Resumes and Cover Letters

Even if you don t have a job today, you still need to know something about business writing—if you ever plan to get a job. Most people s first adventure with business writing comes in the form of writing a resume and cover letter. In this lesson, you will learn the basics of resume and cover letter writing. 

Writing Resumes and Cover Letters LESSON 16 -4 BETTER WRITING RIGHT NOW ... 

BETTER WRITING RIGHT NOW LESSON 16 Writing Resumes and Cover letters... 

When you are creating your resume and cover letter, how these documents look and feel are as important as what they say. When applying for most jobs, you want your cover letter and resume to convey a highly professional and somewhat conservative image. To achieve this, you will have to choose the right paper, select the right resume format, and decide whether or not to add a touch of color in order to make your resume stand out. Resumes that stand out in a positive way are the ones HR professionals and recruiters read first. 

When choosing resume paper, make sure you see and feel a sample of the paper stock prior to purchasing a sealed package of that paper. Finally, when printing your resumes and cover letters on a laser or high-quality ink-jet printer, make sure the paper you choose was designed for this equipment. 

Do keep in mind when selecting a paper color, bright white or ultra white are the most traditional shades of white used for resumes and cover letters. Ivory, slate blue, or gray papers are acceptable alternatives. 

Do ask for a sample before ordering paper for your resume and cover letters from a mail order or Internet-based company. When placing your order, include matching envelopes and matching note cards (for your thank-you notes), so that everything looks consistent. 

Every cover letter should highlight things about you that are of direct interest to the recipient. Before sending a resume and cover letter to an employer, you must first develop an overall message and package to market yourself. This package should be synergistic. 

Another valuable piece of your overall resume package, which will be submitted to an employer during a job interview or upon request after submitting your resume and cover letter, is your list of personal and professional references. Most companies will simply ask you to fill in this information on the company s standard job application, or the hiring manager or someone in the HR department may contact... 

From a visual standpoint, this document should be printed on the same type of paper as your resume and cover letter, and use the same font, typestyle, and ink color. In terms of content, your references should list the full name, address, and phone number of each person, plus a brief description of that person s relationship to you (i.e., friend, former coworker, former employer, college professor, etc.). 

Instead of providing employers with a list of your references, you may be asked for letters of recommendation written on your behalf. Letters of recommendation should, of course, be written by the person recommending you and printed on his or her personal or company letterhead. These documents should not be printed on the same paper as your resume and cover letters. 

A thank-you note can either be typed, using a formal business letter format, and then printed on the same paper you used for your resume and cover letter, or you could handwrite your personalized message on a note card. If you handwrite the note, use a black or blue pen, and write extremely neatly. You can also send an e-mail. 

In addition to the many specialized career-related websites and those sites hosted or sponsored by professional associations or organizations, it s also an excellent strategy to visit the website of the companies for which you are interested in working. Most company websites offer company and product or service information and have their own job opportunities or employment pages where you can discover exactly what positions a specific employer has available, determine whom you need to contact within that company, and discover how that employer prefers to receive resumes and cover letters from applicants (via e-mail, fax, postal mail, etc.). 

To enhance the software s usefulness, the built-in contact management application will help you maintain a detailed database of potential employers and the contact people at each company. From this contact management module, it s possible to instantly send e-mail with attached resume and cover letter files. 

ResumeMaker is available for download from the company s website or can be purchased from software retailers nationwide. While the software is particularly useful for someone new to the whole job-search process, it can save anyone considerable time when it comes to creating, printing, and distributing resumes and cover letters. 

By taking advantage of your computer s multimedia capabilities, sound, video, and graphics are used to offer tutorials and career-related advice. Upon creating your resume and cover letter, the software s contact management module can be used for keeping track of the potential employers you contact. 

Other features of the website include job searches and alerts, career articles (providing useful information on interview tips, salary negotiation, career advice, etc), sample resumes and cover letters, and links to an expert resume-writing service (ResumeEdge.com). 

You can download an evaluation version of the software (with some of the print features deactivated) from the company s website for free. If you like the software, you can register it for 29.95 and print out your resume and cover letter documents. 

Using Word s Resume Wizard, you can also print matching envelopes and cover letters to accompany your resume. Once your resume is complete, you can take the document created in Word and edit or further customize it by changing the font, type size, or other visual details. You can download additional Word templates by visiting the Microsoft website (www.microsoft.com). These templates give you greater flexibility when creating your resume and cover letters. 

WinWay Resume contains an incredible amount of multimedia content to help job seekers prepare for their job searches. There are numerous videos on topics from choosing the right paper and font to how to dress for an interview. There is also interview simulation in full-motion video with answers to more than 200 most commonly asked questions. We recommend that if job seekers can afford the time, they should watch all the videos first so they get first-hand understanding of what employers are looking for and how to best address the employer s needs in their resumes and cover letters. They... 

ONCE YOU SET a career path and acquire the education, skills, and experience you need to pursue your professional goals, your resume and cover letter will allow you to make that all-important first impression with employers as you begin applying for jobs. 

Aside from your resume and cover letter, many other components to your overall job-search efforts require attention before actually receiving your first paycheck after landing a new job. Assuming your resume and cover letter achieve their objectives, you will be invited to participate in job interviews and will need to complete employment applications. 

This chapter helps you deal with some of the other aspects of the job-search process, once you ve written a resume and cover letter(s). As you embark on this whole process, take an organized approach and don t let the stress get to you. Also, don t underestimate the value and marketability of your skills and experience and settle for a job where you will be underutilized and underpaid. 

Some people include one or two letters of recommendation when initially sending their resume and cover letter to a potential employer. Others wait for their first in-person job interview to deliver these additional documents. Which option you choose can depend on your personal preference, how powerful the letters of recommendation are, who wrote the letters, how relevant they are to the job for which you re applying, and whether or not your resume and cover letter were... 

Whereas your resume and cover letter are suitable for conveying general information about your employment history, education, skill set, and accomplishments, an in-person interview offers the perfect opportunity to elaborate on these facts. For example, if your resume states you were previously a sales manager at the ABC Company, during your interview, discuss your specific accomplishments, mentioning which skills you used on the job. Also, describe the results of your work in detail, and provide as much supporting evidence as possible. 

After sending your resumes and cover letters to potential employers, if you ve done everything correctly, you should have at least a 50% success rate in terms of hearing back from potential employers and being invited to interview. 

Just as your resume and cover letters are valuable job-search tools, think of the thank-you note as an extremely important followup tool, which has the potential of helping you to land the job. 

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