Resumes and Cover Letters - Career Success # 2

Did you ever consider the importance of you Resume and Cover letter? Do they really make a difference whether you get that next job or not? The answer, is a resounding, "Yes".

Your Resume and / or cover letter are your first opportunity to formally make an impression with the prospective employer. For many roles these documents are all that an employee will use to determine whether you are qualified enough to be asked to attend an interview.

• Your documents must be of the highest standard if you want to give yourself every opportunity at success. I recommend that you always remember that you are in a competition against other prospective employees and when reviewing your Resume and cover letter, just have two key thoughts, "Are these as good as they can possibly be", and, "would I ask this person in for an interview? "


• Ensure your cover letters are tailor to the role that is advertised and steer away from generic cover letters.


• Always be honest and never make any claims on your ability that can not be substantiated, or are untrue. Apart from the fact that this practice is unethical, it also is unfair on both yourself and the employer if you find yourself in a role that you are not equipped to succeed in.


• Clarity is important. Resumes should be easy to read and run in chronological order. Remember an employer may have to shift through and review hundreds of resumes for any given role, the last thing that they want is an unstructured resume that jumps around all over the place. Think for a moment what perception the employer forms on your ability to write documents or reports based upon your resume …


• Always have a footer on your documents and have a "page #of # – Resume – Mark Alban" format in it, or something similar. I have seen it many times when there are numerous applications that pages of sentences get mixed up with other candidate resumes. This is frustrating for the employer but also disadvantages the individual if the employer does not pick it up. Remember you are trying to make it as easy as possible for the employer to make a decision on whether to ask you for an interview or not.


• Be realistic in the next role you apply for and ensure that you have the necessary skills and experience to be suited for the role, in other words, "do not be a dreamer!" This will prevent your application being culled in the employer"s first review of the prospective applicants.


• Even when your documents are of the highest standard, there will be times when you may not get to an interview. Even if the employer deems your skills and experience suitable to the role. Do not be discouraged if this happens, it certainly is no reflection on you as an individual. Most importantly do not take it personally – the employee usually has not even met you! Surely do not complain about it openly at the weekend barbecue, as this will only damage your "personal brand" (I will talk about "branding" later in this series), and you never know, one of your future prospective employers may be in attendance. Take it with humility and move on.


• Lastly, the most important of all. Seek feedback from the employer when you do not get an interview. Find out why and how you could have improved your documents to increase your chance of success. Then, incorporated this feedback into the next application that you submit. This should ensure that your applications are continuously improving in their quality and content and also keeping up to date with what employers in the marketplace are looking for in their candidates.

Finally, remember that employers only have the time and resources to interview a certain number of candidates for any given role, and you are, after all in a competition.

Good Luck,

Mark Alban

Resumes and Cover Letters - Career Success # 2