JOB HUNTING WORKSHOP
UNIVERSIDAD DEL CEMA
MARCH 2004
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- SOME COVER LETTER RULES
- SOME TIPS ON RESUME WRITING
- BUILDING YOUR RESUME: THE STRUCTURE
- ACHIEVEMENTS ARE GREAT THINGS
- RESUME AND COVER LETTER SAMPLES (attached)
- HOW TO ANSWER THE FOUR MOST COMMON INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
- PROJECTING ATTITUDE FOR TODAY´S JOB HUNT
JOB HUNTING
COVER LETTERS
Some Cover Letter rules:
1. Cover letters should complement the resume; not repeat it. Do not use text, word for word from your resume in your cover letter. Find different ways to communicate the same messages, achievements and qualifications. For instance, rather than highlighting a specific revenue achievement that is already noted in your resume, highlight cumulative revenue achievements.
2. Ask for the interview at the end of each cover letter. For example, “ I look forward to meeting with you to pursue the Vice President of Operations position and will follow up next week to schedule an appointment”.
3. Cover letters must have a theme and clearly communicate who you are, the value you bring to an organization, and your core competencies, qualifications and achievements. Paint a clear picture of who you are; no one will take the time to figure it if you don´t spell it out.
4. Stay away from cover letters that just say, “Here´s my resume…. Give me a job.”. Be sure your cover letters communicate “WHY” someone should give you the job. The best strategy is, “ here´s my resume… this is why I´m a great candidate…now, give me a job.”
5. Presentation is critical. Your cover letters must be perfect!
6. If a company requests salary requirements in an advertisement , it is recommended that you respond. You do not have to list a specific number. Rather, “ My salary requirements are $40,000+, but flexible based upon the requirements and demands of the position”
Extracted from 201 Winning Cover Letters, Impact Publications, 1998
JOB HUNTING
RESUMES
Some tips on Resume writing:
Words to avoid in Your Resume
-Abbreviations and Acronyms : APFCA, CHIGFET, FIPL, MRSRS, ZWE: Too many abbreviations and acronyms in a resume make it unreadable. As a rule, avoid using abbreviations and acronyms unless they are commonly recognized . If you work in an acronym-heavy industry, such as technology, use acronyms sparingly.
-Personal pronouns: Since your resume is all about you, the addition of “I” or “me” is redundant. Since a resume should contain no unnecessary words, there is no place for the personal pronoun.
-Negative words: These words speall death for a resume. Words like “ fired” or “hate” catch the recruiter´s eye like a two-ton magnet catches a paper clip.
-Keep these words to a minimum: There are other words that are sometimes necessary in a resume, but that should nevertheless be kept to a minimum.
Among these:
- Abused words: a, also, an, because, the , very
- Any word you can´t define.
- Words that can be embarrassing is spelled wrong: assess, etc.
Other tips
-You must fit your resume onto 1-2 pages. Keep your message strong, succinct and dynamic.
-References Section: It is not necessary to include the names of your references on your resume. There are better things to do with the precious space. If employers want them, they know they can ask you for them.
-Perfection is mandatory: Visual presentation and perfection are critical! The quality of your resume presentation is almost as important as the content.
-No two resumes are identical: Your challenge is to develop a resume that will effectively market your qualifications and distinguish you from the crowd. There are no set rules for writing style, format, typing or printing.
JOB HUNTING
RESUMES: Some tips on Resume Writing
ACTION VERBS
Use Action Verbs and Phrases: Use active rather than passive words and phrases throughout your resume. Eg.
AdministeredAnalyzed
Controlled
Coordinated
Created
Designed
Developed
Diagnosed
Directed
Established a policy
Established priorities / Expanded
Implemented
Improved
Increased productivity
Increased profits
Initiated
Innovated
Instructed
Modified
Negotiated
Organized / Planned
Presented
Promoted
Reduced expenses
Reviewed
Researched
Scheduled
Solved
Supervised
Trained
Troubleshot
JOB HUNTING - RESUMES
Building your resume: The Structure
OBJECTIVE
Should you use an objective on your resume? If you are certain of your career goal, and are not going to look at any opportunities that do not fall into that category, then an Objective is appropriate. However, if you want to be able to use your resume in a number of different situations, then do not include an Objective, and certainly not one that is so broad that it tells your reader nothing. In situations where you do not use an Objective, let your cover letter speak of what your Objective is to each prospective employer. This gives you the opportunity to customize your Objective to that specific organization and their specific needs.
