Copyright
© 2007 Carole Martin, The Interview Coach
http://www.interviewcoach.com
The
number of resumes received by employers continues to be overwhelming as the job
market begins to pick up this year. The challenge for you, as a job seeker, is
to get your cover letter/resume noticed - to stand out from the crowd. More and
more candidates are using a cover letter/resume that demonstrates the "match"
between the employer's requirements (Your Needs) and the skills and experience
that they have to offer (My Qualifications).
An example
of this type of cover letter/resume is shown below. For some candidates this can
be a very effective tool.
Your Needs - Marketing Experience
My
Qualifications:
*5 plus years as a marketing consultant.
*Significant
consumer-oriented technology marketing in the retail industry.
Your
Needs - Product Management experience
My Qualifications:
*Led
product marketing efforts for an online store.
*Spearheaded
product management efforts for major retail chain as a product manager.
Your
Needs - Analytical abilities
My Qualifications:
*Excellent
qualitative and quantitative marketing analysis with high impact results.
Your
Needs - Interpersonal Skills
My Qualifications:
Leadership
qualities with the ability to lead projects and teams to highly successful outcomes.
Ability
to communicate through presentations to all levels of management. Strong ability
to influence others.
The more technically able you are the
more creative you can be with boxes and grids.
Even if you
decide not to use this type of document, this exercise will help you familiarize
yourself with how close a match you are for the position you are applying for.
A few steps will make it an easy task that can serve you well in the long run.
Begin
by reading the ads/postings carefully. Notice that there are some of the same
words included in every ad for your type of job. An example would be ads for an
Executive Secretary where the word "confidentiality" appears consistently.
If you were applying for that particular position you would want to include the
word "confidential" in your resume and cover letter and show how you
have used that skill in past jobs. These words are called the "key factors"
or the "key competencies" required to do the job. (Your Needs) By reading
job postings carefully and looking for the words that are repeated or stand out
as being the most important factors to perform the job you will become familiar
with the company or industry jargon used and what skills are being sought for
the type of jobs you are seeking.
Practice identifying key
factors in job postings or ads that are of interest to you. Go through postings
or ads and use a highlighter to mark words as you read. What are the common words
used in almost every description? What they are looking for? What are the qualifications
listed? How do your skills match up against their requirements? Make a list of
the key words and requirements to use in your cover letter/resume.
Next,
make a template for your new cover letter/resume. On one side of the template
type in "Your Needs." On the other side type "My Qualifications."
Use this template to write an individual document for each job you apply for matching
what they are looking for against what you have to offer. Be sure that your resume
is as close a match as possible to the posting/ad that you are responding to.
As
is the case with any cover letter or resume style it will depend on your resume
reader as to how effective this style will be. Some resume readers like it because
it "cuts to the chase." Others don't like it because it is too simplistic.
If you are not experiencing the results that you were hoping for and need a new
angle to get "your foot in the door" this may be the ticket for you.
Who knows you just might get a surprise with a quick response? Anything is worth
trying in this very competitive market.
