Job Search Written Materials

This begins a four-part series on using written materials in a job search

No one respects any treatise about finding a job unless it contains something about resumes. I might get away without discussing emails, cover letters or applications, but I must share my opinion on resumes.

My Opinions about Resumes and Other Written Materials

So, I now submit my opinion on job search written materials: They will not get you a job. They might get you an interview on rare occasions. They may definitely cost you a job.

OK that’s part of my opinion. I now submit a second opinion: Ask 10 people for feedback on your resume or other written materials and you will receive at least 14 opinions.

Alright, here is my third opinion about resumes and other written materials: The phrase decision makers use to get job seekers who wasted their time on the phone to hang up is “Send me your resume.” That usually means they will trash it. Yet, job seekers get excited thinking they impressed the decision maker and that they are the fast track to an interview. No, if they want to interview you, they say “Can we get together to talk about this?”

One more time, here is my fourth opinion about them. Resumes are the calling card of the unemployed. The only people who use resumes are people looking for work. Thank about it! Have you ever been in a staff meeting discussing increasing marketing and heard one person turn to the person next to them and say “You know that’s a really good idea. Can you give me your resume?” Has your doctors’ nurse ever said “Let me find out a little bit about your history. Can you give your resume?” Has a bank teller ever said “Before we deposit this check, I’ll need to see your resume?”

Of course not, resumes only apply to people looking for a job. The moment you pull out a resume you become a job seeker. So, hesitate to use a resume until the very last moment. Use the phone. Use a face-to-face meeting (but do not begin the meeting by pulling our your resume).

Summary of Job Search Written Materials

Nevertheless, job seekers must have resumes to give, applications to complete, emails or cover letters to send. So, for the next three weeks I will give some tips how to prepare written materials that you can customize in 10 minutes.

• Master Applications: In the past, few professionals, executives, and upper level managers completed an application. Today’s regulated and electronic age requires almost everyone to complete an application packet. I , therefore, recommend that you create a Master Application. A master application contains the answer to any question that may appear on an application. Then, you just copy and paste answers from your master application to their application. Quick and easy.
• Resumes: Resumes outline what you offer to a company in terms of your accomplishments, work history, education, and skills. While the company controls the format and information contained in an application, you control the format and information in a resume. Of course, they ignore you if you don’t include the information they want to see, or put it in a format they do not appreciate.
• Cover letters or emails: In the past, cover letters allowed job seekers to match their experience and skills to the requirements of the company. Job seekers could not customize mass produced, typeset resumes, produced in the 100’s. Today’s word processing allows job seekers to customize resumes, thus making the cover letter obsolete. The principles that governed cover letters, however, now apply to the email to which you attach your resume.

I already discussed thank you cards in my previous post. So, will not discuss it here. My next 3 posts will share the tips to improving the consistent quality of your written materials, to customize them for each positions, and to waste as little time as possible preparing them.

So, join me on Friday when we explore the benefits and preparation of a master application