How to Write a cover letter

How to Write a cover letter by Amber Rolfe Behind every CV is a good cover letter… Writing a cover letter is an essential part of almost every job application. Not only do you have to make sure it sells your skills and abilities to recruiters, you also need to do it a clear and concise manner â€" that ultimately persuades the reader to want to meet you.We’ve already covered what a cover letter is, but here’s our step-by-step guide to help you get started on writing one:Do your researchFirst things first, you need to do your research.Take some time to look into the role you’re applying for and the company â€" and use this information to tailor your cover letter accordingly.When writing a cover letter, you should find out:What does the company do?Who are their competitors?Who are their target audience?What does the role involve?What are the essential skills?Once you’ve found answers to these questions, you’ll be able to make it clear in your cover letter how your skills and abilities match up with what the employer is looking for.Not only will doing research give you the knowledge you need to tailor your cover letter and CV to the style of the company, it also demonstrates that you’ve got a real interest in the specific role and company.Cover letter helpHow to format a cover letter Your cover letter should be well-presented, concise, and to-the-point.So use an easy-to-read font, and don’t get carried away with embellishments. No pictures, no Comic Sans, and definitely no word art necessary.Aside from ensuring its written using clear paragraphs â€" it also should be the right length. Too long, and you’ll risk rambling (and/or boring the recruiter); but too short, and you’re unlikely to have covered everything.Aim for half a side of A4 (or one page maximum), and you’ll be on the right track.Five things you need to stop doing on your cover letterHow to address a cover letter Cover letters should be addressed to the person dealing with the applications.Usually, thi s will be shown somewhere in the job advert â€" and if not, don’t be afraid to find out. Start by visiting the company’s website to track down the name of a relevant recipient, and if you have no luck there â€" there’s no harm in simply calling and asking.Not only will you be able to address your letter accurately, you’ll also demonstrate your initiative and genuine interest in the role.If you manage to find a name â€" address with ‘Dear Mr Smith/Dear Ms Jones’.And if you don’t? ‘Dear Sir/Madam’ will suffice.How to structure a cover letter Although there are no set rules on how your cover letter should be structured, making sure it flows well is vital if you want to impress recruiters.Here’s a rough guideline on what to include when writing a cover letter:Opening the letter â€" Why are you getting in touch?The opening paragraph should be short and to the point, explaining why you’re getting in touch. It’s also useful to include where you found the ad i.e. as advertised on reed.co.uk. If someone referred you, mention their name in this section.Example: I  wish to apply for the role of IT Manager, currently being advertised on reed.co.uk. Please find enclosed my CV for your consideration.Second paragraph â€" Why are you suitable for the job?Briefly describe your professional and academic qualifications that are relevant to the role and ensure you refer to each of the skills listed in the job description.Example: As you can see from my attached CV, I have over three years’ experience in the IT Industry, and I believe the knowledge and skills built up during this time make me the perfect candidate for the role.  Third paragraph â€" What can you do for the company?Now’s your opportunity to emphasise what you can do for the company. Outline your career goals (making it relevant to the position you’re applying for) and expand on pertinent points in your CV â€" including examples to back up your skills.Example: In my current role as Senio r Marketing Executive at Software Company X Ltd, I have been responsible for increasing incoming client enquiries for our B2B product lines by 156% in under 12 months, which helped the business increase its revenue by 55% year-on-year.  Fourth paragraph â€" ReiterateHere’s where you reiterate your interest in the role and why you would be the right fit for the role. It’s also a good time to indicate you’d like to meet with the employer for an interview.Example:   I am confident that I can bring this level of success with me to your company and help IT Company LTD build upon their reputation as one the UK’s fastest-growing software houses. With my previous experience and expertise, I believe I can start actively contributing to the business as soon as possible.Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to meeting with you to discuss my application further.  Closing the letterSign off your cover letter with ‘Yours sincerely’ (if you know the name of the hiri ng manager), or ‘Yours faithfully’ (if you don’t), followed by your name.How to: Overcome common cover letter problemsReady to start writing a cover letter? Download our free cover letter template nowRead more cover letter help tipsStill searching for your perfect position?  View all available jobs nowFind a job What Where Search JobsSign up for more Career AdviceSign up for moreCareer Advice Please enter a valid email addressmessage hereBy clicking Submit you agree to the Cover Lettersfeatured

