The biggest mistake most people make in preparing a resume
is wasting the top half of the first page with information
that doesn’t grab a reader’s attention.

Let’s face it, you have 5 to 10 seconds to grab an
interviewer’s attention when he/she looks at your resume. 
Additionally, you have to assume that the interviewer
never bothered to open the cover letter that you sent in
the email.

As such, your resume needs to be powerful enough to stand
on its own merits and get you in the door for the
interview.

Your resume will not do that if it looks like every other
resume that wastes the top half of the page with all your
contact info (address, phone #, cell #, email, etc.) and a
boring laundry list of clichés and meaningless phrases
like:
*Fast learner
*Highly motivated
*Results oriented
*Proven track record.

Heck, I see resumes with these phrases for minimum wage
positions. 

The point is that when every resume looks the same and
everyone is using the same phrases, you need to be
different without being extreme in order to get noticed.

Here are the top 5 tips to consider when writing a cover
letter:

#1 - Write a cover letter.  That’s right the first tip is
to actually write a cover letter as 80% of candidates
never include a cover letter for an advertised position. 
Just having a cover letter will help you stand out from
the crowd.

#2 - Personalize the letter.  It’s always best to use the
person’s name.  However, when a name is not available,
then attempt to personalize the letter by typing, “Dear
Hiring Manager for File Clerk Position.”  This will at
least show the interviewer that you know what job you are
applying for.

#3 - Use a headline.  There needs to be something that
grabs the reader’s attention and makes the person want to
read more.  A headline that may be provocative or
challenging may be just the thing to get the reader to
take a longer look at what you have to offer.

#4 - Use a Postscript (P.S.).  It is human nature to read
the headline and the end or P.S. of a letter.  So use the
P.S. to restate the value you can bring to a position, as
it will always be read by the interviewer.

#5 - Suggest scarcity.  Instead of closing the letter with
a traditional “threat” (e.g., “…I’ll call you next week
to…”), use the last paragraph to suggest how busy you are
over the next 3 weeks and your willingness to change other
commitments to make sure that you can be available for an
interview.

In my blog post on May 27, I made reference to solving
employer pain.  As a result of that post, I had a few
people email me and ask me to be more specific.

When I talk about employer pain, I am talking about the
things that keep employers awake at night such as:

*Rising Expenses
*Lower Productivity and Efficiency
*Poor Employee Morale
*Customer Complaints
*Poor Quality
*Lack of Employee Engagement
*Little Employee Commitment
*Lower Sales.

Go to your local library and look at the last 6 months of
business magazines such as “Inc,” “Business Week,” etc. 
When you look at these magazines, pay particular attention
to the headlines and subheads of the articles, which will
tell you all about the pain that employers are
experiencing.

Identify the pain points that you can resolve as an
employee and write your resume and cover letter to meet
those challenges.  Most employers will make room for you
in their organizations, if you can help them remove the
pain.