January 2019 |
Transition-e-news Volume 4 Issue 150 |
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Cover letters format that generated a call from the VPby HRNasty - All rights reserved - Reprinted with permission. Proven Cover Letter Format Have you turned in 10 plus resumes with no response and heard less than crickets? It's a wasteland. It's a silent black hole. Not even a "Don't call us, we will call you?" If you have experienced the application black hole, this post is for you. There is hope. It can be done. I have a long time friend whose son just graduated from college. The son is in the process of trying to find a job and experiencing little luck. He has held some temporary jobs and is now willing to settle. The biggest part of his frustration is that he has submitted a string of letters/resumes in response to job postings and heard nothing. Sound familiar? In my work with candidates, I see a lot of this and I know why it happens. Dad doesn't know anything! My buddy knows I work with candidates and shared his side of the story. The son is a typical recent graduate and doesn't want to listen to dad. Now, dad may be over 55, but he is well versed in technology and makes a great living doing business development for tech companies. This is not your old school dad who hasn't stayed in touch. He has a huge reach and is an expert at connecting online. Dad knows how to network. Of course, dad has given feedback on the search to the millennial son. Heck, in my opinion, he has been doing the search for the kid, and really, who can blame him. The father wants to see his kid succeed and part of him wants him to STFU already. Unfortunately, the millennial son wants to do it his way and remains his own biggest obstacle. I don't have kids for this exact reason. Dad finds a job ad the son is qualified for Like most millennials who feel their dad is out of touch, the response was as follows: "Dad, I am not qualified for this job. Out of the 10 bulleted requirements, I don't have half of what they are looking for." But you do have half of what they are looking for! "Dad, this isn't the kind of job I want!" Son, this job is in your field of study, it is a very hot brand you have heard about and frankly, at this point, we can't afford to be choosy. "This is never going to work", heavy sigh Maybe it was the 15 prior gut punches of silence that turned the son around. He started to listen to the father. Two old guys strategize Dad comes to HRNasty for a collegial discussion on strategy, and frankly, I am flattered. I ask my standard questions trying to triangulate the problem/opportunity for improvement. HRN:"How many resumes and cover letters do you think your son has sent in?" Father: "15" HRN: "Has your son had any interviews over the phone or face to face?" Father: "He had one interview over the phone, but trust me, he is a really smart kid." HRN's inside voice: "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, every parent's kid is a special snowflake." How far in the process is the candidate progressing? When I ask these questions, I am trying to figure out what the biggest hurdle is. If we are declined after the face to face interviews with the recruiter and the hiring manager, then it is probably HOW we are talking with the hiring manager. The recruiter and the hiring manager are looking for two completely different things. If we are NOT getting very many responses for the very first phone interview, then it is probably our resume, cover letter format, or both. Overwhelming cover letter format I asked to see a copy of the job description. I then asked to see a copy of the cover letter and sure enough, it was filled with text covering three-quarters of the page. The cover letter format screamed "overwhelming." I didn't need to see much more than this because I knew this type of document wasn't going to be read. I knew I wouldn't take the time to read it. (When I have 50 resumes to look at, 50 cover letters like this might as well be the Iliad.) When I did look at it, my suspicions were confirmed. There were a lot of qualitative statement vs. quantitative statements. The cover letter included a lot of qualitative statements like: I am a fast learner You won't find a harder worker I get along with everyone Qualitative vs. Quantitative The above is the candidate's opinion. The hiring manager feels their team members are AMAZING. After years of experience, it is hard to take a recent graduates word for "hard work" when they lack actual job experience. The way to catch the recruiters attention is to capture the first few bullets of the job description. These are usually the most important skills/experience the hiring company is looking for. The father completely agreed and explained when he reaches out via email to do business development, he concentrates on what the potential partner is looking for and not what he "THINKS" HE brings to the table. Winning Cover Letter Format I provided the father with a cover letter format I like, which I blogged about here. We then discussed why it works and why it is effective. I also explained why qualitative statements about ourselves are generally ignored. I won't bore you with the next 24 hours of discussion with the father acting as a middleman between the son and HRNasty. Two days later the kid got a call from the VP of the department asking the son to come in for an in-person interview. The kid could not believe it. Mind Blown. The father tried to call me three times that evening to give me the good news, but in usual HRN style, I was giving him the Heisman. (I was out and had turned off my phone, but hey, he is in business development, he is persistent) Who got the interview, the father or the son? The next morning I saw the father in person. The father was so excited, you would have thought he was the one that got the interview. Dad had a couple of wins. His son connected with the hiring company and had set the hook. The son listened to the father and realized dad wasn't such a stick in the mud Father was right, Right, RIGHT! The prodigal son was brought in and interviewed for not one, but TWO jobs! The guy was on fire because he was offered one of the positions after the interview. He needs to wait a few days before he hears about the second position. Boom. Old Guys Rule! If you have turned in multiple resumes with our without a cover letter, please check out the above link. This shit works!