3 Ways To Get Over Your Useless College Degree

3 Ways To Get Over Your Useless College Degree In 2004, I graduated college with a bachelor’s degree in theater arts. Leaving NY’s famous Lincoln Center I left proud with my gown blowing in the wind. A bystander stopped me and said, “Oh, wow! Congratulations! What did you get your degree in?” With a big smile I replied, “Theater!” Her demeanor changed. That smile quickly turned into a puzzled side tilt, “What can you do with that?” I gave the only reply I could think of, “Lots of things” and skipped down the street. That one question put a damper on my achievement just a bit. I knew that even with a degree in the arts, I still had to bust my butt like every other starving artist in New York City. Was it an advantage? Looking back I realize it wasn’t because all that matters is your audition and your visual fit for the role. Since that time I have used my degree in many off-the-wall ways and entered corporate America. Most people I encounter believe their college degrees mean nothing. They haven’t used it, don’t plan on using it, and it’s stuffed in a drawer somewhere collecting dust. Statistically around 30% of college graduates actually have careers related to their field. While that’s low, there’s still hope. How can you dust off your hard-earned and expensive degree quickly? Relax First things first. Realize that it’s not that bad. If you’re anything like me, getting to college was a huge accomplishment. No one in my family had ever ventured into higher education, and I was motivated to be the first by any means necessary. Yes, I acquired some debt in the process, but I have an achievement that no one can take away from me. It may be considered “useless”, but it’s yours. Only 40% Americans from 25 to 64 have college degrees. That’s not a lot. You’re in an elite club, so pat yourself on the back! Bridge the Gap I’m not referring to a master’s degree, unless it’s free. There are ways that you can supplement that “useless” degree by taking additional courses online or certification to elevate your skill set, and it doesn’t take much. Continuous learning is not only attractive to hiring managers, but it removes you from just having a degree that you haven’t used. Highlight your  transferable  skills on your résumé In your job search transferable skills are your golden ticket. If you have any form of a degree, you are able to analyze and interpret information, communicate effectively, delegate, work with others, etc. The list goes on and on.   Don’t just list them, but show how you’ve used those skills in your career up until now. Ive felt the frustration of sitting at a job getting the same salary as someone who didn’t bother to attend. Thoughts like, “Why did I bother?” may run through your head constantly, but now is the time for you to change your perspective on your college experience. Despite the student loan payments, it was worth it. I was able to use my  â€œuseless” degree to my advantage, proving that stranger wrong and you can too! Image credits Main  

4 Questions to Consider When Choosing the Right Mentor - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

4 Questions to Consider When Choosing the Right Mentor - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career A mentor can help you get ahead of your coworkers and increase your chances of getting promoted. However, you should be careful when choosing your mentor. Sometimes a person feels just right but in other cases, you need to make some evaluations before starting the relationship. Below are some questions that will help you choose the right mentor. Is this person happy with his/her career? It is very important for your mentor to be happy in his/her career, otherwise s/he cannot guide you towards the right direction. If someone is only doing his/her job just to earn money, s/he cannot be your ideal mentor because this person cannot find satisfaction in what s/he does and is condemned to be failed in the end. If you truly want to be successful, you need to find a mentor who is happy in doing what s/he is doing daily so that you can also fulfill your soul and achieve your best. Do you admire this person? Your mentor should be someone that you look up to and probably have achieved the goals you hope to achieve. In this way, you can gain something from this person. Obviously, you need to return the favor to your mentor as well. Only in this way, it can be an ongoing relationship. Your mentor should learn something new from you too such as a new technology or a tool about your job or at least gain a new business connection. Is this person a good listener? A good mentor should be a good listener. S/he should really understand the root cause of your problem and guide you accordingly. The key here is that a good mentor is the one who lets you develop your own ideas by asking you the right questions. A mentor should not manipulate you with only his/her own ideas or opinions. S/he should enable you to look everything from a different window. Does this person challenge you? A good mentor should challenge you because only in this way you can learn something new. S/he should make you open up to new ideas and perspectives. A good mentor is not someone who tells you what to do but rather s/he is the one who encourages you to find new paths for yourself. You can only move up, if you overcome the challenges thrown at you and this is only possible by constantly changing yourself and adapting to new situations.

Interview Answers Must Be Short. Know Why - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Interview Answers Must Be Short. Know Why - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career I’m not sure whether you’re like me. I’ve stopped reading! I read no more. I skim and browse and hover over the surface of words, and when I find something interesting, only then do I dig in and absorb the content. Nowadays, because of ubiquitous electronic media, you can immediately suffocate from constant immersion in more information than you could ever deal with. Why is it that everyone’s suddenly become so prolific? Twitter came up with the brightest idea of all: 140 characters. Period. The answer to the question is because it’s so much easier to write in abundance versus to write eloquently and succinctly. Try this: think of a noun and describe it as if you’ve been asked to write a dictionary definition for it. Now look up the word in the dictionary, and see what the dictionary says. Have I made my point? So, how does this apply to job seekers? Hiring decisions are being made during the interview. The hiring manager asks questions, and the candidate answers the questions, but ofteninstead of giving a short summarythe candidate thinks this is the time for a lengthy answer, including the whens, hows, whys, why nots, and so on. The answer becomes an endless rambling that ends in complete failure. The candidate is not happy after realizing what happened, and the interviewer lost the candidate because of a much, much shorter attention span. Both parties lost. This is not a good answer. The only way to create a win-win situation in an interview is for candidates to be prepared with short answers to a variety of job-related questions. And practice, practice, practice. Know why? Because practice makes perfect! Author: Alex Freund is a career and interviewing coach known as the “landing expert” for publishing his 80 page list of job-search networking groups via his web site http://www.landingexpert.com/. He is prominent in a number of job-search networking groups; makes frequent public presentations, he does workshops on resumes and LinkedIn, teaches a career development seminar and publishes his blog focused on job seekers. Alex worked at Fortune 100 companies headquarters managing many and large departments. He has extensive experience at interviewing people for jobs and is considered an expert in preparing people for interviews. Alex    is a Cornell University grad, lived on three continents and speaks five languages.

