| Okay, I am dating myself, but when I was starting | | | | danger of not properly personalizing your introduction |
| out, the only tool we had was the typewriter, which | | | | to the company to which you are applying, or leaving |
| meant that if you wanted to submit an original copy | | | | something in the body of the letter from a previous |
| of your resume, you had to type each and every | | | | version, is too great a risk for the few extra minutes |
| one individually, along with the cover letter. As | | | | of retyping. |
| inefficient as this may seem in today's world of | | | | I also receive resumes from many applicants who |
| automated everything, it forced us to ensure that | | | | have mastered the art of poorly formatted resumes. |
| spelling, grammar, personalization and customization | | | | In a "what the heck was I thinking" flash of |
| were correct. | | | | creativity, people often use all sorts of designs to |
| In today's world of personal computers, there is no | | | | draw attention to their resumes. Marquee-size fonts, |
| excuse today for typos and poor grammar. | | | | mixed fonts, too short, too long, disjointed, resumes |
| Regardless of how obvious this may be, I receive | | | | on gaudy stationery -- I've seen them all. Clear, |
| lots of resumes and cover letters every year that | | | | simple, concise, and classical styles work best, on a |
| are poorly formatted, grammatically incorrect, and | | | | good solid white or ivory stock paper. |
| chockfull of misspellings. | | | | So don't squander your great work experience, solid |
| Remember, spell check will pass on homophones. | | | | academic foundation, and valuable extracurricular |
| Don't know what a homophone is? This is where you | | | | accomplishments by botching your resume or cover |
| typed "there" or "they're" but really meant "their." | | | | letter. Take the time to rethink each cover letter for |
| "My great work at XYZ Company helped improve | | | | the position and company to which you are applying |
| there bottom line by $1 million." | | | | and truly personalize each and every introduction. Put |
| Likewise, today's automated checks will not tell you | | | | your resume and cover letter aside and reread it |
| that your cover letter is addressed to Company A in | | | | after a few days. Find one or two trusted colleagues |
| the salutation, but describes Company B in the body | | | | and ask them to read it as well. You may be |
| of the letter. Believe it or not, I receive many cover | | | | astonished at your own reaction after reading your |
| letters addressed to me followed by the name of | | | | resume anew after a few days, as well as that of |
| my company in the salutation, and then go on to | | | | your close acquaintances. |
| describe in the body of the letter how the applicant | | | | Remember, you have one shot to get your foot in |
| would be a great addition to the team at some other | | | | the door. Typos, grammatical errors, and formatting |
| organization. Cover letters aimed at finding | | | | faux pas will land your application in the trash for |
| employment are not good choices for mail-merge. Do | | | | sure, and could close that door forever. |
| not -- repeat -- do not reuse cover letters. The | | | | |