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4 Secrets of Grabbing the Recruiter’s Attention in your Cover Letter

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With hundreds and thousands of resumes being submitted for one single job opening, the only way you can make the recruiter open your resume is by having a smart and unique cover letter (and of course the other way is when you have a direct reach to the hiring managers). Remember that the employers are seeking the best candidate for their offered job description and it is to you how you can make yourself stand out. Here are the 4 secrets to the first step to get their attention, through your cover letter, or letter of introduction:

1.     Attention Grabber Headlines

 

Start your cover letter with bold headlines, above the greetings. Grab the attention in the first statement itself and be clear. For example:

I am seeking an opportunity to Interview for the position of ….. Job ID 123 (if this position has been advertised under a certain ID/number)


2.     List your Qualifications

 

And do not beat about the bush.

“The description of the open position as a senior software developer suits me perfectly. As you would see from my resume I qualify for all required attributes expected for this job description but I would also like to know about your other expectations on this job. I look forward to meeting with you and I hope you would be more than satisfied with my qualifications here over the past 12 years of my experience as a software developer:

… list your top experience/qualifications here … (upto 5 should be sufficient)


3.     Availability and Request

 

The cover letter should never exceed more than one page (well unless absolutely necessary) and use as many bullets and short paragraphs as possible. Follow the list of qualifications with a short paragraph on when you could be available to for a meeting; suggest something like: “I am usually available on Mondays to Thursdays between 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm. It would be great to meet in person and answer any questions that you might have for me. It would be great if you can suggest a time that suits you the best.”


4.     Now Ph Number and a Friendly Cyber Handshake

 

“I am looking forward to your reply to discuss the possibilities of making it as an employee of ABC (the name of the company you are applying for), it would be a privilege to be a part of this dynamic team. You may contact me at any time at my cell phone: 123 456 7890”

The secret is how effectively you can ask and present yourself in the short space you have for the cover letter. Follow these tested tips and see how you can increase your success factors of getting that important phone call!

 

More info on Cover Letters here: Cover Letters Rules and Sample Cover Letters

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Filed Under: Career Self-Help, Job Search Tagged With: , ,

A Challenge helps you Leap Higher

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I strongly believe that adversity and challenge are the essential elements of life which one must welcome now and then, it is nothing to shy away from or feel intimidated. Only through these hurdles we learn to leap higher and emerge stronger along the way or at the end.

Recently I came upon this very inspiring and informative article on Entrepreneur magazine about Tina Aldatz of Foot Petals who runs a $10 million company with 17 employees and three offices. And it all started when she was finding a solution for herself to wear high heels without the pain, Aldatz burned her feet as a child and wearing heels was a big issue for her since she was in the fashion industry. Over the last few years she had a plan and worked hard on it and finally has a great product which sells well and helps people find relief wearing high heels for longer hours. What’s to be noted in her story is how a challenge helped her find a solution to a problem and helped her reach heights which she would not perhaps achieved as an employee to a company. And so goes the story with many entrepreneurs who have taken upon a challenge in positive or negative way to churn up huge profits or better still to make the world a better place.

Adversity and failures are part of our lives, it is only when we learn how to turn it around to our benefits that we realize why they were such an important ingredients that have perhaps given more than what a smooth and tension free life would not have.

In the current world scenario where the economy is fluid and the concept of a stable vocation or income stream on unstable grounds, we are more than ever before exposed to challenges and problems that we would not have thought about. It seems daunting and the pressure affects us in many ways, but then again these challenges nudge us to go a step further than our present efforts, and how wonderful would it be if let us leap higher that what we would have done had we not encountered the challenge in the first place!

We often underestimate our abilities because giving up is much simpler than fighting back – that is what deprives us of the chance that destiny had offered – to find out how resilient and robust we actually are.

So next time when something knocks you down, I hope you not only fight to rebound back but come back on destiny to make your own path – your path to a new success goal – a destination that is larger than your present dreams but with a clarity and practical plan to get there.

“Opposition is a natural part of life. Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition – such as lifting weights – we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity.”

 Stephen R. Covey

How have you turned a challenge or a problem to your benefit? Would love to hear your thoughts or ideas, do share in the comments please.

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Life is What you Make it – A book review

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“I’d like to define vocation as the tug we feel toward the life that is right for us, the life that is truly our own.” – Peter Buffett, Life Is What You Make It

The first thoughts I had when holding a book written by Peter Buffet (yes, the son of the billionaire investor Warren Buffet) was why would this person talk about life is what you make it, when he is the one born with the silver spoon? This was anticipated and pretty much thought about as you get an instant answer reading the abstract of this book “You may think that with a last name like his, Buffet has enjoyed a life of endless privilege. But… that is the only inheritance handed down from his parents was a philosophy: Forge you own path in life.”