Resume Writing Services

Resume Writing ServicesResume writing services in Kansas City Missouri can be expensive and time consuming. People spend hours of effort writing a brilliant resume for an ideal job interview. All the hard work is in vain when he/she gets turned down by the person in charge of hiring because he/she lacks that special professional touch that a resume needs to be a success.Resume writing services in Kansas City Missouri provides these services to people who are unable to write a personal statement in their own words. People with limited writing skill and academic knowledge can also benefit from these services, since they can contact some degree holder who is competent in writing resumes and who has a lot of experience with resumes' development.Many applicants struggle to impress the interviewers within a short period of time without any prior training or experience. Most of them do not even know how to start writing a resume, let alone how to finish it after a few rounds of interviews. This is where resume writing services in Kansas City MO come into the picture. The right kind of coaching and assistance is provided at a reasonable price to these desperate people to ensure that they can land up with an interview.Resume writing services in Kansas City MO, have no problem in recommending companies that will process your application and send it to the person in charge of hiring. These companies provide professional services to any and every job seeker, irrespective of the kind of education and credentials. All services are made available to meet the specific needs of the job seekers so that they don't face any trouble while completing the resume.According to a recent study, it was found that resume preparation is an integral part of the employment procedure. Resumes play a vital role in evaluating the resume writing services in Kansas City MO. If you are planning to hire a company to write your resume, it is recommended that you compare quotes from several agencies a nd choose the one which provides the best quality service at reasonable cost.Writing resumes are required in almost all sectors; it is an essential part of the interviewing process. A resume looks exactly like a letter of interest that is written in the introductory part of the CV.Resume writing services Kansas City MO are also known for the quality of their job proposal. As the job proposal is sent out to the right person in charge of hiring, it becomes possible for you to conclude with a perfect hire.Resume writing services in Kansas City MO work with resume development and post-application services. So you should never be afraid to try their services.

10 Tips to Attract Recruiters on LinkedIn - Sterling Career Concepts

10 Tips to Attract Recruiters on LinkedIn 10 Tips to Attract Recruiters on LinkedIn Corporations are always in search of the right candidates and as a talent, your job is to help them find you, even when you are not looking for a job change. LinkedIn is one of the top social network sites that allow members to share their skills, past achievements, career goals, experience, and endorsements on their profiles. This provides employers with an opportunity to screen the candidates before making contact. Many of you might be wondering why your profile does not get viewed or why you are not contacted by a recruiter. There can be many reasons why LinkedIn is not working for you, and you would be thrilled to know that fix that! Scan through for any poor grammar or spellings mistakes on your profile for a start. Having such errors makes you come across as someone who lacks attention to detail. This can be a huge turn off for a potential employer. Intrigued to learn more? Check out this infographic from CV-Nation that entails a 10-step guide that can help you realize what is wrong with your current LinkedIn profile and how it can be fixed. Learn how optimizing just the headline with relevant keywords and completing your profile can make a considerable difference in attracting recruiters. Source: CV-Nation.com

Be A Workplace Hero - Pathfinder Careers

Be A Workplace Hero - Pathfinder Careers Be A Workplace Hero So  youve  been working away in your career, and have cultivated a strong reputation with your co-workers. Want to kick it up a notch? Be  indispensable. Here’s the trick: the most valuable employees are the ones who are the generous experts who give back. What you learn and how you share it can make you the workplace hero.     A byproduct of being helpful and resourceful: you’ll earn respect as the company subject matter expert. Here are some tips to make yourself shine in some of the most humble ways: 1)           Share articles of interest.  Sometimes, companies only pay for publication subscriptions for select individuals, so if you run across an article from which many people would benefit, share the wealth.   The more you can share to build everyone’s knowledge and skills up, the higher you rate in the eyes of colleagues. 2)           Connect co-workers to contacts from industry meetings.  If your path crosses with another person who might be a good contact for an office co-worker, make an introduction via email once you get back to the office. 3)           Do a write up. If you have attended any recent conference or additional professional development training, prepare a short but concise write-up about the biggest take-aways you learned from the experience.   The rewards you will reap will be countless… from colleagues appreciating the information that they did not have access to or even your boss feeling that the investment in sending you there was well worth it. 4)           Get certified. By formalizing your job knowledge, how you implement best practices will slough off on others working around you. Call it osmosis, but slowly, your knowledge and behaviors will shape that of your co-workers.   Subtly, you’ve just raised the bar! 5)           Volunteer to train others. If you have a skill set that would benefit the entire team, demonstrate your leadership by sharing what you’ve learned.   Supervisors will suddenly see you in a new light and this is a visible and tangible demonstration of your leadership skills and subject matter expertise. What other ways can you think of that will help make you the office hero and expert? What experiences have you had with others sharing with you? I would love to hear from you!