The purpose of this guide is to serve as supplementary assistance to those people starting their careers or looking to change careers. Success at getting called for an interview and actually being hired has a lot more to do with understanding the real secrets of how to write dynamic covering letters, effective CVs and how to answer interview questions – and little to do with sending hundreds of application letters for hundreds of vacancies.
Your Resume and Covering Letter should Emphasis your Key Skills
Your Resume and Covering Letter should Emphasis your Key Skills
Students spend a lot of money studying at university and yet the most important aspect of finding a job is not addressed adequately by the educational institutions. Students are guided on fields of study and careers they could follow but are not taught what curriculum vitae should contain how it should be compiled and what to do in order to find a job. It is no wonder so many students cannot find work.
Often recruiters are overworked and are under pressure to fill vacancies. The pressure compels them to scan resumes as quickly as possible to have the vacancy filled as soon as possible. During the process of selection it is sometimes difficult to identify the right candidates because the recruiter may look for candidates that fulfils the exact requirements rather than looking at transferable and portable skills or potential talent. Any recruiter who reads your application letter should be able to grasp from your cover letter whether it is worth her while continuing reading the rest of your resume. If your CV and covering letter does not emphasis your key skills when preparing your details for entry into the marketplace, you will lose out on the interview.
Carefully edit out any boring and self-serving tired expressions, such as;
Ø ‘Responsible for…’
Ø ‘Highly motivated…’
Ø ‘Seasoned MBA with 20 years’ experience…’
Ø 'Dynamic, results-oriented team player who 'think outside the box ';
Say what’s different, exciting, vital, and strategic about you. Be bold and courageous. If you’re great, say it, and prove it.
The fact is, if you’re only looking for a job using one way, sending hundreds of resumes in the old fashion way, you’re likely leaving many effective opportunities you could be using to find a job. The methods of finding a job you will learn in this book will help you attract prospective employers and increase your chances to get a job fast. Written in a straightforward and accessible style, “What They Didn’t Teach You In School: Life Long Learning Tips To Land A Job Straight Out Of School” offer you a detailed look at many of today’s most important job search strategies, tips and tricks–explaining how each one works. Page by page, you’ll become familiar with a variety of job hunting approaches, including:
· writing dynamic covering letters- sample cover letters provided
· writing effective CVs - resumes examples & formats provided
· Interview questions and tips
· Complementary skills such as your transferable and portable skills
· Job skills assessment and more.
Whether you are a student with a high school certificate looking for a job, an undergraduate seeking temporary employment, or a graduate starting off in search of a career, or you just want to change careers, you will find easy-to-follow strategies and cover letter samples which will help and guide you step-by-step on your way to finding a job. It does not matter whether you have held jobs elsewhere before; you have to treat your job hunt as if you are looking for a job for the first time. After all, you are looking for a job for the first time in a different industry or organization every time you write a letter of application for a vacancy where you have not held a job before. It is obvious therefore that these guidelines are relevant to everyone.
If you’re ready to find a job fast, adopting a multi-channel approach to your career search today will guarantee you success tomorrow. And with this book as your guide, you’ll quickly discover how using multiple job hunting methods can help develop and deepen your knowledge as well as improve your chances of winning the interviews and finding a job fast.
If you’re ready to find a job fast, adopting a multi-channel approach to your career search today will guarantee you success tomorrow. And with this book as your guide, you’ll quickly discover how using multiple job hunting methods can help develop and deepen your knowledge as well as improve your chances of winning the interviews and finding a job fast.
How to Write a Covering Letter?
The first step to actually getting a job interview is to create an attention-getting cover letter. Your cover letter is a piece of information that lets’ a potential employer know what your skills are and whether you would make a perfect fit for the available position. Many people think that cover letters are merely a concise summary of what is in your resume, or at least a list of signposts that point to what they’ll read about later. Effective cover letters however are more than that. Cover letters are a platform to sell your application, to brand yourself using differentiating attributes and strengths and merging these with your qualifications and experience. A cover letter helps you to clarify and communicate differences and specialties and how to use those qualities to guide your career. It also helps you to highlight your strengths, skills, passions and values and to separate yourself from other candidates. If you have 3 years’ experience in a sales environment, and you have applied for a position elsewhere for a senior position in a related field, you have not only acquired experience in selling but you have also learned a skill in selling. In order for your resume not to be rejected for a senior managerial position, you have to highlight this transferable skill clearly in your covering letter. That is why your covering letter must contain concise relevant information that catches the eye of the recruiter. It is in your application letter where you have to use persuasive writing that creates a professional identity or profile about yourself. Your cover letter must be as detailed and informative as possible, without going beyond a one-page limit.
