5 Steps to Writing a Top Notch Cover Letter

5 Steps to Writing a Top Notch Cover Letter When applying for jobs the cover letter is often overshadowed by your resume, however in most cases it is just as important, if not more and could be make or break your chances of being considered for a job. Your cover letter is your chance to really sell yourself as an employee and to elaborate on your skills and experience in a way that makes them so much more relevant to the role you are applying for than on your resume. You can also inject a bit of personality into your cover letter and give a bit of an insight into the type of individual you are, setting yourself out from competition. If youre feeling a bit stumped however,  Aimee Bateman of Career Cake has come up with 5 really helpful steps to writing an incredible cover letter to help you on your way. 1. Make it personal Try to avoid addressing letters to Sir/Madam/To Whom it May Concern, as it is incredibly impersonal and gives the impression that you are sending the letters out to anyone and everyone. Take the time to do your research and find out the hiring managers  name. It shouldnt be too difficult to find this information, as a lot of companies will have staff details on their website or you can usually find out with a quick Google search or through LinkedIn. If all fails, you can always give the office a call and someone there may be able to help you. 2. Tell them why  you want to work there Start off by being  specific about what role you are applying for as quite often, particularly in large companies, there will be multiple vacancies at one time and they may be receiving a high volume of applications. You should then let them know why you chose to apply for a job with them and show that you are genuinely interested in the company. You dont want them to think that they are just one of dozens of businesses you have sent a letter out to, so make  them feel like they are the only one you want to work for. Avoid buzzwords as theyve probably heard them all before, and rather find something significant and personal to their company that you admire. You should be able to find out information about past projects they have completed and their company values on their website and by following their activity on social media. 3. Tell them why they should hire you Now its your turn to big yourself up. You need to convince them that you are the one for the job. Identify a list of attributes that you want to promote about yourself and how you want employers to perceive you. You can then compare this with the skills and experience asked for in the job description and elaborate on the relevant qualities you possess. Tell them what you can do for them and how you can add value to the business with use of specific examples. 4. Show passion You need to be enthusiastic and show them that you really want the opportunity. Your choice of language can help to do so, for example I would love  the opportunity to discuss this further. Be passionate about your career and demonstrate your ambition to progress at  the company. 5. Be friendly and polite People want to work with individuals who are friendly and easy to get along with, so try to show this side of you in your cover letter. Its hard to really get across your personality on paper, but being polite and showing a bit of consideration for  the hiring manager/recruiter  can go a long way. You can do this by thanking them for their time considering  your application or by wishing them luck filling the role, as this will demonstrate that you respect how others feel and are willing to help. Image Credit: Shutterstock

Things to Keep in Mind When Writing a Resume

Things to Keep in Mind When Writing a ResumeOne of the first things to keep in mind when writing a resume is that you must be patient. Sometimes, we get caught up in being creative and productive. However, being creative can take its toll on our resume as it usually doesn't portray what we have done for the past few years. Therefore, it is better to put the attention on the key aspects of your professional life and let the rest fall naturally.The most important aspect of a resume that must be kept in mind when writing is your education. Resumes are largely based on your educational background. A candidate who has studied hard and achieved good grades should not get downplayed. A candidate who is highly intelligent and possesses sufficient experience in relevant sectors should get more consideration than someone who has spent his or her time at college cramming.Another important aspect that must be kept in mind when writing a resume is that there are three sections. There is the main objective section where you outline your career objectives and the project section where you state what you have done so far. Then there is the achievements section which goes into detail about your previous job experience.It is a great idea to also mention your supervisors and employer. In case, you are the project manager of the project and you feel that it would be easier to describe it here, you can give a brief account of what you have accomplished in this regard.References are one of the most essential parts of a resume. These are those people who have been closely associated with your job.List out the names of these people and whether they are involved in the company in some capacity or not. If there are any other people who have been so close to you during your tenure as an employee, list them down too. If there are no close relatives of yours, you may include your friends. This is purely a personal decision that you should make after you have listed the people and their des criptions.There are people who work as business owners, marketing managers, sales executives, technology advisers, etc. But it is not advisable to list the person's first name but their title. It will only show that you have little knowledge about them.Moreover, your resume should be written in an appropriate format. Make sure that you use a Microsoft Word document with a four-column layout.

