Archive for November, 2009

Go Getter Girls vs. Get Along Girls: Which One Are You?

Monday, November 9th, 2009
Go Getter Girl's Guide (St. Martin's Press, 2009)

Go Getters Girl's Guide

Debra Shigley is the author of a new book, The Go Getter Girl’s Guide,  that is gathering a big following. She’s been a recent guest on several tv news and talk shows, including The View and CNN. Her book is the result of  hundreds of interviews with successful, stylish young women, including Soledad O’Brien, Spanx founder Sara Blakely, and designer Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss.

I recently had the opportunity to interview Debra, and she offered a lot of great advice for young women just starting out in their careers.

Something she talks about in the book is the difference between being a Go-Getter Girl and a Get Along Girl. I asked her about this concept in the interview and here’s how she explained it.

“I think it’s the difference between sitting around and waiting for life and opportunity to happen to you (Get Along Girl), and taking charge of and responsibility for your career path (Go-Getter Girl!).  Especially in the current economy, the people that get ahead are the ones that have a ‘can-do’ spirit and demonstrate initiative.”

To read the entire interview with Debra click here. To take the quiz and find out if you’re a Go Getter Girl or a Get Along Girl click here.

tags , , , ,
posted in Books |

Best Cover Letter Samples and Tips Online

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

You should always include a cover letter when sending, faxing (does anyone do this anymore?!), or emailing your resume to a potential employer. If a networking contact (who may not be aware of all your skills and accomplishments) requests a copy of your resume, you should include a cover letter. The cover letter enables you to focus the reader’s attention to specific skills or achievements that are particularly relevant to the company you want to work for, or the job you are seeking. It is every bit as important as your resume and has the same exact purpose – to get you an interview!

1. Quint Careers
QuintCareers.com has over 40 easy-to-open cover letter samples ready-to-view right on their web site or in PDF format. They include cover letter samples for internships, recent college graduates, cold calls, email, military, and samples of cover letters in response to salary requirement requests.
View Cover Letter Samples

2. Virginia Tech Career Resources Center
Here you’ll find helpful cover letter samples and tips such as: how to address your cover letter if you don’t know exactly who you’re sending it to, how to write cover letters for informational interviews, how cover letters send via snail mail differ from cover letters sent by email and more. The page format is sort of messed up. It looks like the page wasn’t updated for new browsers or something. But the information is good so the effort is well worth it.
View Cover Letter Samples

3. Monster
Monster’s career resources section has a wonderful cover letter samples section complete with user reviews. Definitely check out this cover letter resource.
 http://career-advice.monster.com/resumes-cover-letters/cover-letter-samples/jobs.aspx

4. Florida State University Career Center
FSU has a terrific white paper about how to develop a system to keep your communications with employers (including cover letters) organized during your job search. This paper also includes sample cover letters, ways to identify the different types of letters that you may need to write during your job search, tips for knowing what to do and what not to do when writing cover letters, and access to additional sources of help.
http://www.career.fsu.edu/employment/letter-guide.html

5. The Department of Employment and Economic Development for Minnesota
Complete with cover letter samples, this site has some of the most original advice on the web for crafting cover letters that help you win the interview. The Minnesota DEED has a great example of how to write a cover letter using bullet points that highlight your skills that relate directly to the needs of the employer. I highly recommend visiting this web page. It’s a quick read and you’ll learn a lot.
http://www.deed.state.mn.us/cjs/cjsbook/resume7.htm

And here’s another quick way to view several of their cover letter samples.

6. Resumagic.com
If you dig around this site there is some good information. I liked their take on networking cover letters and recommend reading not only their section on cover letters, but on networking for novices also.
http://www.resumagic.com/cover_letters4.html

7. Job-Employment-Guide.com
Here is a link to a cover letter sample that can be used to blast your resume out to friends and family to jump start your networking efforts. If done well, this could be a useful way for busy college students and recent graduates to let people close to them know that they’re starting their job search.
http://www.job-employment-guide.com/free-cover-letter-samples.html

8. Vanderbilt Career Center
If you’re looking to find some industry related jargon to include in your cover letter, Vanderbilt has a pretty good selection of industry based cover letter samples that aren’t just filled with fluff.

9. DePaul University Career Center
Download this free cover letter sample packet. Lots of good information. They also have a free resume sample packet that’s worth checking out too.

10. Online Writing Lab at Purdue (The OWL at Purdue)
One of the best writing web sites in existence. Worth checking out for more than just cover letters too. But they do have a great page with quick tips for writing cover letters.

tags , , ,
posted in Cover Letters |

5 Career Planning Myths for College Students and Recent Grads

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

Myth #1: There are a few “safe” careers that make parents proud, have prestige, and mean you’ll be happy and make money for the rest of your life. Truth: No career is truly safe. Different professions come in and out of vogue. Authenticity never goes out of style. Follow your heart and your interests, not what someone else thinks you should do.

