Job Search / Interviewing / Negotiating Salary and Managing Your Career

If you haven’t noticed that red logo over there on the left side of your screen, you might not realize that I also write a weekly post for The Washington Business Journal.

So, in case you missed it, here are links to a few recent posts:

Money:

• How to Handle the “Desired Salary” Question When You Apply for a Job Online
• How to Answer: “What Are Your Salary Requirements?” in a cover letter
• How Top Performers Negotiate Salary

Job Search/Getting an Interview:

• How Long Will Your Job Search Take?
• What Your Resume Can’t Do For You

Interview Advice:

• How Was Your Interview?
• The Important Attribute Job Seekers Rarely Demonstrate
• How Are You Perceived When You Interview?
• How to Interview for a Senior Executive job

Career Advice:

• When is it Time to Quit Your Job?
• Are you Being the Invisible Man (or Woman) in Your Career?
• Why The Job Market Matters More than Advice from Your Parents
• Why Doing What You are Told Will Ruin Your Career
• When the New Job Doesn’t Work Out

I hope you find them useful. And please feel free to leave a comment to suggest future topics!

Four Topics to Avoid in your Cover Letter

Cover letters are important. They’re a chance to show an employer how you’re different from other jobseekers in your field. They’re a way to showcase your communication skills. They’re the employer’s first impression of you.  There’s lots of potential for either consideration or rejection via your cover letter. So let’s take advice from Jerome Young’s 4 topics to avoid in your cover letter:

1. Salary Requirement. This should come in later, after you’ve interviewed. If the employer asks, give a vague answer instead of an actual figure.
2. Why You’re Looking. It doesn’t add anything to your appeal. Lots of people are looking; it doesn’t really matter why (But if you have a compelling reason, you can use it during interview).
3. Desperation. No employer wants someone who really “needs” any job they can find. We rule out candidates if they apply for all 12 of our jobs. It’s not attractive. Show confidence; not desperation.
4. Common Terms. This is your chance to stick out! So don’t use the typical “I’m hardworking and results oriented.” Everybody says that. Say something different.

No Need for Buzzwords in Your Resume

This morning I wrote about Kerry Sandberg Scott’s advice to NOT customize your resume to each job. Well she thoughtfully followed it up by disputing another urban legend: the need for buzzwords in your resume in order for it to get seen. Here’s why she says that’s not true:

1. Most companies don’t use applicant tracking systems.
2. You can put the keywords into your cover letter so they would be picked up in a search.
3. Nobody ONLY looks at keywords. Yes, recruiters may search for people with a certain certification, but they’re also going to look at the rest of the resumes.
4. Whoever told you that may have just been trying to make money off ‘coaching’ you.

So bottom line… Recruiters do search for keywords when looking for candidates, but that’s still no reason to spend 2 hours preparing your resume for submission to a position. That’s just unnecessary.

Customize Your Cover Letter – But Not Your Resume

Are you spending hours customizing your resume to each job opening you apply for? That must be time consuming. Well Kerry Sandberg Scott wrote another spot-on post we can all learn from. She thinks it’s crazy to customize your resume to each job. After all, your experience is the same so what do you need to change about it? Instead, use your cover letter to highlight how your experience applies to the specific position. But don’t spend more than a few minutes on it! That would just be exhausting. You should check out the comments to her post too – Lots of jobseekers gave their opinions. Feel free to leave yours here!

6 Reasons to Write a Cover Letter

When application instructions say, “To apply please send resume and cover letter to…” you should really send both. And here’s why. Brianna Raymond at Pongo Resume wrote a great post with 6 reasons why you should include a cover letter. Here are 3:

1. “It shows that you’re serious about the opportunity” – Taking the time to write the cover letter makes you appear really interested in the opening, instead of being too lazy to write one. It will take only a few minutes on your part, but will tell the hiring manager a lot.
2. “It highlights your strengths” – They will read your resume, but listing your strengths in your cover letter makes them really stand out.
3. “It showcases your writing ability” – Every position will require you to write. So why not show them upfront that you’ll excel at the task. Impress them with your writing and they’ll like you from the start.

How to Introduce Yourself to a Recruiter

Imagine you’re desperate for a job, and want to contact the recruiter directly, but don’t know what to say… Well Abby Schwarz has sharp advice for how to and how not to introduce yourself to a recruiter. Here are a few:

• Do NOT ask what they can do for you.
• DO first ask if they have time to talk.
• Do NOT call before sending a resume.
• DO send a resume and follow up a few days later.

(We’ve added more resources on this topic here).

How to Differentiate Yourself from the Crowd

How can you stand among hundreds of other job candidates?

The simple answer: Be the most qualified. But that’s hard to determine and not always possible.

So Kerry Sandberg Scott has another tip: Mail a hard copy of your resume and cover letter to the employer. Make sure you follow directions by first applying through the way they designate on their ad. For example: If you find out about the position on CareerBuilder, apply through CareerBuilder… But afterwards, put a paper copy of your resume and cover letter in the mail. Scott cautions: “Don’t send it to HR” and don’t do overnight shipping (it makes you look wasteful, and in this economy, saving is key). Instead, use Social Media to find out who the hiring manager is, and mail it to them in the regular mail.