STRATEGY FOR UNCERTAIN TIMES—STAY PREPARED

STRATEGY FOR UNCERTAIN TIMES—STAY PREPARED


Financial giants have fallen. A $700 billion bailout plan. Unemployment rate rises. How do you cope with this economic uncertainty? Suppose your job is at risk. What to do? Stay prepared.

As a career coach with significant experience in outplacement, I know that job loss can come unexpectedly. I regularly advise clients to stay prepared. As we have seen, even companies that have heretofore stood the test of time can collapse and send their workers scrambling for new positions in a very competitive job market.

Here are some tips to prepare you for the possibility o job loss.

Have your resume professionally written so that you can be as competitive as possible in a tight job market. A professional resume writer can present you in the best possible light and highlight your unique strengths. Some job seekers make the mistake of thinking that they can simply do well at the interview, but it’s pretty hard to get the interview without a good resume.

Brush up on your interviewing skills. A great resume is designed to get you an interview, but you still have to convince the interviewer that you are the right person for the job. A competent career coach can help you prepare for the interview. A career coach can help you distill your answers to commonly asked interview questions to concise statements that demonstrate your strengths to the hiring manager. In addition, a career coach can help you address any potential weak areas that might be used against you in the interview (i.e., gaps in your work history, short tenure at jobs, etc.).

Know what you are worth in the marketplace. You can easily obtain salary information on the Internet through sites like salary.com and payscale.com. You should also check salary surveys done by professional associations. Armed with this information you will know what to expect and ask for when looking for a new position.

Maintain and continue to grow your network. By joining professional associations and increasing your connections on social networking sites like LinkedIn, you give yourself access to an ever-growing group of people with whom you can have a mutually beneficial relationship. By getting to know other professionals outside of your current company, you potentially have a network of people who can give you leads about openings.

Generally speaking, many people only know professionally the people that they work with. So when a downsizing happens, such people have to start building a professional network from scratch because the people in their company typically are not in a position to help them. After all, in a downsizing you are either the one directly affected or you are one of the ones trying to do the work left behind from the ones who were downsized. It is critical to get to know professionals outside of your organization before a downsizing, merger, or company closing happens so that you can quickly get job information from your network when you need it.

Five Tips for Writing Great Cover Letters

FIVE TIPS FOR WRITING GREAT COVER LETTERS


Job seekers often have questions about cover letters. They want to know if cover letters are necessary and if they help people get jobs. The answer is yes in both cases. Cover letters are necessary, and they can help you to get a job. Unless you are applying online using a resume builder, and the online application does not allow you to attach a cover letter, it is assumed that you will send a cover letter with every resume that you send out. Even if the ad simply says, “Send resume,” make sure that you send a cover letter as well.

Here are some tips to make sure that your cover letter is effective:

Keep the cover letter brief. Three to four paragraphs are sufficient to make your point.

Tailor each cover letter to the specific position that you are applying to. Form letters will not catch a recruiter/hiring manager’s eye. Be sure to highlight the qualifications that you possess that are mentioned in the ad that you are responding to. You want to emphasize to the reader that you are a good match for the job.

Try to find the name of the person who will be receiving the resume if at all possible. Recruiters/hiring managers will pay more attention if they are being addressed personally.

If you do not possess a qualification that is listed in the ad, don’t mention it in your cover letter. There is no need to draw attention to any deficits. Generally speaking, hiring managers put out a wish list of qualifications. Those who come closest to meeting all of the qualifications are usually the ones called in for the interview.

Let the reader know exactly which ad you are responding to. Oftentimes large employers have several ads running at one time. To make it easier for the reader, mention where you saw the ad, and if there is a reference number, be sure to include it in the cover letter.