Do you need to write a
cover letter or create a
resume? Well-written letters and resumes can make a big
difference in the outcome of your job search.
Rather than starting from scratch and trying to figure out what to write, it's helpful to review examples to get ideas for your own letters. Find a resume or letter that fits your circumstances, then edit it so it's personalized.
Here are a variety of resume and letter samples including resumes, CVs, cover letters, thank you letters, reference letters, resignation letters, follow up letters, letters requesting time off from work, letters accepting or rejecting a job offer, letters requesting help from a networking contact, and more of the employment letters you'll need to write when you're job hunting or making connections who can help grow your career.
There's also a collection of student resumes and letters, just for high school students, college students, and recent graduates. And when you're applying via email, here are job search email samples to review.
More: Resume, CV, and Letter Samples | Share Your Letter | Email Message Examples
Image Copyright Alejandro Raymond
Cover Letters and Resumes originally appeared on About.com Job Searching on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 06:00:48.
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[Read Entry]Now that you should have received all your W-2, 1099, and other tax forms in the mail, it's time to start thinking about preparing your tax return. If you spent time job searching last year, you may be able to deduct some of your job search expenses.
If you were unemployed last year, the first $2,400 of your unemployment isn't taxed by the federal government. However it does need to be reported on your tax return, and the balance is taxable. Unemployment may also be subject to state income tax.
If you looked for a job in the same line of work you're currently in, many of your expenses like phone calls, the costs of preparing and copying your resume, and career counseling are deductible. These job search tax deduction tips will help you make sure that you get all the tax benefits you're entitled to.
For tax help and advice, be sure to visit About.com's Tax
Planning site. Guide William Perez has lots of excellent (and
timely) information on taxes.
Job Search Tax Deductions originally appeared on About.com Job Searching on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 06:00:35.
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[Read Entry]*** From my weekly newsletter at TheLadders.com ***
Thanks so much to everybody who enjoyed my Beatles-themed newsletter last week! I read all your emails, and the memories, trivia and thoughtful comments on the Fab Four were really just a joy to receive in my inbox...
Now, let's face the facts. The modern job hunt doesn't make a lot of sense.
If you're a waiter or bartender, you can find a new job on Craigslist this weekend. But if you're a professional, the rule of thumb is six to eight months. In other words, the more experienced, talented and educated you are, the longer the job hunt has you sitting on the sidelines, biding your time.
I don't know who designed the system that way, but there it is.
Luckily, our Editor-in-Chief, Matthew Rothenberg, has been busy over the past year or two putting together knowledgeable advice packages with excellent advice on finding your next great job. I've included links to all 49 of them below.
You'll find great insights on age discrimination, handling the Web and social networks, what happens to your resume when you click "send", negotiating your offer, handling a declining industry and much, much more.
So, while I don't expect you to read all 49 of them (that would be more than 300 pages!), let me make a recommendation:
Pick the five that are most relevant to you, print them out, and read just one each day this week. You can do it on the treadmill, the train or as you're flying around this big old country of ours. It won't take much time, but it's a great way to get smarter about your job hunt...
Our 49 best advice packages (click on the link to download)
Have a great week on the hunt...
[Read Entry]It is no surprise to anyone that the high unemployment rate in the U.S. has made it very difficult for talented, experienced people to find jobs. What is not discussed as frequently is how difficult it is for college seniors, and recent college graduates to find jobs. According to a CNN article, the projection for 2010 is hiring of grads with any degree will decline by 2% compared to 2009. In this tough environment we have some good news and hope for college students and graduates.
There is a new resource designed to help both the college graduate and the employer. 1stGiG.com is the first career service of its kind specifically designed to connect college undergraduates and recent college graduates and the companies that value their skills. There are no jobs posted, but there are countless opportunities for internships and employment.
Here's how it works:
A precision matching matrix identifies compatible profiles between young career-bound talent and potential employers
When the talent accepts the match, an introduction is made with the prospective company
Over time, both parties make multiple connections, establish a relationship and create "opportunity poolsâ based on their mutual interest
When the right opportunity arises, the parties are prepared to move forward in the hiring process âÂ" eliminating the time-consuming process that has been the status quo.
