The Extinction of Cover Letters
I was thinking today that it has been a VERY long time since I last received a cover letter from a job seeker. To think of it, it has been probably twice as long as that since I last sent a cover letter in addition to a resume to a client of whose search I was leading.
In this ‘glimpse and run’ world of Twitter, cover letters have become like the Tyrannosaurus Rex, once extremely fearsome and an effective killer…but now extinct. It used to be that you used a cover to really separate yourself and make bold, reaching introductions to your reading audience, now that is done on the first page of a professional summary/objective section on your resume.
So many resumes are still stuck in the past. They make me tired just reading them. I have called resumes professional marketing pieces in the past. You can read here. It used to be that the cover letter was the way to market yourself and the resume the way to support your argument, that thinking is now gone like our Paleozoic friends of the past.
Let today stand as the day cover letters were put on the endangered species list. Resumes need flash and glamor. To achieve this make sure that your intro paragraph jumps out and says ‘I am the best, read why’. If you have time…invest it on your actual resume, not the cover letter…cover letters are on their way out. A victim of digital evolution. This only begs the question of when will actual paper resumes become victims of the digital evolution too? Can anyone say video resume? Bueller? Bueller?
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You only look for a job a few times in your life. Compared with the amount of time you spend actually doing it, investing time and energy in an effective job search repays the effort many times over. Studies show that people who understand and do well at the job search process enjoy substantially more job satisfaction and higher earnings over the course of their careers.
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We are here to help. ItsNotYouItsYourResume.com has compiled an impressive list of contributors including writers from 10BiggestInterviewMistakes, 10BiggestResumeMistakes, MyOnlineCareerCoach and MyOnlineCareerSpace, who have written the following:
Job and Career Books:
101 Tips Every Job Seeker Should Know
Ultimate Online Job Search EBook
Additional Articles
How Personal Branding Works And Its Affect On Your Job Search
Why Get Personal, How Your Online Personal Brand Can Help Your Job Search
Personal marketing and job search: Make an emotional connection.
Stand Up to Stand Out. How Personal Marketing Can Land You Your Dream Career
Oprah Winfrey and Job Search
How to Network
Video Resumes
5 Interview Questions You May Be Asked
January 23rd, 2011 at 10:18 am
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