Resume Cover Letter

Just in case you haven't heard it enough: It's tough to get a job these days. So tough, in fact, that it's not unlikely for a job seeker to spend six months or longer looking for a job before actually getting one. Although it's common for today's job search to take a while, there are ways to increase your ...

According to employment experts at My Job Group, a network of regional job sites in the United Kingdom, résumés written by job seekers who are actively involved on Twitter were better written and more likely to land on an employer's short list. After analyzing 500 resumes, they found that ...

Many people write cover letters that state that they are good communicators, hard working, loyal, dedicated, team players, etc. While these are important traits for a job seeker, when these words are used in cover letters they come across as suspect. So many candidates use the same words to describe their ...

Audrey's cover letter not only speaks to her skills as a graphic designer, but also showcases specific achievements that will resonate with her reader. This cover letter was written as a direct response to a job posting. Each bullet point in the letter addresses a competency that was listed as a requirement ...

Harold, a bank relationship manager, needed a cover letter that focused on his outstanding customer service skills, high client retention rate, and impressive revenue growth. We used a quote from a retailer to drive the point home that great customer service has been the key to Harold's success. Incorporating ...

Most job seekers I meet have some sort of "special circumstance" or blemish on their resume that they feel makes them unattractive to a hiring manager. For some, it's accounting for the dot-com they worked for that went bust after nine months or the year they took off from work to care for an aging parent or ...

Someone reached out to me today, frustrated that he had applied to multiple job postings with limited results. When this occurs, the knee-jerk reaction is to blame the resume for the lack of responses, but the résumé is only effective if you have a strong search strategy to accompany the ...

Duncan Mathison, co-author of "Unlock the Hidden Job Market: Six Steps to a Successful Job Search When Times Are Tough," recalls working with an ex-Navy SEAL who was trying to land a civilian job. "He realized that most people thought his skills consisted of landing on beaches and blowing things up. ...

A visitor to AOL's sister site Emurse recently asked this question: "I'm trying to provide a good objective that will work for all job titles in the clerical area. What should I do?" The quick answer to the question is forget the objective. Here's why. ...

Sometimes an old outfit can look new and fresh by adding a new shirt, tie, scarf, or pin. With just one item the look can be transformed quickly without spending a lot of time or money. Most résumés I read could benefit from a similar transformation. They contain the basics, but they just aren't ...

I came across Emurse long before it became an AOL service and was impressed with it from Day One. Emurse is a simple concept with an easy purpose. Mix the letters of e-m-u-r-s-e up and you get "resume." Quite simply, it is your online resume. Here are 10 things you should know about having your resume online ...

Many of my clients ask me if I think it is a good idea to use white fonting on their resume. White fonting is the practice of attempting to manipulate the Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) that many companies use to sort through mountains of resumes by placing keywords (the words that describe the applicant's ...

Today a client asked me to explain the differences between the resume and the cover letter. Many people assume that the cover letter is just a formality and simply something hiring managers and recruiters have come to expect. But the cover letter can serve a much higher purpose. Job search is about building ...

Selena Dehne, JIST Publishing Don't underestimate the power of a cover letter. When well-written, attractively designed and customized for the recipient, a cover letter is a powerful tool that can practically scream, "Interview this candidate immediately!" But when they are thrown together using little to ...

When it comes to the topic of how to write a résumé, people seem to have an endless supply of questions. And since your resume may be one of the most important documents you ever have to write, it makes sense that people would want to know as much as possible about the topic. Below are resume ...

When hiring managers read resumes, one of the first things they look at is dates of employment. If they see multiple short employment stints, they will often assume that you are a job hopper, question your ability to stay at one company for long, and move on to the next candidate. Often people's choppy ...

A résumé is a marketing tool and I encourage job seekers to position their accomplishments in the best possible light. However, it is critical that all information reported on the document is accurate and something you can back up with facts if questioned. Here are some of the ways I see job ...

Think resume typos are no big deal? Last year, Accountemps, a temporary staffing firm, interviewed 150 senior executives from some of the nation's largest companies. Forty percent of the respondents said that just one typo on a resume would cause the candidate to be eliminated. Thirty-six percent said it would ...

In today's challenging economy, job seekers will need to implement a strong self-marketing campaign in order to get noticed in a crowded job search space. That campaign starts with strong marketing collateral, particularly a quality resume and online presentation that is easy to find and read and memorable for ...

It's springtime, and besides bringing thoughts of flowers and warm weather, for college students it brings thoughts of jobs and summer internships. A lot of students have come up to me in the past few weeks asking me to review their résumés. If they are sophomores and juniors, they are getting ...