A few months back I was doing some recruiting. My company’s HR department subscribes to some of the big job search engines (as well as LinkedIn). What I got from the HR department was over 100 resumes which broadly fit the job description. I started browsing through the resumes and quickly started looking for those that stood out from the rest, you know, those that were incredibly obvious (so many resumes, so little time). Chances are I passed over some really great candidates, but you know know what they say – you snooze, you lose. So what’s the point? There is just sooo much competition out there and your best chance of getting an interview is to make sure that it is incredibly obvious to the reader that you are a viable candidate for the job. Today’s post is all about getting the attention you job search needs.
Cover Letters:
- CoverLetterCentral.com – A cover letter is the first thing a prospective employer sees and yours needs to stand out if you expect to have any chance at an interview. This site provides tips, tricks and examples you can use. There are related links on the left hand side of the page (like “5 cover letter mistakes”) as well as links to books that can help as well (don’t miss “Designing a Cover Letter to WOW Hiring Personnel“).
- SIX SUREFIRE WAYS TO MAKE YOUR COVER LETTER STAND OUT STAND OUT FROM THE REST – Short and to the point, this link lists 6 suggestions for helping your resume stand out from the crowd. There are additional job search related links on the left hand side of the page and quite a few of those are cover letter related.
How to get Noticed:
- 10 Ways to Stand Out From Your Competition – Okay, we had 6 ways, here are another 10 but these are broader than just cover letters. Careerbuilder.com provided this post and the tips span the full spectrum of job search (and is certainly worth a read). As you might expect from this site, there are quite a few additional links to career and job search related resources. These are located all along the left hand side of the page, so take a look.
- Get Your Resume Noticed - Now that you’ve spruced up your cover letter, you need to get your resume in shape and this article from Yahoo’s HotJobs provides some useful tips. As you may (or may) know, many times the first set of “eyes” on a resume is not a human set but a database that is screening based on key words. That tip, please a few others are provided in this article. There are a few more links at the bottom of the page, and don’t forget the tabs at the top of the page for your job search.
- Five Resume Writing Secrets that get you Noticed – TopTen Reviews provides these 5 quick resume writing “secrets”. Tips like “do your homework” and “first impressions count” are two of my favorites. There is a “resume builder review” section on the top left hand side of the page. that are worth a look as well.
Good luck in your search.