See you at the after party, HRNasty Barbara Adams, President and CEO of CareerPro Global (CPG), the parent company of www.careerproplus.com and www.militaryresumewriters.com, has been a member of the careers community for the past 20 years. Ms. Adams holds four prestigious industry certifications. CareerPro Global is the only ISO 9001-2008 Certified Career Service in the industry, as well as one of the fastest-growing Military, Federal, and Civilian Resume-Writing and Careers-Coaching companies. The team of Certified Professional Federal and Military Resume Writers at CPG assist thousands of clients in applying for and gaining employment each year. We can help you land your military to civilian job. |
Wisconsin blitz to attract veterans, spouses to live, work in stateBy MIKE TIGHE - La Crosse Tribune - ©2019 Stars and Stripes, reprinted with permission (Tribune News Service) — Wisconsin is launching a $1.9 million national marketing campaign to attract military personnel and their spouses to the Badger State to live and work when they leave the service. The talent quest will include online ads and personal contact, among other features, to lure military personnel to Wisconsin when they leave the service, according to speakers who detailed the program during a press conference Friday at Logistics Health Inc. in La Crosse. The campaign is part of the state's new $6.8 million marketing initiative aimed at attracting talent to fill current and future workforce needs. It is the first time the state has targeted military personnel and spouses with such a campaign. One of its key elements will be sending delegations composed of state officials and veteran-friendly companies in Wisconsin, such as LHI, to "transition summits" at more than a dozen military installations throughout the nation and overseas, said Daniel Zimmerman, secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs. "There simply ... aren't enough veterans to go around for Wisconsin," Zimmerman said. "Several hundred employers have several thousand jobs" ranging from entry level to top positions, he said, as an estimated 200,000 to 250,000 veterans transition to civilian life. Sending Wisconsin envoys to the summits to recruit service members and their spouses several months before discharge will put the Badger State at the forefront of their minds, Zimmerman said. "Our veteran population doesn't always return home," he said. "We can sit back and wait" or pursue them before they even leave the service. The nonprofit Hiring our Heroes organization hosts the two-day summits. Wisconsin is the first state to partner with the group, an arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. LHI will be represented at the first summit a Wisconsin delegation will visit. That summit will take place Wednesday and Thursday at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base in California. The delegations also will participate in spouse symposiums, round tables, networking events and similar opportunities. LHI founder and CEO Don Weber addressed the press conference by beginning, "I never fail to take the opportunity when I'm before a microphone to thank our veterans. ... This company would not be what it is today without veterans." Weber's goal is to have veterans or their spouses make up 20 percent of LHI's workforce of nearly 2,400 people, and he said it has reached 11 percent. Noting that only about 1 percent of the population enters military service, Weber said, "Our veterans and spouses – think about the sacrifices they have made. They enlist because it is an honor and a privilege, and they go outside the comfort zone where most of us live." Veterans and their spouses model courage and dedication in volunteering to serve in positions in which "they don't do it for the pay," he said. Weber, a Marine veteran of the Vietnam War who usually is reluctant to talk about his own life, responded during an interview to a question about being homeless on the streets of Boston not long after mustering out. "I had been out for a while, and I carried a lot of guilt," said Weber, who received a Purple Heart and two Bronze Stars. "Most of the Marines I served with didn't come back. I had a lot of self-pity, and that is the worst kind of pity. I made a lot of bad choices and dug a hole for myself." After losing a job and an apartment, he said, he realized "I needed to make better choices. I began laying water and sewer pipes and putting in driveways on weekends," he said. After digging out of the hole two years later and driven by the strong work ethic he learned being raised on a farm, he came back to La Crosse at the age of 28 and met Roxanne, the woman who would become his wife. "We didn't have any money," he said, and their business went bad and was repossessed. Nine years later, he got the LHI idea to help provide health services to military personnel and veterans – an idea that turned into a multimillion-dollar business. "I thought maybe this was a way to give back," he said, adding that LHI's involvement with the state veteran initiative is another step along that path. The campaign is a collaborative effort of the state's Economic Development Corp. and the Workforce Development, Veterans Affairs and Tourism departments. Other campaign elements include:
"Why would you not hire veterans?" Weber said. "It's the right thing to do, and we're very proud to be a part of it. If you're a business owner or business leader, you ought to be fighting for these people." Veteran recruitment initiative A $325,000 media campaign in Wisconsin's initiative to attract military veterans and their spouses to live and work in Wisconsin will include:
Additional elements in the campaign will include:
(c)2018 the La Crosse Tribune (La Crosse, Wis.) Visit the La Crosse Tribune at www.lacrossetribune.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. |