How To Decline A Job Interview Look Professional (Sample Emails) - Algrim.co

How To Decline A Job Interview Look Professional (Sample Emails) - Algrim.co Sometimes it’s necessary to decline a job interview. You may have gone through the initial stages of the interview process and decided this position isn’t right for you. Or maybe you received an unsolicited email and need to respond. How do you decline a job interview and do so without burning any bridges? In this guide we’re going to show you how to politely decline any request for interviewing and ensure that you keep your reputation as well as a potential job opportunity. How Not To Burn A Bridge For the most part, every HR department, hiring manager or team leader knows that when you are in the interview process with someone, there’s always a chance they could decide to go another route. This is why they often try to rush the process. They want to make sure that you don’t have enough time to consider other options or delay the acceptance of an offer letter. What’s crucial to understand is that any pressure you might be receiving from the other party is simply them trying to do their job. They are being asked to hire someone and hire someone quickly. If you don’t want to burn a bridge, all you have to do is ensure that your communication with whomever it was who was asking you for the new interview, is done so in a calm and professional manner. It is always great to include some type of supportive reasoning for why you feel the opportunity is a great one, as well. That will make them feel like you truly considered the opportunity. Here is what you’ll want to ensure your communication with them entails: A polite, calm, simple message saying you’d like to withdraw yourself from the interview. A few mentions as to why you feel the opportunity is great and wish it were better timing. A request that you hope there are future job opportunities later down the road. You might have to do this by email or by phone. But if you are doing it by email and you don’t want to burn a bridge, here is what your email should look like: Hi [Hiring Manager], I’ve decided to go another route. Due to this I’d like to withdraw myself from the interview process. That said, I want to thank you for the time you spent with me and presenting this wonderful opportunity. I love your company because you: 1. Care about your culture 2. Are working within a category I am passionate about 3. Seem to have a job function open that has great potential for someone I appreciate you considering me for this opportunity, I am honored. I hope we can continue our communication in the future and see if there is better timing down the road. Sincerely, [Your name] Yes, it may seem like you are “brown nosing” the interviewer in some sense. But this shows that you’ve taken the time to consider why the job opportunity is a great one and why you feel you are missing out on something due to timing. This is a very professional way of declining any future interviews. If You Received An Unsolicited Email Lets say you received an unsolicited email asking you to jump on the phone to go through a pre-screen session or phone interview. And you aren’t looking to make a change from your current position or company. How do you respond to that? The answer is, in a very similar way as the email above. Here’s an example of what you might say: Hi [Name], Thank you so much for reaching out to me. I’m honored to be considered for this position. Unfortunately, right now, I’m not looking to make any career changes. I hope we can stay in touch and please alert me of any future job openings. Thank you, [Your name] In the email above you keep the line of communication simple and to the point. But you also leave the potential of future job opportunities on the table. Declining a Job Interview Due To Salary Maybe you received an email from a recruiter or manager asking you to interview and you looked at the salary or compensation package associated with the job but it wasn't something you were interested in. How do you tell the interview requester that you don't want to interview due to the salary or compensation package? Here's an example: Dear [Name]â€" I'm honored to be asked to interview with your company. I happened to look at the compensation package and unfortunately, it's significantly lower than my current position. I hope you can understand that while I really love your company, it makes more sense for me to stay where I am right now. Thank you so much, [Your name] Why Would You Decline A Job Interview There’s a variety of reasons you might decline a job interview. All of which are entirely normal business and most of which will be comfortable for hiring managers or HR departments to hear about. Some of this would include: You aren’t looking to make any career or job function changes. You are happy with your current employer. You applied for a position but weren’t satisfied with your initial interviews or on-site interviews. You may not have understood there was relocation requests as part of the job opportunity. Your current employer may have compensated you more heavily to stay with them. You may have done research into the companies missions and values, then decided it wasn’t the best fit for you. All of these are good reasons. But you don’t want to share them with the interviewer. It is best to keep these reasons to yourself and keep your line of communication simple. Why? Because if you share your personal thoughts on the process, the interviewer has the opportunity to persuade you against those reasons. And that may make you feel like you are being badgered or sold into an opportunity. And you don’t want that. Tips When Declining Any Future Job Opportunity Or Interview When declining or withdrawing from any job opportunity it is best that you once you’ve made up your decision to withdraw, that you do so quickly. It is courteous to the interviewer and company to know that you are no longer a potential candidate. Your goal isn’t to be malicious towards the company and by withdrawing quickly, you are allowing them to fill the position with someone else. The best things you can do are: Respond quickly. Communicate briefly. Be forthcoming about your answer. Be clear. The worst things you can do are: Delay your response. Be vague in your communication. Express some personal frustration. Express your inner reasoning for questioning the job opportunity or interviews.