CAREER SUMMARY
You can start your resume with a Career Summary. A Career Summary is a brief section that highlights your skills, qualifications, knowledge and achievements, and is designed to give a quick overview of your career history. (See attached resumes)
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
This is THE SECTION. Each word here counts! Your challenge here is to briefly, yet agressively describe your personal experience. For each position you want to highlight four important things:
-What did the company do? ( A manufacturer? A distributor? A worldwide technology leader? A multi-site service organization?)
-Your challenge (Was it a start-up venture, a turnaround or a high-growth organization? Why did they hire you? Was it to manage the “status quo” or did you have a special mission?)
-Your accountability: ( Overall, what is it that you were responsible for in terms of type and size of organization, number of employees, budgets, facilities, countries, regions, technologies, functions and operations?)
-Your achievements: (What did you produce and contribute?)
JOB HUNTING-RESUMES
EDUCATION
Include all college degrees, major courses of study and colleges/ University and date them all. Recent graduates should put their educational credentials towards the top of their resumes, because they represent the most important part of their experience. More experienced workers typically place their education toward the end of their resumes. The education section can also be dropped entirely if it doesn´t support your job objective or if you don’t have the educational credentials typically required for the position.
OTHER
Other things you could include if necessary are Professional and Community Affiliations, Technology skills, Honors and Awards, Publications, Public Speaking, Teaching Experience, Foreign Language and Travel and Personal Information. Regarding Personal Information you could only include the information required by the employer or the type of information that would grab someone´s attention. You could consolidate all of the “extras”- Affiliations, Publications, Languages, etc. under one heading titled “Professional Profile”- Try this format:
PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
Affiliations Chairman, National Industries Association
Publications “Database Management”, PC World, May 1992
“Cybernetics”, Digital Design, January 1991
Languages Fluent in German, Dutch and French
PC Software Microsoft Word, Excel, Lotus, WordPerfect
Extracted from 100 winning resumes for $100,000+Jobs, Impact Publications, 1998
JOB HUNTING-RESUMES
Achievements are great things
Achievements allow you to distinguish yourself from the crowd of other qualified candidates who have been responsible for the same types of functions, but who have perhaps not performed as successfully as you. For example, each CEO, CFO or Sales Director is basically responsible for the same functions. What then do you use to distinguish one from the other? The answer is quite simple- ACHIEVEMENTS.
To get you started in highlighting your achievements and your contributions, consider the following sample achievements. Do any of these items sound familiar?
-Increased sales by 48% across six major market segments and despite emerging competition.
-Accelerated annual profit contributions by more than 28% over previous year
-Led the development of emerging client / server technology, from concept, through R&D and manufacturing to nationwide market launch. Created what is now a $16 million revenue center for the XYZ Corporation.
-Drove market share from 10% to 22% within first six months through transition to customer-focused selling and account management strategies.
-Reengineered all critical production planning, scheduling and manufacturing processes for a 12% reduction in annual operating costs.
-Realigned field sales organization, consolidated similar markets and reduced staffing expense by 27%.
-Conceived and implemented a team-based project design and management process, increasing on-time project delivery and significantly enhancing customer retention.
-Honored as 1995 “Sales Director of the Year” (out of 25 candidates)
-Won 6 sales recognition awards, 3 over-quota sales awards and the corporation’s most prestigious leadership commendation.
-Revitalized customer service organization, recruited qualified management team, and increased customer satisfaction ratings from 76% to 98%.
-Identified opportunity and negotiated a strategic alliance with Uniroyal for development of on-site manufacturing and distributions operations in China.
-Orchestrated the company’s successful and profitable expansion throughout emerging international markets (e.g., Africa, India, Middle East , Far East)
-Recruited and developed 10 sales representatives subsequently promoted to district and regional management positions.
JOB HUNTING-RESUMES
-Directed start-up of new manufacturing venture that grew to more than $22 million in first year sales.
-Surpassed all turnaround objectives with 25% revenue and 37% profit gain.
-Structured and negotiated 12 mergers and acquisitions as part of the corporation´s aggressive growth and corporate development initiative.
-Introduced quality circles, implemented TQM principles and led organization to ISO 9000 certification.
-Spearheaded acquisition and implementation of advanced robotics technologies, virtually eliminated competition and won a $15 million, 5-year contract.
-Personally negotiated $2 million capital financing transaction.
NOTE: These achievements are merely representative and given to you as “food for thought” in identifying and highlighting your own career achievements. Place your focus on the value you have delivered to your previous employers and the value you bring to the organization.
Extracted from America´s to resumes for America´s top jobs, Jist Works INC, 1998.
JOB HUNTING
How to Answer the Four Most Common Interview Questions
By Todd Anten, July 16, 2002
There are some questions that tend to pop up during almost every job interview.
