Cover Letters and Resumes

Cover Letters and Resumes

Many patients show me their resumes and cover letters when applying for new jobs and there are some basic rules, that if not followed, may ruin your chances of even getting an interview.  In fact, we are currently reviewing resumes and I am amazed at the glaring, but simple mistakes that could so easily be corrected.  To have more success even getting to the interview stage, please follow these rules:

1. Keep your style consistent throughout your resume. Do not change the font mid-way.

2. Spell check, and then check again, and then have someone check again for you.  Spelling errors do not look professional.

3. Edit and be grammatically correct.  Have someone with really good writing skills edit for you.  If you say that one of your assets is your writing skills and you make grammatical and spelling mistakes in your resume, you may be round filed (thrown in the trash).

4. Bold and capitalize your subject headings so they stand out.

5. Education should be on your first page, not your last page.  Your first page is what the potential interviewer sees, and if that does not look crisp, professional, and appealing they may not even look at your second page.

6. In your cover letter, don’t emphasize how you want to learn from the job; emphasize what you will contribute to the job.

7. Be careful about student status as most employers do not want to spend the time and resources to train you, only for you to leave and have some other company benefit from their training.

8. When you reply to a job listing that provides salary, don’t include salary requirements that far exceed what is offered or you are likely to not even be considered.  You may be seen as over qualified.

9. Unless a job is advertised as temporary, don’t present yourself as wanting a temporary job.  For example, don’t say you are working your way through school or working on a degree in a different field than the job you are applying for.

10. Write a cover letter for the specific job, a generic letter will stand out in a bad way.  

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