Myth #2: You must decide what you want to do for the rest of your life before you graduate, or very soon after. Truth: The only thing you will do consistently for the rest of your life is ask yourself what you want to do. You need to find jobs you enjoy and that allow you to gain new skills. Eventually you’ll realize you have been building a career all along.

Myth #3: In order to get your first job, you must have already had a job. Truth: You merely need to demonstrate that you possess an understanding of the job to be done and that you have the necessary skills. This is where resumes, cover letters, interviewing skills and networking are critical.

Myth #4: The Campus Career Center is a waste of time. Truth: Many CCC’s employ Ph.D’s in Counseling Psychology; people who are trained to assess your intrinsic aptitudes and attitudes. The staff is knowledgeable, cares, and wants to help you.

Myth #5: The Campus Career Center really rocks! They have all the answers. Truth: Some CCC’s don’t have properly trained staff, they don’t care (or, they’re understaffed and underpaid) and you won’t get the attention you need. Some companies actually avoid recruiting at college based because of staff.

tags
posted in career planning |

10 Tips for Writing Resumes That Get You Noticed

Sunday, November 1st, 2009

As if you don’t have enough on your plate already, now it’s time to write a killer resume. Grab some coffee and have a seat. The task of writing a resume is daunting to almost everyone…even successful professionals who have been working for 30+ years. It’s feels overwhelming to know where to start, what to include and what to leave off. The following 10 tips will help you write a resume that will not only stand out, but is sure to get you noticed by hiring managers.

1. Throw out the objective statement.
Get rid of it. If the objective statement on your current resume says something like “Looking for entry-level job in Information Systems that will allow me to use my technical skills, organizational skills and people skills”, hit the delete button now. The hiring manager knows what your objective is the minute he or she receives your email with the subject line “Application for entry-level information systems position”.

2. Include LOTS of white space.
Human Resources staff review hundreds, sometimes thousands of resumes a day. They’re already cross-eyed by the time they get to your resume, so do them a favor and don’t litter your resume with extraneous words that take up lots of space but have no impact.

3. Bullet points are your friend.
Lengthy, rambling, important sounding paragraphs that mean nothing are out. Bullets are in. HR will be impressed if you explain your accomplishments concisely. They will contact you for an interview. You will be happy.

4. The purpose of a resume is to get an interview, not win a formatting contest.
The only purpose of your resume is to create enough interest in you to have an employer contact you for an interview. No one cares if you don’t have an objective statement. No one cares if you list your activities above your skills or vice versa. Make your resume interesting, not a clone of every resume template you’ve downloaded from the internet. (HINT: Most of those resume sites exist to make money from google ads and other revenue streams that depend on lots of pages of content.) Don’t be fooled into thinking your resume has to look like everyone else’s.

5. Keep your resume professional and mature.
Do not include activities you participated in while you were still in High School unless they are REALLY spectacular, or they are something you continued to be involved in all throughout college. For example, if you were a photographer for your high school yearbook, but now you can’t even operate a camera, leave it off your resume. Here are some more suggestions.

DO include:

-Winning a gold medal at the Olympics

-Organizing a blood drive for the Red Cross

-Fundraising for important causes and charities

DON’T include:

-Being voted best looking for your high school yearbook

-Organizing Senior Skip Day

-Belonging to the Seinfeld fan club

6. Use action words.
Action words take your resume from drab to dazzling. To add sizzle to your resume, use bullet points that begin with action words like achieved, created, presented and managed. In addition, make sure the grammar on your resume is consistent. For example if you’re using past tense, make sure you don’t switch to present tense for the next bullet point.

Example of what not to do:

  • Won the salesperson of the month award in April for closing 80% of all cold calls.
  • Write sales copy for web site. (should be “Wrote”)

7. Use numbers and dollar figures to make your resume stand out.
This reduces clutter from writing everything out, and makes you seem impressive.

  • Increased web traffic by 45% in less than 3 months.

8. Use keywords to avoid getting screened out by HR computer software.
Many HR departments utilize software programs that screen resumes for the significant keywords listed in the job description or posting. Read through the job description carefully and be sure to sprinkle the important keywords throughout your resume.

9. An entry-level resume should be 1 page only.
No, you should not have a 2 page resume at this point in your career. Yes, hiring managers will laugh at you and toss your resume in the wastebasket. Seriously, keep it to one page. It’s the only formatting rule you really have to follow.

10. Proofread your resume, and then have someone else review it.
You will miss a typo, or a repeated word word. It happens more often than you think think. Don’t get passed over for an interview because you couldn’t spare a few extra hours to perfect the document that is more important than your thesis. Have someone review it and give you their honest opinion. Try to get it reviewed by a career counselor or someone who has experience in the field you plan to pursue.

tags , , , , , ,
posted in Resumes |