Are You Green Enough Strategies to Green Your New Business

Are You Green Enough Strategies to Green Your New Business One of the perks of starting your own business is the agency to control how the business is run. You set office standards and policies. During the company’s infancy, you will no doubt be too bogged down with simply keeping the company afloat.  So to be concerned with formulating any concrete environmentally friendly policies may be more than you can handle. Once your new company is stable, I would recommend spending a few hours evaluating where you can make minor changes to create a more eco-friendly company. Depending on how concerned you are with the overflowing landfills, global warming or the depleting ozone, you might be tempted to do a complete policy overhaul. Don’t. Not even big corporations like Coca Cola or Levi’s who have all made huge strides toward more sustainable business practices make overnight changes. In 2007, Coca Cola set a goal to return roughly 160 billion liters of water to the environment by 2020. In 2015, Coca Cola announced they were close to reaching those goals. In 2007, Levi’s worked with their engineers to conduct an apparel Life Cycle Assessment. It took Levi’s 5 years to create a new garment finishing process that reduced water consumption by up to 96%. A savvy business owner knows to strategize and slowly introduce new changes to their business. Making your business more sustainable will do the world no good if the process puts you out of business. Here’s what you should do as a new business owner hoping to transform your company into an environmentally friendly haven. Conduct a simpler version of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Life cycle assessment is a process designed to discover how your business or product affects the environment in every stage of production (from raw material mining to customer disposal). LCA is a 4 step process: Identify purpose and the potential products or procedures being assessed. Calculate environmental inputs and outputs in each stage of production. Assess how the inputs and outputs affect human health and the environment. Evaluate opportunities to reduce waste, energy, materials used and environmental impacts. Fully-fledged LCA’s can be complicated processes.   They can require highly skilled engineers, mechanics, and product designers. As a small company, you just can’t afford to conduct a full, highly scientific LCA.  I would suggest a slightly less ambitious LCA analysis: Identify company procedures, purchases, and habits where you might be a little more wasteful than you should be. Assess the degree of waste in each of the procedures. Evaluate how much it would cost to shift to slightly more eco-friendly strategies. Still a tad lost on where to begin?  I would suggest looking into these fairly common areas where many small businesses can improve. Recycling Evaluate if there are any items you currently chuck into the garbage that can or should be recycled. Here are a few common items to get you started. Once you know what you want to recycle, you can utilize Earth911’s handy dandy search engine.    Itll help you figure out where you need to drop off the items you want to recycle. Energy Efficiency in the Office There are always minor changes you can make to your office to gradually make it more efficient. Here are a few strategies: Ensure all employees shut down their computers before they go home. Attach office break room equipment to a surge protector that you can flip off before heading home. Even when devices are not in use, many devices like microwaves and televisions have either lights or displays that always use a little bit of energy. Utilize natural light when possible instead of turning on the lights. As light bulbs die, replace them with energy efficient light bulbs. Green Business is a Process More Than A Destination Environmentally friendly workplaces and businesses can be a vital part of a more eco-friendly world. Don’t feel pressured to transform into a more environmentally conscious brand overnight. As a new business owner, you should make minor eco-friendly changes while periodically conducting assessments on where you can improve. In the long run, youll enjoy a payoff for your company, your customers, and your world.  So the rewards are just out there waiting for you to claim them! Images: Unsplash,  FAO.org  Environment  Enokson  recycle  Alan Levine

What to Expect From an AtS and CV Writing Service?

