search with Freddie Johnson’s free articles on resumes, cover letters, interview and job search tips at http://www.resume-cover-letter-and-career-tips.com