Golden Job

It's all about Job and Career!

1. Prior to the interviews, purchase a bunch of generic thank you cards, envelopes and a book of stamps.

2. Also, prior to the interviews, put a stamp on each envelope and either write your return address or paste a pre-printed label with your address on the envelopes.

3. During the interview, be on the lookout for a few pieces of critical information:

a. Anything interesting that occurred during the interview. For instance, your interviewer may have told you she likes to bake cookies or was on the college softball team.

b. What, if any, advice did she give you during the interview?

c. Two or three main points of what specifically was talked about in the interview.

d. What are the names of the people who interviewed you and what are their mailing and email addresses so you can send them a thank you letter.

4. Immediately, after the interview, this information should be written down so you can use it to help compile your thank you letter.

a. If you are wondering how to get names and addresses of the people who are interviewing you, the easiest way is to ask for their business cards. Even if they do not have a business card, which would be a sign of poor interview skills, you can ask them to relay their information to you as you jot it down.

b. If they ask you why you want the information, tell them you want it because you will be sending them an interview thank you letter. Whether they have business cards or not, you will come out of their looking like a professional by following this step.

5. After you have compiled this information, you will need to write out the thank you letter.

a. The purpose of the thank you letter will be to create a short note that thanks them for meeting you and creates a memorable impression of you in their minds. The best way to do this is to provide them with some scaled down reconstruction of the information you stockpiled in step 3.

b. By creating an interview thank you letter based on this information, you are showing them that you were truly listening during the interview and also, it gives you one final opportunity to showcase your strongest qualifications or squelch any lingering concerns they may have regarding your job candidacy.

6. Although the interview thank you letter can be sent through email, it is better to write these by hand and mail them. This more personal touch tends to go over with the interviewers better because it will make you look more like a friendly person than just another candidate.

a. Interview thank you letters should be sent on the day of the interview. If you cannot meet this deadline; then, send them out on the very next day. Remember it takes a few days for “snail mail” to be delivered and may take even longer for the letter to work its way up to the interviewers from the mail room.

7. One final point is to be sure you send an interview thank you letter to your contact in HR. If they were especially helpful to you in the process or were very professional, be sure to let them know this. Not only is this a nice thing to do, it may help you land the position because hiring managers will tend to ask their administrative assistant or HR contacts what they think about a particular person. If you have sent a kind thank you letter, you have increased the odds in your favor of getting a favorable review.

Applying for a job is no way different! You need to market yourself properly to get the job. Your employer does not know anything about you, unless you are an icon! So prepare your resume in such a way that gives your employer a fair idea about you – your abilities, your strengths and your skill set. This would help them judge how helpful you can be for the organization.

Hence, in this case, your resume is the brochure! If the employer likes your resume, they will call you for an interview and you will get a second chance to prove yourself.

So you need to put adequate effort and thought while preparing your CV or resume whatever you call it. Make sure, it attracts the viewer so much that they pick it up readily leaving all other resumes on the stack.

To start off, judge the requirements of the employer carefully; do your homework before you start resume writing. If you are applying in reference to an employment notice or advert in newspaper, magazine or online job board, go through the entire text thoroughly. Read the ‘about us’, job responsibilities and requirements line by line. Once finished, read it for another time. A lot of people do the mistake of scanning online employment notices lightly and often miss the important points.

Having the requirements inspected carefully, start preparing your resume. Highlight the facts about you that are helpful for the employer. For example, if you are applying for jobs in advertising and the advertising agency is looking for a creative person, why don’t you start your resume describing the advertising project that you did in college and how successful it was!

Resume Formats: Chronological, Functional, Combination

Three resume formats are there – chronological, functional and combination. In a chronological resume you list your work experience in reverse chronological order, i.e., the latest work experience is mentioned first and so on. After work experience, educational background is listed in the same way. Chronological resume expresses your career growth.

On the other hand, a functional resume highlights your abilities and skills under the title of various functions you have performed in different organizations. Functional resume is useful when you decide to switch your career – this format helps your employer understand how swift you are at adopting new job profiles.

Combination resume is a hybrid of both of the above mentioned formats. Here employment history is listed chronologically and then the skills and abilities are presented adhering to functional resume writing properties. Combination resume can be useful for those who are changing career and have worked on various industries in past.

Choose the right format for your resume and hit the job market. A well-written resume is the key to successful career.