1stGiG.com sources, screens, and presents the graduate with internship and/or career opportunities that meet their specific interests and requirements. Between 70 and 80% of jobs are never advertised. 1stGiG.com expands the opportunity network to put the college graduate on the radar of companies and industries that typically wait for job seekers to come to them, not the other way around. It's a richer, longer-term approach to career development designed to make the "first gigâ a better experience for everyone involved.
1stGiG.com has partnered with Vonei to add a video interviewing service to their site, allowing employers and college graduates to quickly and easily conduct video interviews over the Internet from their computer. In today's economic reality, employers don't have the time and money to visit as many campuses as they would like. Video interviewing allows the employer to recruit from anywhere without travel. Video Interviewing service starts as low as $99/year, so it is an extremely cost effective method to link employers and college graduates.
Now is a perfect time to consider using these innovative services. Help graduates start their career and begin benefiting from what only 1stGiG.com offers the early career professional!
For more information about Vonei LLC see www.vonei.com. For an online demo of the video interview service email us at info@vonei.com or call us toll free on 888-698-6634.
"Listening, not imitation, may be the sincerest form of
flattery." - Joyce Brothers
This quote (I love quotes) came to mind when I started writing this article. And while not I'm not a big Joyce Brothers fan per say, I think there's more truth here than not. After all, none of us really likes being copied - but we love when someone shuts the heck up and lets us talk, right?
So why wouldn't our approach to social media (even for recruitment!) be the same - at least at its base? Why wouldn't we start by ensuring that every single soul we pull in to talk about social engagement or ambassadorships understand the importance of listening to our industry or "customers" and how it should be a priority over broadcasting to them? I think this is important - and sometimes gets missed in the rush (or pressure) to get on board and ride the social media wave. Besides - we'll have a much better feel for who is talking about us and their perception of our [employment] brand if we'll listen and monitor what's being said already.
In a previous article titled Making Friends on Facebook vs Teams at Work I mentioned a few departments that might be ideal to have involved on a de-centralized Social Media team. It was actually a follow-up article from my intial ask of the readers here to Whisper about What's Broken where I received some solid feedback about team building around social teams. So this is another quick chapter to touch on what might conceptually come next in an ideal world... Teaching our teams to listen and monitor the conversation that's already going on.
There are lots of ways to monitor what's being said about a company or brand that will enable your or team members to actively reach out and take part in conversations. SocialMention.com, Google Alerts and Searches managed through RSS feeds are just a few. And while there are several options out there that can be purchased and customized, I've always been a fan of free tools like NetVibes that can function as an aggregator of sorts. Of course if you're serious (and have a budget) you'll want to give some solid consideration to commercial options that will provide not just notifications but also analytics, reporting and even delegation of tasks.
Need some help with NetVibes? No worries!
Check out this quick video on how to set up a page with some of the
basics. (okay, it's not terribly quick - but it's good!)
Once you've gone through it I think you'll see easily enough how to
incorporate various blog, twitter, or major engine searches.
NetVibes is just one way to help manage your time and stay aware of
what's going on around your brand while avoiding that Social Media Time Suck.
Enough importance can't be put on digging in and finding out what people are saying about your product or company. Once you understand what's being said it's that much easier to craft your approach or decide how you'll engage the influencers out there. I think that ideally there are subject matter experts or "point" people that are primarily responsible for listening and (gasp!) reporting on what's found online. But they shouldn't be expected to shoulder the entire listening portion of the project alone.
If a person in HR were to stumble on a message board where people were gathering to complain about an interview process or continually ask the same question about pay and benefits it would be nothing less of irresponsible to not pass along to a Recruiter (if not their "social recruiting" team) a link to the conversation. The same would be said of the Recruiter that while sourcing for retail applicants came accross a website dedicated to complaining about a particular product.
