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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)?
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.
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 [...]
This is a great question that many individuals face when looking for a new job, while also dealing with a health concern.
A little more background: this individual has a health issue, which has a positive prognosis, but they do still need to see the doctor for treatments (briefly, once a week) for a number of months. It will not interfere with their work, other than needing a small accommodation to make it to their doctor appointments.
The basic dilemma:
Q: How do I overcome being rejected as being ‘too senior’ for a role?
-signed, A Wealth of Experience
The most interesting part for me, is that the HR person emailed you almost exactly what I talk about in my lecture series. Here’s a portion of the rejection for the audience of readers:
———
“…you are a little too high level for this position and it probably wouldn’t keep you interested for very long.”
“The worry is that you would take something else within two years –whereas a more junior individual would see this as a great stepping stone to get to the next level over that same period of time.”
———
Of course, this response is always what hiring managers are afraid of most:
Are you a ‘good hire’?
(read more)
It can be frustrating to apply, apply, apply without the response that we are hoping for when looking for our next Career Opportunity.
I would recommend using tools within LinkedIn to ‘look up’ the likely hiring manager for the position that you seek (not just the HR representative). Once you have identified the likely decision-maker, it’s pretty simple to figure out their email address from looking at clues (on the formatting used) with just a quick search of the company’s website.
Impressions are made, and solidified very quickly. And in today’s Job Market where companies meet many candidates during an interview process for a position, you can be forgotten quickly too.
Use your Thank You notes to reinforce your excitement for the role, the company and your ‘brand’. As each moment passes after our interview, memories can begin to fade. Thank You notes are a great opportunity to make your great first impression stick. Concerned about one area of discussion or an area that you may have avoided discussing during your interview? Your Thank You notes can help there too.
Mistakes that people make when looking to negotiate salary:
Negotiating salary can be one of the most challenging aspects to handle properly, and to your advantage, when seeking a new career opportunity. In times of economic challenge, such as a recession or long recovery period, every business is looking to do more for less, and that affects offers made to those that they look to hire. Workloads for current employees have been significantly increased, and companies will look to achieve the same efficiencies from their new hires. Of course, supply and demand play an important part in salary levels too: with so many struggling to find work, it’s natural for companies to take advantage and work to reduce incoming salar