Helping Clients -- It's Not Always the Cover Letter's Fault

In a recent blog post on CareerBuilder's Work Buzz Blog, a job seeker named "Jim" asked "How Do I Land an Interview?"

Blogger Kate Lorenz from CareerBuilder answered his questions, and provided some great information. I added my thoughts in a comment, reprinted for you here:

Great tips, Kate! Also, it might not be Jim's cover letter that is the real issue here -- it might also be the resume -- combined with a lack of focus on what kind of job he really wants (he mentions aerospace but then also an interest in a career change). As you advised, cover letters need to be specifically targeted to the position/company being pursued. It's fine to develop a general "template," but then that must be finely tuned to meet the specific responsibilities and challenges of the position being targeted. If it's a position in Sales Management in Aerospace, then that should be highlighted specifically -- no mention of a career change. To go a bit further than your comment about finding a "hook" in the cover letter, both the resume and cover letter need to quantify specific accomplishments that Jim has produced in his 20 years of experience (and most definitely in his most recent position) ... identifying how he specifically helped his last employer make money, save money, solve a specific problem, keep a customer, get new customers, etc. In addition, remember that cover letters are "employer-centric," not "you-centric." There's an awful lot of "I" statements in Jim's cover letter -- and it's nice that he wants to "simplify" his career, but the employer could probably care less about that. Instead, quantify the value that you have to offer to the EMPLOYER, not what YOU hope to get out of the job. In addition, you've got to get the resume and cover letter to the right person at the company. Go beyond applying online and research the company (look at their website, Google them, check out their recent press releases). Find specific individuals at targeted companies to contact. Use LInkedIn to identify executives at the company ... and then use those contacts to help identify what their specific needs are -- for both positions they're advertising, and the jobs that they're going to need to develop and fill, to meet future growth. (That is especially important since Jim has a background in product support.) When you're not getting interviews, it might not be your age or "overabundance" of experience. It might be that you need a professional to help you with taking an objective look at your resume and cover letter ... and learning how to network your way to your next job. You can find professional resume writers who would be willing to provide a free review of your resume through the various professional associations: Career Directors International (www.careerdirectors.com) National Resume Writers Association (www.nrwa.com) Professional Association of Resume Writers (www.parw.com) Career Management Alliance (www.careermanagementalliance.com) Bridget (Weide) Brooks, CPRW Editor, Resume Writers' Digest

Six Steps to Find Your Voice

In the first part of the four-part series on "Writing Well," I talked about "Finding Your Writing Voice as a Resume Writer." Then I talked about "Strengthening Your Voice." The third installment is on "Technology and Its Impact on Voice." The final piece is "Six Steps to Find Your Voice."

"Writing may be magical, but it's not magic," says nationally-known writing consultant Chip Scanlan.

He outlines a series of steps all writers take:

• The Idea: Who is this client? What is their job objective?
• Collect: This is the "reporting" function of the resume writer's job. Read, observe, question, research -- amass information, without judgment.
• Focus: Make sense of the material. Is anything missing?
• Order: Organize and prioritize the information you have to make, to make sense of it in relation to the client's job objective, skills, and qualifications.
• Drafts: Begin to write. Search out examples (accomplishments, case studies, supporting facts).
• Revisions: Review the writing to ensure everything is relevant to the "the idea."

It may seem like an oxymoron, but "writers need to be more creative and more disciplined at the same time," Scanlan notes. "Writers are looking for permission."

They're often looking for permission to leave out information. That's often the right approach.

"You think you're overcollecting (information), but you're really underthinking," Scanlan says.

"Your job as a writer is to make the reader see," Scanlan says.

Getting better at resume writing is really about three things: practicing, sucking it up, and just asking people to share their lives.

Technology and Its Impact on Voice

In the first part of this series on "Writing Well," I talked about "Finding Your Writing Voice as a Resume Writer." Then I talked about "Strengthening Your Voice." Next up is "Technology and Its Impact on Voice."

The newest challenge to finding personality in resumes is the role of technology. Requests for ASCII resumes -- and the problems retaining fonts and formatting in Word documents places a greater emphasis on content. The story must be compelling, regardless of the visual package.

This is also the area of emphasis which benefits the resume writer in the face of resume templates and resume software. Most resumes submitted for critique feel sterile -- devoid of voice and personality of the job seeker.

Job seekers have been cautioned to reveal enough to get an interview, but not too much.

Every resume writer understands this challenge -- and it's a delicate balancing act.

In the next article: Six Steps to Find Your Voice

Strengthening Your Voice as a Resume Writer

In the first part of this series on "Writing Well," I talked about "Finding Your Writing Voice as a Resume Writer." Next up is Strengthening Your Voice.

When writing resumes, remember that you're writing, "one writer to one reader." What do you want that reader to feel when he or she is finished reviewing the cover letter and resume?

Your writing must be compelling and distinctive to evoke a feeling in the reader. There are certain verbs that can evoke a voice and tell a story.

Is there any room for feeling in resumes? Of course. In traditional journalism, "the embrace of objectivity was to counter the inflamed political rhetoric of the news media and replace it with the informed reason of the scientist," says nationally-recognized writing consultant Chip Scanlan. "It was not meant to produce a totally sterile, objective piece."

In resume writing, sterility was introduced in response to complaints of discrimination in the hiring process. Many issues related to this were unfairly attached to the resume's role in the screening process.

Next up: Technology and Its Impact on Voice