It's everyone's job to listen first.
Originally posted on RecruiterGuy.net
Do you have a bad
job, first job, or how you found a job story to share? We have
received lots of interesting
worst job stories - ranging from second wives to mind readers
and plain old bad jobs that are high stress and low
pay.
First job stories run the gamut, too - from paper boys to princesses and just about everything in between. They are fun to read, and we'd be thrilled to add your stories to the lists.
The unemployment stories are truly heartbreaking, but I think it's critically important for everyone to understand how difficult it is to be out of work, out of money, and running out of options.
Photos are a welcome addition to your story. Just a word of warning though - if you're still working at your bad job, don't include your last name or a photo. You don't want to lose your job because of what you posted online, regardless of how bad it is.
First
Jobs
What was your first job? How did you get your first job? What did
you love (or hate) about it? What did you learn from the
experience?
Share
Your First Job Story
How I Found a Job
Finding a new job isn't easy, especially in a difficult economy.
Share your job search success story and what you learned during
your job search.
Share Your Job Search Story
Worst Jobs
Have you had a really bad job? Share your worst job story and let
us know what made it a bad job, what you learned, and how other
people can avoid a bad job situation. If you'd like to include a
photo, upload one to go along with your story.
Share Your Worst Job Story
Unemployment Stories
Unemployed? Share your unemployment story and tell us about the job
you lost and what it's like being unemployed. Your story will help
others deal with being out of work, and all the issues that go
along with being unemployed.
Share Your Unemployment Story
Image Copyright Alexander Hafemann
Bad Job? New Job? First Job? No Job? Share Your Story originally appeared on About.com Job Searching on Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 14:08:01.
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[Read Entry]
Leading meetings,
speaking in public, standing up to a
workplace bully, or sharing ideas with your boss are all
positive career enhancers. Your ability to present yourself
articulately in the workplace will massively affect how far your
career will travel.
Some studies of elementary classrooms indicate that young girls receive more positive attention from teachers. This is often linked to the earlier development of communication skills by girls than boys. So, too, in the workplace, the employees who are more willing to speak up - intelligently, of course - receive more attention from the organization's leaders.
Speaking in public is a skill every employee needs to cultivate. Whether that involves speaking up at a meeting, or talking to your child's classmates about your career, or actually making public presentations, speaking is one more tool you can use to achieve your personal life and work vision and mission.
Your professional image and your communication skills matter, as well. Your communication and the image you present create the first impression - often the lasting impression - on the people you meet. Making a good impression isn't quite good enough. It's important to take the time to make the best possible impression you can.
Related: Your Image is You | Work Like You're Showing Off
Image é Stockbyte / Getty Images
Make the Best Impression originally appeared on About.com Human Resources on Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 09:38:54.
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[Read Entry]Managing a financial portfolio takes increasing skill, risk tolerance and foresight. Whether you're working with a financial advisor or not, active participation is required. Decisions are not easy but one thing is clear when it comes to good financial planning - diversifying your portfolio is a smart thing to do. In uncertain times it's even more important.
Similarities can be drawn between portfolio diversification and designing smart talent strategies to develop a diversified talent portfolio. Most importantly, it's the absence of risk that adds risk. In a financial portfolio, risk avoidance can lead to missing out on significant gains or realizing significant losses. Taking the time to clarify your goals, be honest about the level of risk your willing to assume, design a diversified portfolio, make ongoing contributions, pursue a long-term strategy, periodically reassess and rebalance the portfolio, and leave room to play (so you can take advantage of interesting opportunities) will help to ensure you realize your financial future and keep you engaged in the journey.
Risk-smart of risk-averseâ¨
Now, let's look at the similarities in how talent
strategies are designed. In an effort to avoid risk,
companies make narrowly defined decisions about how, where and when
they invest in talent. Developing clearly stated goals around
talent acquisition is often the first obstacle to overcome.