The bad news: These questions can be quite difficult to answer.
The good news: Because they are so common, you can prepare for them well in advance and give a perfect answer without breaking a sweat.
So allow me to present four of the most common -- yet most perplexing -- interview questions and how you can best answer them.
1. "Tell Me a Little About Yourself"
Sometimes the most general question can be the hardest. How can you sum up your entire life story in just a couple of minutes?
You don't.
This oldest of questions is not an invitation to talk about your difficult childhood, your favorite grandmother or how you won the state swim competition in high school. Instead, it's a request for you to describe what you can offer the company.
In his excellent book 101 Great Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions, author Ron Fry suggests focusing on:
- Your key accomplishments at previous jobs.
- The strengths demonstrated by those accomplishments.
- How these relate to the job for which you're applying.
The goal is not to summarize your resume -- the interviewer already has a copy of that. Rather, tell how you came to be interested in this particular company and job, and weave examples of past accomplishments throughout to demonstrate why you are the perfect candidate.
2. "Why Did You Leave Your Last Job?"
Did you resign? Get laid off? Get fired? Storm out of the office in a huff, never to return? Chances are, you'll have to explain it in an interview.
The most important point to remember when answering this question: STAY POSITIVE.
The biggest sign of a troublemaker is when someone trashes his or her former boss or company during an interview. It doesn't matter if your boss was a jerk or if you hated your coworkers -- an interview is not the place to vent past frustrations.
Rather, the best way to answer this question is to stay positive and talk about your desire for growth opportunities. This will paint you as a proactive employee who enjoys responsibility and challenges.
Here are some quick pointers for answering this question, depending on your circumstances:
- IF YOU WERE FIRED: Be honest, but quick about explaining it. Don't get into the political details; rather, explain what you learned from the experience and how it makes you an even stronger employee today. It's not a good idea to lie about your termination. When the interviewer calls your references, he or she will most likely find out you were fired anyway. So be honest, and explain what you learned.
- IF YOU WERE LAID OFF: This is not nearly as taboo as it was even five years ago, so don't apologize or act defeated. If a company goes bankrupt or had massive layoffs, simply explain, "Because of the economy, the company decided to eliminate six departments, including mine."
- IF YOU QUIT: Again, be honest and stay positive. State that the work being offered wasn't challenging enough, that you are seeking higher levels of responsibility or simply that you are ready to make the next step on your career ladder -- and that the job for which you are interviewing is the ideal next step.
The secret is to stay positive and discuss your desire for growth. Hiring managers love applicants who actively seek responsibility.
3. "What's Your Biggest Weakness?"
What are you supposed to do -- tell them why they SHOULDN'T hire you?
The "weakness" question is popular with interviewers not because they want to torture you, but because they're interested in hearing how you tackle challenges.
The most important thing to remember is that after you name your weakness, you MUST discuss what you have done to overcome it.
Pick a weakness that is real but understandable or relatively harmless. Whatever weakness you pick, be sure that it is work-related ("I have a tendency to overfeed my dog" is NOT an appropriate weakness) and that you present the strategies for how you overcame it.
Here are a few examples:
- "I used to have a tendency to procrastinate. So now I am always sure to set a strict schedule for all of my projects well in advance and I set personal deadlines. This organization has really helped."
- "Once in a while, I focus too much on the details of a project. So now, when I'm working on a project, I always make sure at the end of the day to sit back and take a few minutes to think about the general scope of my work. It forces me to keep priorities straight and helps me keep the right mindset."
- "I used to have some problems with organization. So now I carry a schedule book around throughout the day and I also use this Palm Pilot to keep me on track. It's worked out great!"
You don't want to pick a weakness that will torpedo your chances -- even your weakness should speak strongly toward your skills. The examples above all address honest weaknesses; here are a few other "safe" weaknesses that are easy to discuss:
- I tend to be a perfectionist.
- I sometimes work too hard, leading to unnecessary stress.
4. "Do You Have Any Questions for Me?"
Yes, you do.
You should always try to ask a thoughtful question or two at the end of an interview. It shows that you've been listening and that you've done your research on the company.
What should you ask?
- Does this job usually lead to other positions at the company? What kind of positions?
- What do you like best about this company? Why?
DO NOT ask about salary, vacation days, benefits or anything else that would make it look like you're more interested in the compensation package than the company. Also, don't ask too many questions; just a couple will be fine.
And the most important question of all: Don't forget to ask for the job!
- I'm very interested in this job. It's exactly the kind of job that I'm looking for. What is the next step in the interview process?
PROFESSIONAL ENGLISH
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