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Cover Letters are one of the most perplexing challenges for the Job Seeker. The Job Ads ask for one. The guides all suggest we send one. Why is it that so many resumes go out without a proper cover letter? (most of them may never be read, but they will be… for the right candidates)
Careful taking license with what I just said: Yes, most cover letters will never be read.
In a world where there are often 3–5,000 resumes sent in for every good open job, it’s pretty easy to realize the truth in what I’m saying by looking at the mechanics of the situation: who will read all of that material sent in when applying for a job (thousands of resume, notes and cover letters)?
It’s difficult to effectively focus our job search activities when we are still working for our ‘future’ past employer. But with a proper structure and plan in place, we can be successful with just 1–2 evening hours of efforts per day. Here’s how:
Q: How much time should I spend on my job search each day if I have a full-time job, but searching for a new position?
Employers are always looking for a ‘successful hire’, and that means someone who will join their team, stay challenged and motivated in the new role for about 2 years, and then be ready to be promoted to a new role where they will stay challenged and motivated for another 2 years, etc. If they can keep an employee somewhere between 4-7 years –that’s a successful hire that produces, while keeping the employment costs lower for the company.
Q: What are 3 things that an Equity Analyst Job Seeker must have
in their resume if they are eager to work in a financial institution?
There are 3 key items every equity analyst job seeker must have in their resumes:
1. You must show that you have the right attention to detail and focus that this type of research position requires. Think in terms of an investigative journalist that focuses on a particular industry, or sector. Be sure to include your specific sector, industry and companies that you have covered in your work. You have to demonstrate in your achievements that you have the discipline required for this field, as you will be focused on financial research and analysis that will result in buy, hold and sell ratings for the companies that you cover.
In my lecture series on Job Search, I often hear, “I’ve sent so many resumes, but I’m not getting called for interviews.”
First, we do need to take a serious look at our Job Search ‘sales materials’, which include:
• a Resume that creates a desire about what you offer as a unique candidate;
- a LinkedIn profile that is more like a 3-dimensional sales brochure ‘all about you’ that drives the reader to one singular conclusion: “It’s going to be the best business decision that I’ll make today -if I choose to hire this individual!”;
- a Cover Letter that positions and presents our best, most sellable achievements that would be of specific interest to the hiring manager;
and
There’s a common myth: ‘nothing happens’ before and after a holiday, so why bother!
As Job Seekers, we fall into this trap numerous times per year as holiday weekends pop up throughout the year. Easter, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and on and on with lesser holidays –each tempting us to ‘throw in the towel’ for most of a week or even two (one before, one after). The December holidays, no matter which ones we celebrate, seem to deem the whole month a loss, and that loss seems to carry over a number of days into the New Year. So by the time we are eating the last few turkey leftovers, like my great lunchtime sandwich yesterday, it’s clear in our minds that we really have only 2 weeks to make some magic happen, so I ‘may as we’ll wait’ until the new year. Bah humbug, to quote Ebenezer!
5 Steps to SuperCharging Your Job Search It’s going to be a tough Job Market for the foreseeable future, so we can’t just ‘do the same thing’ and expect different results: We Have To Change! In my Self-Recruiter® Lecture Series on Job Search and Career Management, I often ask those in the audience about the [...]
Q: Whom Should I Link With On LinkedIn?
This question actually arrived as,
“Tell me why I would want to have you as a LinkedIn connection?”
–after, of course, some very kind words about 2 of my (non-LinkedIn) lectures they had seen at The New York Public Library’s JOB SEARCH CENTRAL.
It’s always a value exchange. We give something, and we get something in return. But, who got the better deal? –that’s what we’re really thinking about.
We are all facing this same new privacy concerns as our world moves forward at a lightning speed, and none of us want to be the one that makes a misstep…
Personal Branding is the hot catch phrase at the moment, and for good reason.
Ever see that 80′s movie with Jeff Bridges called ‘Tucker: The Man and His Dreams’? He wanted to build a new car to compete with Detroit. Tucker’s dilemma is every new business’ challenge: “Chicken or the egg. Which came first?” He needed to sell dealership rights to get the money that he needed to build his car. No one was interested in buying dealership rights for a car that didn’t exist yet. But Tucker made an interesting observation one day in searching for the solution. He knew that people believed what they could see, but his moment of clarity happened when he first realized that people believed whatever they read in the newspaper. “If it’s in the newspaper, it must be true.”
This is a job market like few have ever experienced. In my Self-Recruiter® lecture series, I regularly meet individuals that have been seeking their next position for extended periods of time. Some for months (in an odd way, the luckier ones), but many that have been looking since sometime in 2009 and even 2008.
Over the course of any job search, there are going to be emotional periods of ups and downs, the emotional roller coaster of finally getting an interview, and heartbreak again when we are not selected for the role that we were after.