       |
 TipsThere are a number of proactive tactics that are used by professionals that you can also use to enhance your chances on the opportunities that you apply for. Topics Prepare Your Cover Letter The Resume Making Contact Faxing From Your Computer Prepare for the Interview Prepare your Cover Letter The Cover Letter should be customized for each prospective employer. This is going to take some extra time if you are submitting to different companies and different positions. Remember this is your first contact and you want to make a good impression right from the start. The Cover Letter should highlight the skills that are relevant to the job that you are applying for. Be short and to the point, the person reading the information is going to make a quick decision to either find out more information about you or disregard the information as not applicable. Your Cover Letter should be a business proposal and not a plea for an interview.
Back to Topics The Resume The look of your resume can open or close the door for you very quickly. You should follow the usual format for the region or country that you intend to work in. The look of a North American and European resume is very different and you could get passed over because the recruiter or employer just is not comfortable with a different style. By using the proper style you are saying that you can adapt easily. I shouldn't even have to mention this but don't USE ALL CAPITALS AND/OR ALL BOLD. The whole idea of using capitals or bold is to make a certain point or draw attention to it. The same goes for all small text it might be taken as a sign of laziness just because you didn't hit the shift key. All you have to remember is to use capitalization in its proper form, remember its something that is very unique...its your resume and it says a lot about you as a person. Back to Topics Making Contact This could be a very important step in securing the position that you are looking for! When responding to any ad or internet posting, read all of the contact information before you submit your resume. If the company is asking you to send your information in a certain format, you should do your best to comply with their wishes. When you deviate from what they are asking you to do, you send a clear message that you can not follow directions. Either follow their direction or explain why you are sending in a different format when you submit your information. Do not make it difficult for the person you are addressing to get your information. (eg. asking someone to go to your Home page or to retrieve your information in some other fashion is not a good idea.) The person that ends up with your information might not have access to the internet or might not read e-mail while they are on-line. Asking them to fire up the modem just for you could put you at the bottom of the list of resumes that they view. They might find what they are looking for from someone else before they have to take the extra step to view your information. The other problem that could occur is that you send the incorrect URL for them to retrieve your information. It could be as simple as putting a period at the end of your url, and therefore if the person is using clickable links in their e-mail reader, your URL will not seem to be correct even though technically it is. Back to Topics Faxing From Your Computer Have you ever sat down for an interview and were then surprised by the resume that you thought you sent out and what was actually in the interviewers hands? The trick for this is to set your default printer as the fax program before you send the fax. You can do this from right inside your word processing program. That way you can view the fax before you send it. The end result is that you can see exactly what you are sending to the prospective employer or search consultant and avoid any embarrassing explanations later. Back to Topics Prepare for the Interview Make sure that you know the exact location of the interview. You don't want to be scrambling at the last minute because you did not look at a map or write down the directions properly. You might want to drive out to the location before the interview if you are not familiar with the area. Do some research on the company before hand. You can usually find information at a library, from a consultant or even from press releases that are on the Internet. Back to Topics |