And that is exactly the subtle message that Peter conveys in this amazingly down to earth book, Life is What you Make of it, which reaches out not only to those starting on a new career but also largely to parents on how to set expectations for their kids or teenagers.
On rewards and lavish gifting Peter says; “In the normal course of things, rewards come gradually. That is part of the suspense and joy in life – that we sense ourselves moving forward, gaining in competence and knowledge, and being compensated for our progress, whether in money, or professional advancement, or creative satisfaction. Success, however we define it, happens little by little.”
Well said. How often we tend to make it easy on ourselves by gifting our kids based on not what they need but what they want – or is a trend with their friends or society – thereby taking away from them the most valuable lesson of life – your own experience to find out what is right and what is wrong.

This is also very true in this present world where everyday there is a lure of making easy money and when people need it the most in current situation, the short term ‘success’ in making a few bucks can affect their long term goals and benefits. If you are out there either making it big or just starting out on a new career, Peter’s new book has the most inspiring message for all of us -  taking on the reins of your destiny, living the life to the fullest, luck, timing of the luck happening to us, patience, trust and how we use our time – some things very basic and often we tend to overlook or ignore as we go on with our lives; all these have been brought in beautifully together in this book.

It is a life’s perspective from someone who has gone through trial, error and a varied experience which many of us have gone through or are presently going through but that makes life what it is – complete and rich with experience which is yours and no one else can make what you can out of the time you have.

As a career writer, I found this book very inspiring for my audience and young students who are stepping into this world which largely depicts affluence and making ends meet is not a struggle anymore, there is more likely a chance of falling for the short cut to success or even just spending what you have and finding later on that on the financial front we were perhaps never taught what we should have been.  The true path to success is – through honesty, confidence, peace of mind, philanthropy and just going the experience and journey of making it to you success goal by doing what you want.

A highly inspiring book for anyone from age 16 to 100, it brings to you insight and in depth thoughts from a person who had the chance of growing up in affluence and an influential surname which could take him anywhere but he decided to follow – Life is what YOU make of it. Interspersed with guidance on how anyone can really follow their dreams, it is this combination of Peter’s life experiences with inspirational advice that developed Life Is What You Make It into a rewarding and poignant read.

Find your own path to fulfillment.

Peter Buffett is an Emmy Award-winning musician, philanthropist and Random House-published author. Know more about him and his book at http://peterbuffett.com and look up the excerpts of this book at http://www.peterbuffett.com/bookexcerpts.pdf .

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Book Review – Work with Passion in Midlife and Beyond

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“Given the volatile economy, rising costs of living, and likelihood that safety nets like social security and savings may not cover expenses when you are older, it is imperative that you start now to find the work that engages your heart and soul,” Anderson writes in the introduction to her new book, Work with Passion in Midlife and Beyond: Reach your Full Potential & Make the Money you Need.

An extremely inspiring title indeed and a very helpful book for those who are contemplating a career change, or have been in a layoff and see the need to reinvent themselves to achieve success in their careers.

I couldn’t agree more when I during the first few pages of the book I came across this statement: “Identifying and facing your fears is a crucial step in the first stage of change.”

The book revs up in a gentle massaging way, the author focuses your attention on how to streamline your life – the mental preparedness is essential to any strong beginning and if you need a major re-work in your life to begin on a fresh start to rewrite your story of life. You might wonder if you go through the first 80 pages of this book as to why it was so important t0 re-visit my triumphs and failures in life and why I need to clarify more on who I am today? But then, look again, the title of this book has an important word “passion” for those in midlife and beyond, and it is through revisiting your life history and an in-depth analysis of your present stand you slowly start seeing the light – to create a template of success to find the work you would love to do – when work is no more work, it is a passion and true bliss.

Some wonderful thoughts that I truly loved in this book are:

  • Notice what you enjoy that others think is hard work.
  • A sense of timelessness is another clue that you are on the passion path.
  • Your mind is on what’s in front of you, like a child on the beach with a bucket and shovel building a sand castle.
  • Parcells’s third rule of leadership is to set and reach small goals. When people set small, visible goals, he says, and they achieve them, they get it into their heads (their subconscious) that they can succeed.

I admired deeply the authors’ take on providing us with a step by step look at some must do action items, it not through reading, inspiration alone that one can achieve the path to success; you achieve so by crafting practical goals and time bound action plans. Perhaps this book could have achieved more if it had the worksheets and all, but hey at time you just need such a book to motivate you to action, to clear up the many cobwebs of mind and the surroundings and at times you just need such a book to put your legs up and soak up some wise valuable suggestions and insights on how your personality type influences success in a particular career.

Nancy Anderson takes a good take through this book on streamlining life midlife, post-retirement or after a layoff and can be many such women would find a lot in common to some of the stories which the author narrates throughout the book and will find helpful as they search for a new career or job or perhaps it is the right time to reinvent and start something new altogether!

 Learn more about Nancy Anderson and Work With Passion In Midlife And Beyond here.

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