What to Expect From an AtS and CV Writing Service?A professional resume writing service with AtS and CVs and CV's will provide you with a wide variety of resume formats to choose from. If you know the process of how they create resumes, you can be certain that they have the capability to get the most from your resume. It would also give you a better idea on how they will address your needs.The letter or resume includes your relevant details like your education history, job skills, education certificates, awards or diplomas and many other credentials. Nowadays, students are required to have their AtS and CVs certified and they should also submit their CVs to their respective schools and colleges as well. These schools are responsible for sending the appropriate credential to the colleges and universities that the students are enrolled in. So, it is very important to have a professionally designed, professionally formatted and professionally written resume that will be acceptable by sc hools and universities.After you have finished the process of submitting your documents and certificates to your colleges or universities, it is time to submit your documents to AtS and CVs and CV's. With an AtS and CVs and CV, you will be able to get your job prospects secured. With these documents, you will be able to get your CVs updated or refreshed according to your career and educational progress.When writing a professional resume, the first thing you need to keep in mind is that you will be a reference for other candidates when the hiring process is on. You will be able to hire the best candidate for your job based on your resume. So, it is very important to choose the best resume writing service that will be able to help you with your AtS and CVs and CV's and ensure that you get the best results out of your resume.Once you have sent your AtSand CVs to a number of different schools and universities, it will then be time to prepare your resume. It is very important to make sur e that your resume is structured in such a way that the letters, paragraphs and even the spaces on your resume are aligning to suit your employer. With this, you will be able to get a resume that will allow the employer to see and recognize your skills.The best resume writing service with AtS and CV will be able to use the best format for your AtS and CV. The next thing that they will do is to ensure that you follow the steps to make sure that your resume is designed in such a way that the letters, paragraphs and spaces on your resume are aligning to suit your employer. In addition, these services are also responsible for managing the resume from submission to approval.If you plan to send your AtS and CV to numerous schools and universities, it will also be best if you send the same to these service providers. This will ensure that you get the best professionals to work on your resume and ensure that you get a high quality resume when you submit it to schools and universities.A prof essional resume writing service with AtS and CV can work with you to design your resume to suit your needs. They can then manage your resume and make sure that you get the best results out of your AtS and CV.

Networking in 3 easy steps

Networking in 3 easy steps I am going to simplify networking for all the non-believers out there. We do it all the time, but dont really consider it networking. According to Websters, the definition of networking is the exchange of information. Thats it. Here are the 3 steps: 1) Ask a question or put information out there 2) Take action 3) Follow up Networking isnt always about us. Sometimes it is about helping others. There is no better feeling. Heres an example: I was delivering a workshop and found out that one of the participants worked at Channel 10. I asked her is she knew my friend who works there. She responded: Yes, we sit next to each other and I was in her wedding this summer. After chatting a bit longer I found out that my friends grandfather had just passed away. I then contacted in my network (my dad) so he could inform all of his friends. I also sent a note of sympathy to my friend. See, its not all about me. Its about nurturing relationships. Here is another extreme example. I say extreme because most people arent comfortable doing this for a variety of reasons. Deidre was visiting her dentist. The first question the dental hygenist asked (right as her fingers went in the mouth) was Whats new? Once the hygenists fingers were out of her mouth, Deidre responded: Well, I am a bit frustrated, Ive been sending my voiceover demo tape all over town and no one is calling me back. I really want a gig with a radio station. The dental hygenists eyes twinkled as she said, Deidre, run home after your appointment and get me your demo tape. Brother Wease is coming in this afternoon and I will give it to him. Deidre did and went on to be a special co-host with Brother Wease. I love telling stories of how networking works. It is about exchanging information, plain and simple.

