When you’re looking for a summer job or co-op placement, it can be daunting to apply for positions in the professional sector with only retail or service industry experience on your resume. You may think you don’t have the skills necessary to convince employers to hire you.
But this isn’t true—working in retail or the service industry arms you with numerous transferable skills that are highly relevant to professional industries. It’s all in how you brand it.
What’s the deal with cover letters? Are they necessary? Should you use a template? If the employer doesn’t specify they want one, should you even bother?
The answer, of course, is yes. You should bother. In fact, you need to bother. It’s so easy to shoot off a resume to every single possible job being advertised, and employers know that. By taking the time to craft an excellent cover letter, you prove to employers that you truly care.
So you’re working hard and applying to lots of placement opportunities for the summer. You’re organized and have a game plan for finding the perfect job. Your resume is awesome and your cover letter is perfect. But you’re not getting any calls for interviews. What’s going on?
It could be that there’s something sketchy about you online.
No one wants to think that potential employers are Googling people before calling for job interviews, but upwards of 80% of them absolutely are. If you’re just starting out in the professional world and you haven’t cleaned up your social media presence yet, there might be something in your online presence that’s throwing them off.
So take these steps to clean up and manage your online reputation to make yourself extra hireable online.
While you might spend a lot of time stressing about crafting the perfect resume or cover letter, it is important not to forget about the people that you choose that will (hopefully) say nice things about you when asked by a hiring manager. A reference check is usually one of the steps that employers take near the end of the interview process, and means they are seriously considering you for the position. This is why it is crucial that you include references that will give you a favourable review. You don’t want a bad review from a reference that you chose to be the reason that you were not hired for a position. Regardless of if you have a lot of professional experience or you’re just starting your career, here are the 4 people you should be choosing as a reference: Continue reading
Good cover letters are integral to a successful application
A good cover letter is just as, (if not more) important than a well written resume. Your cover letter is, in many cases, an employer’s first impression of you. It is the first opportunity you will have to impress them before they meet you in person.
Your cover letter needs to stand out from the crowd, so that the Human Resource Representative who’s sifting through dozens of applications at a time doesn’t put yours in the “no” pile.
Here are 4 tips to help you write a great cover letter: Continue reading
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