Sunday, November 09, 2008

Tips to construct a Savvy Online Resume & Job Application email

Many businesses welcome the chance to hire younger, more technology-savvy professionals. Some corporations feel such employees are better equipped for an e-commerce economy. Employers are able to search various candidates with wide range of backgrounds, experiences and salary range with less pre-recruitment cost. Job seekers, on the other hand, are able to post their appliction online free of cost as various free file hosting providers exist on the world wide web. Together, we (employers and job seekers) thank the internet for providing such widely searchable informations.


Job portals provide candidates with a larger and varied number of opportunities and enhanced geographical reach. They also offer an excellent method to gather information about:

  • How employees and candidates rate an employer as a place to work?
  • Comparable salaries and benefits
  • Whether a company excels in its field
  • A company’s products, services and internal statistics
On the other hand, it is a fact that the influence of the internet is a mixed bag for hirers. Resumes obtained through internet sites tend to be less informative than those referred by an associate who has had a chance to learn more about the candidate’s background and salary history. The absence of screening means the employer must perform this HR function or hire a background-checking company to do it, although entering information electronically speeds up the hiring process of course.

Considering the following factors about using the web for employment search, many people believe that job hunting over the net has inherent problems:
  • Your current employer may see your online resume
  • Once posted, your resume may languish in cyberspace
  • The sites list more entry-level than mid-level or upper-level positions
  • It is hard to stand out in a medium that delivers thousands of resumes
  • Although it is easier to find out more general information about a company, it may be difficult to obtain specific information about the position or the hiring manager so you can refine your resume accordingly.

Here are tips for your savvy job application e-mail, cover letter, resume, follow up notes and its follow up.

Your cover letter

  • Send one that briefly states the ways in which your qualifications meet the ad specifications
  • When doing this electronically, your e-mail is the cover letter and you should set off the text of the resume with [begin resume] and [end resume], in brackets
  • If your e-mail address does not sound professional, don’t use it. (i.e.: an e-mail address that refer to partying, gamming, or such)
  • There is no way to control typographic outcome with an e-mail, but you can display the ultimate appearance by styling all your copy flush left and never using tabs
  • Do not send an attachment; people often don’t open these unless they know the sender

You resume

  • Structure it, remind the interviewer of your qualifications after you’re gone and justify a hiring decision to others
  • It must be error free
  • If it is longer than one page, introduce all the important points first. It should be long enough to tell the reader what you have to offer and short enough that it leaves the reader wanting to know more
  • Besides making it past clerks to find its way to the person who’s hiring, a resume posted electronically must be picked up by search engines
  • You should aware, search engines scan for nouns rather than verbs, select keywords carefully, make sure they accurately represent your skills. Tailor some tags words. If you list keywords separately to increase the efficiency of the search, place them at the end of your resume to get their full benefit. For instant, It might look like this: Keywords: attest, analyst, audit, tax, accounting, etc.
  • Bury most popular software skills that you are familiar with related to the targeted position, but an outdated one still suitable for a potential employer

Your follow-up note

Although a post-interview thank-you note is not absolutely necessary, it is still a good manner to put it. It sets you apart, helps the employer remember you and indicates good people skills.

Your 2 key follow-ups:

  • If you provide prospective employers with cell phone, do not answer until you are in an appropriate location and have time to devote to the call
  • Discussing your career path while you are sitting next to children at play, eating at a noisy 'mamak' or racing through traffic may not make the impression you want.