ÖTtje
June 13, 2001
©bseruer
Take it From the Experts:
Smart Advice on Writing Resumes and Cover Letters
C ompiled by J oyce K la witter tor
Ex pert an Employer Response
D o not leave the ball in the employer's
court. Indicate what reaction you expect
from your cover letter and how you will
follow up. For exam ple, d o n ’t end with
“ I look forward to hearing from you
soon.”
Include All Supervisors
“A s a general rale, you m ust include
your form er employer. Ifyo u leftu n d er
bad circumstances, o r were fired, you
still need to provide y o u r form er
supervisor’s name. Leaving it o f f is a
judgem ent and provide nam es and in-
fo n n atio n o fth ep eo p le w ho will repre
sent you best.” Richard N elson Bolles,
tation; the second should be scan
nable. Scanners can read plain text.
They w on'treaditalics.underlines, col
author o f “W hat C olor Is Y o u r P ara
ch u te?”
um ns, boxes, bullets, sym bols, or pic
tures. A scannable resum e should be
“If you’re sending an email re-
sume, send a cover letter. 1 ’d insist I
on that. Explain that you (1) have H
the ski 11s to do die job as advertised
in the posting; (2) understand the H
jobasit’sadvertised;and(3)know H
something about the company (if H
die company's been identified m Bt
P hoto by J ohn H ayes
the ad).” - Frank M arquardt o f
w eetfeetcom .
Build a Website
The One Minute
Resume
“A W eb page with posted w ork
exam ples, your resum e, and references
- even som ething about your personal
intersts - will m ake you stick out in the
recruiter’s m ind and give you a chance
to shine. Y ou can pure hase space on the
W eb with an Internet service provider
foraboutS20perm onth, w hich give you
five or 10 m egabytes to play with -
plentyofroom to create yoursite. Ifyou
d o n ’t know H TM L, w hich is easy to
leam. program s like FrontPage cost
aboutSlOO and will help you format and
post your page.” - Jake Jam ieson o f
w etfeetcom .
“Recruiters and hiring m anag
ers often take less than a minute to
read a resume. To m ake your
m inute count, consider a highlight
section at die top o f your resume,
directly below yo u r name, and, if
youuseone, yourobjective. Y ou’re
m ore likely to get the recruiter’s
attention by em phasizing your
transferable skills and exceptional
accom plishm entsatthetopofyour
resum e instead o f scattering them
throughout.” - A ndrew Posner, a
career counselor in the San Fran
cisco B ay Area.
3 is the Magic Number
Can You Scan That
Resume?
“Since three is a standard num ber for
references, one form er em ployer, one
academ ic and onecharacterreference is
a good balance. B ut use your best
Follow the Lead of
Experienced Job Seekers
“ M ore experienced jo b seekers
should consider using a chronological
resume to get an interview, then offer a
skills-based resume during the inter
view. The second version can highlight
everything you w eren’t able to fit on the
onginalresum e.’’ M arkM ehler,coau
thor of “ CareerXroads 2000.”
Cover Letter + Email
Resume
Donna L. McCoy is a bookeeper at B. Hayes Custom Cabinets
McCoy handles the day-to-day reckonings o f a bookeeper in a
small business - making sure the company pays its suppliers and
gets paid by its customers. Starting salary range: $17,000 -
$22,000, depending on your education, unless you work for the
federal government, which pays about $7,000 more.
serious error.” - Dr. Jam es Sampson,
‘ career counselor at Florida State U ni
versity.
one o f the standard Serif or Sand S erif
fonts. Use a good sized font, too, such
as 11 or 12point; anything sm allerw on’t
scan well. Lightweight white paper is
ideal for scannable resumes, and if it’s
longer than a page, use a paper clip
instead o f staples.” - Jake Jam ieson o f
wetfeet.com.
Page 5
“C reate tw o versions o f your
resume. The first version will be
geared tow ards hard copy presen-
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