Whether you have experience or not this guide will provide you with sample covering letters to enable you to write your own cover letters that will grab the attention of hiring managers. Remember getting noticed for vacancies amongst hundreds of resumes is the only way to get a job.
How to Write a CV?
Much advice has been given and numerous books have been written on how to write CVs or resumes. You may have read statements such as “resumes should never be more than two pages,” or “don’t choose a coloured paper.” The fact is, there is no universal format, but there are some guidelines to follow, whenever you are writing your resume. The most important factor to keep in mind when writing curriculum vitaes is that it should get the immediate attention of the hiring manager and land you an interview. Often jobseekers feel it is necessary to give dissertations on their work experiences. Unfortunately, all what that does is burden the hiring manager with unnecessary information that can later provide reasons for disqualifying you as a candidate. The average solicited job posting generates up to 200 resumes per day. Human Resources personnel spend approximately 15 seconds looking at each resume. Within that time frame, a decision will be made to place you either in the “yes” pile or the “no” pile. It’s critical therefore, that specific accomplishments and skills are emphasized on any resume. Your CV must speak loudly on what you can do for that prospective employer!
Those who “screen” resumes will be looking at the overall appearance, format, and key areas of strength or competency. Once you have survived this preliminary screening, your resume will enter into the next stage. Here, a thorough review will be done on your resume. If you are successful through this process, the contents of your resume will become the outline of your interview. In other words, a good CV will land you the job interview. Your performance in that interview is what will determine if you will get the job or not.
This guide will show you how to apply for vacancies and find a job fast by providing you with resume templates and detailed strategies you need to follow when writing curriculum vitae.
Job Interview Questions and Answers
Individuals facing a job interview often find the process itself to be more challenging than finding the job itself. A job interview is an employer’s opportunity to assess you and your opportunity to evaluate the employer. In reality, you both want to know if you and the job’s requirements match, if you are motivated to succeed in this position, and if you and the employer’s values and styles match. When you are invited for an interview, be prepared to give the best interview you can. The interview is one of the key elements of the job search process. As with any skill, we can get better at it with preparation and practice. In this guide you will explore how to prepare for an interview and become familiar with interview questions and tips and how to answer to those questions.
You will;
- Understand the different types of interview questions and tips and how to prepare to answer them
- Learn the most effective ways to prepare for an interview, including interview research and practice
- Develop expertise at expressing yourself effectively, i.e. what to say and how to say it and the questions to ask in an interview
Complementary skills and Transferable skills
Transferable skills are skills you have managed to develop in your life. It is not limited to a job, but encompasses a multitude of areas: positions held in organizations, your hobbies, sports, personal interests, class projects, or even responsibilities at home or church. Any skill that you have acquired from these familiar tasks that can be applied to a position you are interested in as a transferable skill. Everyone has transferable skills. Think about it: we all enjoy doing something; even the blandest person has a hobby, and no matter how hard we try to escape it, nearly everyone has chores. By recognizing the roles we have undertaken and breaking them down, we can easily identify which skills we have become “experts” in and how these can translate into personal strengths and aid us in the positions we aspire to hold.
By listing your activities, and breaking them down into specific tasks, you can identify key complementary skills that can apply to a specific field of work. One way of identifying these skills is to compare your skill set to the ones required for an advertised vacancy or job. No more excuses that you have no experience or skills. This book will serve as a valuable guide in this regard.
Job skills assessment In today’s economy employers focus on employee skills. But most of these employers who make these decisions have to factor in other elements. Employers realize that the performance of their employees will depend as much on personal qualities as on raw physical and mental talent. Is this employee committed? What is his value system? Is she trainable? Will he be a team player? Will she be able to overcome her shortcomings? Will he choke? Does she quit? Has he established sound quality habits needed by the company? Employees are hired based on the answers to these kinds of questions. Companies use some form of job-skills testing and personality testing. They have realized how important it is to make sure that job candidates are a good fit. These days, a company can't afford to make a big mistake with a bad hire. Employers take the insights learned from industrial psychologists and adjust jobs to the strengths of candidates. That way, a "good" fit can be identified.
In this section, you will learn how job skill assessment has become another tool in the hiring and selection process. You will learn why job skills assessment is important when applying for a job in today’s job search climate.