Climb Out of the Resume Black Hole in 3 Steps© Copyright, 2019, Susan P. Joyce. | Work Coach Cafe | All rights reserved. This is the major complaint of job seekers today. They submit their resume and it seems to drop down a black hole. Nothing happens after the submission. No response from the employer, and, certainly, no job interview or job offer. Reasons Your Resume Doesn’t Receive a ResponseThere are many reasons you receive no response to your resume or job application submission, including over-worked Human Resources people who don’t have the time or technology to easily respond to the flood of job seekers interested in every job, basic bad manners, and employer fear of lawsuits. You cannot control those aspects of the black hole, but there are several aspects you can control. How to Climb Out of That Black HoleAvoid the black hole by following these three steps: 1. Be very picky about the jobs you apply for.In an era when the average job seeker spends just over one minute reading a job description before applying for the job, many employers are out of patience with job seekers. The reason is because typically fewer than 10% of the resumes or applications are from people who are actually qualified for the job. Your time is valuable! Before you waste it applying for the wrong job, ask yourself these questions:
Applying for jobs you aren’t qualified for may result in ruining your reputation with an employer, teaching them to ignore your applications, even when you are qualified. Worse, landing a job you hate and/or working for an employer who is going out of business soon means you’ll be back job hunting too soon. Save yourself from that outcome! 2. Customize your resume or application for each opportunity.If you are submitting the same version of your resume for every opportunity, chances are good that your resume doesn’t contain exactly the right words – the keywords used in the description. If you aren’t customizing your resume and application for each opportunity, the applicant tracking system (“ATS”) may be blocking it, or it may simply not be found when a recruiter searches for qualified resumes. If the job description wants someone with “social media skills” and your resume doesn’t include the exact phrase “social media skills,” it won’t be included in a search, even if your resume describes you as “skilled with Facebook and Twitter.” Use the WorkCoachCafe resume customization “cheat sheet” to overcome this problem. 3. Pay attention to your online reputation.You are being watched and judged! With 80% of employers researching job applicants before inviting them in for a job interview, you need to manage what they find about you. Google yourself to see what is out there associated with your name. HINT: what’s out there hurting your job search may be about someone else who has the same name you do. If that person has done something that an employer would not like (bank robbery?), your application will be ignored unless employers know you are not that person. The best way to do manage your online reputation is with a LinkedIn Profile which uses the same name you have on your resumes and job application. If you are “Mary J. Smith” on your resume, you should be “Mary J. Smith” on your LinkedIn Profile, and vice versa. Employers will compare the LinkedIn Profile and the resume, looking for inconsistencies as well as confirming that you have done what your resume says you have done. More About the Resume Black HoleResume Black Hole Pain: Why You Don’t Hear Back After You Submit Your Resume Beating the Resume Black Hole: How to Use the Right Keywords on Your Resume New Resume Black Holes: Applicant Tracking Systems Avoid the Resume Black Hole: The Resume Customization Cheat Sheet How to Get Your Emailed Resume Noticed Applying for a Job: 5 Tips for Avoiding the Discard Pile Why Submitting a Resume Isn’t Enough, and What You Can Do Is Your Job Search Too Old Fashioned? Why You Didn’t Get the Job: 10 Reasons You Can Control Why Job Hunting Is So Hard, and How You Can Make It Easier © Copyright, 2019, Susan P. Joyce. All rights reserved.
About the Author… |
Survey: US firms added a strong 271,000 jobs in DecemberBy JOSH BOAK The Associated Press - Reprinted with permission - ©2018 WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. businesses added a robust 271,000 jobs in December, according to a private survey. Payroll processor ADP said Thursday that last month’s job gains marked a sharp upturn from November’s gain of 157,000. The gains, if backed up by government numbers due Friday, could be strong enough to reduce the unemployment rate. The burst of hiring last month comes as financial markets are dreading a broader economic slowdown, causing stock prices to collapse. But job growth at December’s pace suggest that the U.S. economy is unlikely to fall into a recession, said Mark Zandi, who prepares the ADP report as chief economist at Moody’s Analystics “The job market is key for keeping the economy together and ensuring that the economic expansion goes forward,” Zandi said. The report Thursday arrives a day before the government releases its official jobs numbers. Economists forecast that they will show employers added 180,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate will remain at a five-decade low of 3.7 percent, according to data provider FactSet. The ADP covers only private businesses and often diverges from official figures, which also include government hiring. Zandi cautioned that an unseasonably warm December might have caused job growth to appear stronger than it actually was, but he noted that the figures were still remarkably healthy given that the economy is in the middle of its 10th year of expansion. ADP reported a solid 37,000 increase in construction jobs. But the services sector was particularly strong with gains of 66,000 in the professional and business sector, 61,000 in education and health care and 39,000 in leisure and hospitality. If hiring continues at this pace, the Federal Reserve could face pressure to increase a key, short-term rate that influences the flow of money in the economy, Zandi said. Investors are currently anticipating no rate hikes this year after four increases in 2018. |
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