Without an integrated workforce planning capability, decisions are
often reactive, expensive, and lead to either not enough of the
right talent at the right time or too much of the wrong talent at
the wrong time. But, lets assume there is a workforce plan in
place. Is the plan risk-smart or risk-averse? Here's
the difference. A risk-averse plan would identify the talent
needed to support attrition, succession planning, growth,
reinvestment in existing talent, and decisions around when, where
and how to invest in talent acquisition. If the strategy is
progressive, there's also a talent-pooling component. Keep in
mind that very few organizations pursue this level of strategy and
planning. The risk-averse plan sounds pretty good,
right? So what's the risk-smart plan? In the risk-averse plan
the talent function is doing many of the right things to deliver
value to the organization. The key difference? The risk-smart
plan includes a very important distinction - diversification.
Talent portfolio diversificationâ¨
Identifying a goal for the percent of talent you'll recruit in to
the organization that will come from varied backgrounds, skills,
and experiences moves the organization towards a risk-smart talent
portfolio. This same thinking can and should be applied to
internal talent movement. The advantage a risk-smart approach
brings to the organization is a subset of Talent who have the
potential to bring different perspectives to the business and can
help fuel innovation and breakthrough thinking. Too often,
hiring managers and recruiters pursue people who have been in the
exact job that is open. That's fine, to a point, but often it
results in applying the same thinking, which doesn't always help to
inspire new ideas, broaden perspective and drive innovation.
Recall the Einstein quote, "You can never solve a problem on the
level on which it was created." By not diversifying the
company's talent portfolio organizations can impede their own
progress and assume a riskier trajectory over time in their effort
to reduce risk.
Here's an example from the HR space. Many technology companies only want to hire HR leaders who have come from technology companies. The same story can easily play out in healthcare, entertainment, financial services, consumer package goods, retail......get the picture. The main point is this - someone who has experience in other industries, or even other functional areas, brings a more expansive knowledge-base that results in something many technology companies cherish - innovative practices. Diversified, creative thinking has often been at the heart of the company's birth. Yet at some point they become increasingly risk-averse, especially in HR. As I've heard the "why" described it is often not that different than how other companies would describe their unique challenges. Will there be an initial learning curve? Yes! Are there specifics to the business that are unique? Yes? But, the right person can get up to speed quickly and new skills can be developed. Along the way, if the person brings the required leadership skills, has a proven track-record and is a cultural fit, the individual, team and company are transformed and all will benefit. It's through this immersion and learning process that amazing things can happen. New questions are asked. New insights are made. New discoveries unfold and new opportunities are identified. Current thinking and processes are challenged. The world is looked at through a new lens and the opportunity for transformational change is enhanced. Operating in an uncertain world undergoing dramatic change requires a diversified perspective fueled my fresh thinking. Holding on to "what is" while everything around you is changing will not help the organization realize its potential.
Diversifying a talent portfolio requires building strong partnerships and trust with business leaders and the CFO. Start small and find internal champions. Help prepare them by developing a strong on-boarding process and immersion to enculturate new talent. Partner with the CFO to gain support and mitigate risk. This is one aspect of defining an opportunity cost of talent, which focuses on the benefits derived by the business rather than on expense. Take the time to think about talent adjacencies, how to assess experiences that led to differentiated business results, benefits gained through work on special projects, and demonstrated ability to ramp-up quickly. Each of these are indicators of future potential and can be quite valuable to the overall talent portfolio. Looking at each of these indicators and then mapping talent to the organization's cultural will help ensure success.
The end gameâ¨
What better time than now to think more broadly about talent and
begin developing a risk-smart portfolio. The breadth of
talent on the market today and your company's ability to capture
attention and engage a diverse mix of prospects can align more
easily than during highly competitive environments. You'll
also be helping to position your company for long-term success.
Start slow, identify your champions and demonstrate how
you'll support the strategy. In the end, by being risk-averse
there is potentially greater risk in the talent strategy, which
ultimately transfers to the business strategy and the
organization's long--term success. After all, is your talent
strategy focused solely on today or where the company wants to be
tomorrow?