CV Resume Blog

Just recently I stumbled across an article about this cover letter generating software called the amazing cover letter creator. It claims to be by far the best on the market and so I didn’t want to talk about this subject.

I don’t understand how you can claim to be the best cover letter creator. I don’t believe in the fact that “In Only 3½ Minutes, You Can Quickly And Easily Crank Out A Killer Cover Letter That Is Guaranteed To Have Your Phone Ringing Off The Hook With Hot Job Interviews And Top Job Offers… Without Writing One Word!”. In my experience every company has its own demands and I if there is one thing they have in common, it’s the fact that they all want a personalised letter which is directly addressed to their company and their demands.

Only the fact that you just have to click a button, fill in the blanks and a “perfectly crafted” cover letter 100% customized for you pops out, doesn’t seem to be good according to me. Not everyone can have the same cover letter which works for different positions and different personalities. What is your opinion about this subject? Do you think these kinds of pre-crafted letters work? Please let me know your thoughts about it.

A cover letter is very important when you are writing a resume. Whether it’s good or bad, it gives a certain first impression and it’s up to you to decide which impression you want to make. There are different ways to write a cover letter and I want to give a couple of tips to write it in one way.

A cover letter is always built up in three different sections. On the first paragraph, you want to identify the position you are applying for, how you found out about the job vacancy and of course why you are interested in the job. On the second paragraph, you have to convince the company that you are a good candidate for the job offer by discussing the offer and summarising why your skills are related to the job. Furthermore you can give some accomplishments of yours and some positive characteristics that may help you to get the job.

Finally, you should write a closing paragraph where you thank the company for considering your CV and it’s always good to say that you hope to make a chance for a personal conversation with the interviewer. This shows how hard you want the job. But whatever you do, make the company believe that you write to them in person, when you are applying for different jobs, it’s better to make different cover letters which are personally directed to the company where you are applying for the job. Making them personal shows your interest and involvement.

There are many people who ask the question what they do wrong when they don’t get accepted for an interview or fail at the job interview itself. In fact there are many different theories about it and everyone claims to know the answers. I disagree with this. There could be a million of reasons why your CV is not good enough and I think these reasons differ from company to company.

The fact is that you cannot do anything about it. You just have to move on and apply for another job. Because when you keep on trying, eventually you will find the job that serves you right. Of course there are many tips for enhancing your chances of getting a job. Here are 5 more I found and might be interesting for you.

The first one is that you don’t have to be afraid to ask the companies you sent your job resume to or where you did an interview their feedback. They know what they are talking about. They are experts; they have read your CV and interviewed you. So they are the ones who know what you can do better or what you can change.

Secondly you want to make sure that your resume is not longer than two pages. Keep it nice, clean and simple. This means that you don’t want to have any unnecessary information on a professional resume. Interviewers take maybe 30 seconds to look at your resume so you want to make sure that they read what you want them to read in this amount of time.

Furthermore it would be good to practice your interview techniques with a friend. Ask for feedback on how comfortable you look and how you connect with the interviewers. Ideal would be to go and see a career counsellor who can give you professional hints.

The fourth tip I want to share is that you should conduct as much information about the job you apply for as possible. Try to identify the company, look for figures and study it closely. It’s a huge advantage when you look interested in the company and it’s a good way to look well prepared for the interview.

Finally it could be good to send a follow up. In here you send a thank you note together with a copy of your CV. In this way, the company will be reminded of you and maybe call you for another job vacancy.

As we all know, it’s good to have contacts in order to get a job and Social Media can help you building up a solid network of professional connections.

These days networking is not only about going to meetings and talk with people anymore. Nowadays we all have different professional and personal ‘social networks’ on the internet. When I say names of websites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, everyone knows what I am talking about. You don’t need to go from the one meeting to the other one anymore to build up a network, these days it’s all about Social Media. Future employers check LinkedIn pages and other sites to receive as much information as they can find about possible employees. So basically in these days you can get or forget a job online.

We use social media at home, at work, on our mobile phones,… It’s becoming a lifestyle and what is more important, is that everyone can see what you are doing. This includes the company you work for or you want to work for.

We all know the double feeling when our boss wants to add us on Facebook. You think it will be rude to decline it, so you accept the offer. But have you ever considered giving him limited access? You can do this very easily and you can keep your privacy and not be rude at the same time. This is just one examples of coping with your online professional and personal network. Internet is controlling our lives more than ever, but we need to change this into controlling the Internet to build up a solid network online.

Finally I want to give you more information about some Facebook pages that might interest you when you want to apply for a job somewhere. The first one is called Resume Writing, CV Writing and Jobs and has over a hundred fans. The second one is an upcoming page called Your Guide to CV Resume and Cover Letter and gives you more information about how to get a job.