Ace
Employment Services
You will need an exceptional cover letter if you are about to successfully ”get that job”. It is a more than competitive job search environment out there notes Ace Employment Services Senior Job Search Trainer “Kirk “Biker” Stevens. It is not “Los Bravos Land” out there. It takes preparation and presentation.
You cannot run by the seat of your pants. You need to take the time to construct a detailed professional looking resume. Why ? Or Why Not ? It comes down to appearances. If you take the time to prepare or have prepared a professional resume it screams out to the your potential employer that either you are a genius, take the time to prepare well or know well enough when to approach and pay a professional when you need to get the job done right. Either way it creates a wonderful impression and both impresses and compliments the interviewer. Money and time well spent.
A resume gets you into the door of the interview. Then the job really begins. The resume should be about you. However it should be a very good impression of you. Just like when you want to get that date with the girl of your dreams.
Remember your resume does not tell the potential employer anything about you That is the role of the resume cover letter. What is a resume cover letter ? A resume cover letter is ideally a subjective and shortened form of the resume. It tells the company enough about you to decide whether they should take the time to bring you in for an interview - to offer you that chance. An absolutely perfect resume cover letter , and good timing and chutzpah , can actually get you that job before you even before that interview.
What are the steps to construct a good cover letter? To write a good resume cover letter, firstly know what you want to say. Include the following essential components: Contact information Salutation Introduction Pitch Conclusion A resume cover letter is written in business letter format, so contact information should be centered at the top of the page. This includes your name, address, telephone number and in today's essential computer literate world your e-mail address and web page if you have constructed one currently Two spaces down and on the left margin, type in the current date; another two spaces and you should type in the contact information of the potential employer: The Company name, address and the name and position of the person you are addressing the letter to. If you don't know the name of the person you're addressing, you can address the letter as the generic yet appropriate “Attn: Human Resources Department Head." . You would be amazed at how many corporate systems would route this letter to the correct decision maker. Another ploy is to address emails to the webmaster of the firm or organization's webpage as " webmaster please foreword to appropriate party". When sending a resume cover letter through e-mail, you normally don't have to include their contact information. A simple “Dear Sir/Ma'am” will be sufficient. Try not to use “To whom it may concern” as a greeting. Not only does this reveal a lack of thoroughness and preparation and lack of attention to detail , it can also come off as sounding rude; many letters of complaint start off in this manner. Not a good first impression by any means.
Introduce yourself and what your goal is (usually it's to get the position!). Again, think succinct. Get to the point so that you can move on to the “pitch.” Don't talk weather or ask “How are you today?” or "How are those Moose Hockey Team or the Toronto Maple Leafs Hockey Team Doing ?" . The person reading your cover letter isn't in your presence to answer the questions, not that he/she would have time to anyway. Save the trivialities for the interview. These traits impress no one but yourself. The pitch is the most important part of the resume cover letter; this is where you sell yourself to the company. Reveal why you think you'd be the best person for the job, using concrete examples from your life to back up your claims. Delve a little into your personal life--but only if it will increase your odds of getting an interview. Think recent and relevant. If you're applying for a position as a truck driver and you spent your weekends as a helper at the loading dock during your time in the "pen" mention that. It is both recent and relevant. If you were in the computer hacker club that got you into trouble buying 75 properties "with no money down" and you told the judge that "I just got carried away" , don't bother to tell them about it either . It's relevant, but not relevant or important - or impressive to anyone of any intelligence or credebility outside or your circles of importance. What you've done in the last three years can more than likely weigh into a hiring decision.
Use your judgment, intelligence and expertise in deciding what to add and what to leave out, remembering that you've only got one page--under 1000 words--to make an impression. When you've finished the pitch, you should be able to read it and feel confident that you'll get the job. You've told the potential employer who you are, what you want, what you do and how good you do it, and why your qualifications make you the best match for the position. Finish the resume cover letter by reiterating these points quickly. Then tell them how they may reach you to set up an interview, thank them for their time and wish them a good day. Finally, proof-read the resume cover letter carefully after using the spell check of your word processing program on your pc computer. Attach your resume, send it off and sit back and "wait for the action".