Resumes are key for the person strategizing their career transition with traditional job search strategy!

See if your resume clearly answers the following questions:

• What are your strengths?
• What projects do you love to work on and why?
  
• What are your most challenging projects and how did you handle them?
  
• What is most important to you in your work?

More questions:

• How does your personality type align well in the industry you’re in?
  
• Are you giving success stories that share how well you work under pressure?
• How do you handle tight deadlines?
• How do you approach difficult clients?
• Does your passion about your work come out clearly?
• Enough white space to seem inviting to read?

Does the resume and cover letter seem to be a clear invitation for an interview?

If you would like me to work on your resume, email me your resume and the position you are seeking. I’d be glad to schedule a time to talk with you on the phone. If it looks like we will work well together, I’ll offer you a tailor-made career coaching package.

Enjoy Monday morning as much as Friday afternoon!

There are virtually no rules for writing cover letters, other than a few basics. Because of the freedom to go pretty much whatever direction you’d like to go, you can focus in on whatever you want to.

Below are some common questions.

• If salary history or requirements are requested, should I include it in my cover letter? If you don’t, certain companies won’t look at the material. On the other hand, repeated surveys show that nearly 100 percent of readers admit they’ll look at your resume and call you even if you don’t include what has been requested. The bottom-line question is Why give the company ammunition to screen you out?

• Should I send my resume to the Human Resources Department? If requested to do so, yes. The least effective department typically to send your resume to is HR. Generally HR doesn’t make the hiring decisions. So, it would be so much better to send your resume to the President, CEO, COO, CFO, Vice President of Sales, Director of Customer Service, Accounting Manager - whoever is in charge of the department you would like to be hired in.

• Do my communications need a consistent look? I recommend your resume, cover letter, and other job search communications to ‘look’ the same. Pick a standard presentation for your documents and stick with it. The result will be a more professional, elegant, and high-quality presentation.

Questions and answers were taken from Cover Letter Magic by Susan Whitcomb and my own experience as a Career Coach.

If you would like help with your cover letter and resume, please email me, Terri@SummitViewCareerCoach, to schedule a short phone meeting.

As a results-oriented career coach, I work with professionals so that they enjoy Monday morning as much as Friday afternoon!

Most people read thank you letters, especially hand-written ones. Thank you letters after an interview are an opportunity to contact the employer again!

In your thank you letter you may want to mention your skills, qualifications and experience that you can bring to the company that are related to the position you are applying for. Interviewers can’t remember all of the details, so you do them a favor by reminding them.

Susan Whitcomb recommends for thank you notes in her book Cover Letter Magic , “Don’t ever leave your interviewer wondering whether you can or cannot do something. Spell it out so that your qualifications are clear and readily identifiable.”

If you would like help with your cover letter and resume, email me to schedule a phone meeting. We can discuss whether or not my services would fit your needs. You can email me at Terri@SummitViewCareerCoaching.com.

Enjoy Monday morning as much as Friday morning!