Managing Debt Between Jobs - CareerAlley

Managing Debt Between Jobs - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. When youre between jobs, making ends meet can be tough. It can feel like a balancing act between looking for a new job, paying ongoing living expenses and keeping up with minimum debt payments. And this all needs to be done with a limited budget, which may come from your emergency savings or unemployment checks. source The key to making it work is planning. Youll need to create a temporary budget to get you through this tough time and carry you until you land back on your feet. This requires a good amount of thought and commitment on your part. Still, youll find it pays off to track and control your spending so that you can live somewhat comfortably even when youre not working. Create a Budget Create a budget with your income and spending in mind. Under normal circumstances, the amount you earn should be more than the amount you spend. But with only an unemployment check or possibly with no source of income at all the process is a bit different. You have no idea where all your money goes, huh? Ive been there before. I know its frustrating when you cant seem to get ahead. If you are in this boat, you probably dont have a budget or at least one that is working for you. The Importance of Creating a Budget Listenmoneymatters.com Although your length of unemployment is often out of your hands, you should aim to find a job within the next three to six months. This means your emergency fund should be able to last you several months. So, your monthly budget should be no more than one-third to one-sixth of your savings. Most of your money during this time should go toward necessities such as rent and groceries. Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash During this time, cut out unnecessary spending like going out to restaurants, going shopping and spending money on weekend entertainment. Also, consider canceling magazine subscriptions and gym memberships to save a few extra dollars each month. You can reinstate these treats once youre back to work. You should also make only the minimum monthly payments on your credit card debts and other outstanding loans. Youll be responsible for paying a bit more in interest, but it will cost you less now when you have more pressing money obligations and need to make every dollar count. Eliminate UnnecessarySpends Do you really need that Take an honest look at your discretionary spending (expenses that are nice to have, but not required) and see where you can cut back. Maybe one less premium channel subscription or maybe you can find a less expensive phone plan. We are what we eat Eating out (or ordering in) can also add up quickly. Think about planning your meals and cooking at home. This could save quite a bit of money. Get a Side Hustle There are many ways to make money in your spare time while you are looking for a job. This will help you make ends meet (and that eases a lot of the stress). Some examples: Getaround.com Earn cash by sharing your car. Coach Training Become a Certified Coach and learn core coaching. Survey Junkie Sign-up to complete surveys and other tasks for cash rewards. Doordash Start delivering today and make great money on your own schedule. Airbnb Earn money as an Airbnb host. Photo by Alisa Anton on Unsplash If You Cant Afford Your Bills If you find you dont have a large enough savings or youre ineligible for unemployment benefits, you may not be able to pay your bills during this hard time. Dont panic. You have options to help reduce your debt obligations, free up extra cash or make some money in the interim. Consider applying for a part-time job or performing some freelance work. This may not be an ideal situation, as you may not properly utilize your skills and you wont make a full-time salary with benefits. Still, it can help you plug the holes in your budget while you look for permanent employment. If this isnt an option for you, look into debt reduction strategies. Your main debt resolution option is a settlement, but you can also consider bankruptcy if youre especially tight on money and dont see your situation changing in the near future. Being jobless could be a stressful time, but it can also be an excellent time to reflect on life decisions, make positive changes and get a fresh start. The secret is to remain positive and organized during this period Tweet This Debt settlement is best done with the aid of a debt settlement firm and a professional credit counselor. A counselor at an established firm will help you set up and stick to a saving plan. Then he or she will reach out to each of your creditors one by one with the hopes of settling on a negotiation. In a successful negotiation, youll only pay a portion of the full debt or loan, saving you potentially thousands of dollars. This is money that can be put to better use while youre out of work. What's next? Ready to take action? Choose the right tools to help you build your career. Looking for related topics? Find out how to find the opportunities that help you grow your best career. Subscribe and make meaningful progress on your career. It’s about time you focused on your career. Get Educated Contact Us Advertise Copyright 2020 CareerAlley. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy + Disclosure home popular resources subscribe search