Thursday, October 21, 2010

Digging Inside the Portfolio. Part 1: The Cover Letter

Along with a portfolio of relevant work you’ve done, you will also need to perfect your cover letter and resume before you graduate so they are ready to go when you come across jobs you are interested in.   Employers get hundreds upon thousands of applicants with decent cover letters and resumes so you will need to do something different to stand out amongst the crowd.  Research shows an employer spends an average of five seconds looking at a resume before they decide whether to throw it out or not.  The goal: to stay out of the trash!
Let’s first focus on the Cover Letter!
1. Know who you are addressing.  Never say “To whom this may concern” because it is vague and will not inspire a connection between you and the employer.  Also make sure you use appropriate titles and prefixes when addressing their name.
2. Spell check until the cows come home.  Misspelling even the simplest of words can cost you the job.  Remember, employers are getting tons of resumes so they need one simple way of sifting through them.  Correct spelling and grammar is one easy criteria they use to decide if you are a yes or a no.
3. Be specific.  Do not send a generic cover letter to multiple employers.  Read over the job description for the position you are applying for and the overall company and include things in your resume that shows you did this.  Showing the employer you have done your homework and actually researched the company will put you above the rest.
Posted By: Kayla Molczan
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