Why the Cover Letter is Dead

Why the Cover Letter is Dead In offering some advice today to a family member who is job hunting, I came to the realization that the cover letter is all but dead. The family members query was how to write a compelling/ interesting cover letter because he was looking to find ways to get his resume noticed by the hiring managers. His inquiry wasnt a bad one he wanted his resume to stand out against the rest. It’s no secret that hiring/HR managers see hundreds of resumes per opening and only a small percentage of them ultimately get considered. So as such, candidates want their resumes to stand out and show how they are best for the position. As a result you type a letter in an attempt to set yourself apart from the other applicants. On top of the vast competition of applicants, there is also the resume itself. I have heard many reasons for resumes to be declined by hiring managers    anything from spelling errors  to poor formatting. Forget about whether you think you have the technical skills or not, the way your resume looks can determine your future employment opportunities.  All of these factors result in why so many people put such a high emphasis on the cover letter. Candidates realize the resume is your first impression. You are making an attempt at setting yourself apart and explaining why they should consider you. As such, the cover letter becomes that outlet to make that impression. We live in a social media world where 140 characters is the max attention our brain can offer. Consequently hiring managers would like to decide if you are a fit as quickly as possible. A study by The Ladders revealed that on average recruiters review resumes for about 6.25 seconds before determining if you are a fit. A cover letter unfortunately does not fit into this equation. While I am sure the candidate spent a good amount of time preparing what they would like to say, cover letters get skimmed over with little to no interest. The other issue adding to this is not personalizing cover letters. Too many times I have received a cover letter that looks like it has been copied, pasted and sent to roughly 15 different jobs without personalization. Nothing shows a lack of preparation more than this. I have been in the recruiting industry for close to 7 years. I do not have the exact numbers, but in that time I must have submitted thousands of candidates to my client’s requirements. And although I do not have the precise stats, I do know this much; of all the candidates to get hired by my clients through me, I have never submitted one with a cover letter. I send my clients a copy of the candidates resume and put together an email that highlights their experience and how it relates to the position. That is what I recommend to individuals who ask for advice when job hunting. It’s not enough to simply apply for a position in today’s society. You must get direct contact to separate yourself from the herd. That is the beauty of sites such as LinkedIn. In the past the hiring manager was a mysterious figure behind a job ad. Now you can pull up a posting on LinkedIn, and not only is the poster right there for you, there are even suggestions on how you could be connected with them. It is on you as a candidate to find that person and reach out to them. The recruiting and staffing industry is a multi-billion dollar business, because ultimately the hiring process is a personal experience. So rather than putting your effort into a cover letter, find that persons email address and put together a personalized message on why you are applying and a fit for the position. It doesnt have to be too long, just give the person a reason to spend more than 6.25 seconds on your resume.

Career Confusion Try A Career Quiz!

Career Confusion Try A Career Quiz! Do you know what you want to do for your career?   Or are you working right now, but not sure that it is the right job for you?   If so, youre not alone. Maybe I can help.   Ive developed a new online career quiz that has helped a lot of people figure out their career options and better plan their futures.   Its called the Shobia Career Finder. Why I made it My sophomore year in college I didnt know what I wanted to do.   What kind of career would I enjoy and be good at?   I shared these frustrations with my friend Alex, who suggested I take an online career test that the school offered. I did.   And I was shocked.   The results were not at all what I wanted! Years later, I was brainstorming cool and useful things or tools I could make.   Then it came to me â€" why not make a career quiz thats fun, easy to use and that would have helped me out back then. So I came up with the Shobia Career Finder.   It is a 25 question quiz that helps people figure out what careers they might like and be good at. Heres a sample question: Its been taken by thousands of people so far and many have been startled by how accurate it is and helpful. For instance, it was taken by a student who wants to become an investment banker and her first career match was Investment banker.   And it was taken by a professional poet, whose first career match was poet/writer. Many whove taken it have had similar experiences. In building it, I spent a good amount of time researching career theory and trying to get a sense of what makes a job a good match for a person.   I soon came across the Holland Code, which is an idea developed by Dr. John Holland that says careers can be described by six interest categories. The Holland Code is a powerful and useful theory, but it was developed in the 1950s.   So I was inspired by it, but use a new original approach to take into account things like the popularity of computers. Figuring out your interests The main thing that the quiz tries to do is help you better understand what type of work you are interested in and provide careers that fit those interests. For instance, how much do you like business and financial topics?   What about interacting with other people and helping them with their problems?   And would you mind being active and on your feet? And of course, how organized you are, your interest in being creative and like (or dislike!) of modern technology and computers are other important areas to consider. Oddly enough We spend surprisingly little time learning what career options are and what would be a good fit for us. In high school we spend years learning topics that likely wont be used too much in our lives (I have never had to do trigonometry outside of a math class!) but we typically dont even have much time spent figuring out careers. Anyway, I hope you find the quiz helpful and enjoy it.   If you have any questions, comments or feedback, Id love to hear from you! David Gurevich is the founder of Shobia Career  Finder Email him at  [emailprotected] or visit  http://shobia.com/career-finder

Is Plastic Surgery Good for Your Career

Is Plastic Surgery Good for Your Career Ok folks, I wasnt gonna do it, but after receiving some provoking messages after a tweet I sent out about Heidi Montag, Im doing it. Lets start talking: is plastic surgery good for your career? Weve all heard it before: good looking people are more likely to be hired and more likely to get higher salaries. I must admit, I would probably choose to hire someone who manages their appearance over someone who does not if given the choice. If the candidate cant manage their appearance, how are they going to manage their job? Back to Ms. Montag 10- TEN- procedures in one day! US News World Report (can you believe Heidi made this publication?!) reports that Dr. Frank Ryan performed the following procedures (which took 10 hours) on 23 year old Heidi: mini-lift of the brow, Botox in the forehead, nose job revision, fat injections in cheeks and lips, chin reduction, neck liposuction, ears pinned back, breast augmentation revision, liposuction on waist and thighs, and a buttocks augmentation. For those of you who didnt know, Heidi had a nose job and a boob job 3 years ago. The scary part is that the Dr. says everyone in Hollywood is doing the same thing Heidi did, but no one talks about it. Ok, so there are several scary parts, bear with me Scary part #2 Heidi thinks that she needed this surgery to have the look of a popstar and thats just what people do in my industry. The People magazine article quoted Heidi saying that she is competing with people like Brittney Spears while she was in her hey day. (Yeah but to our knowledge Brittney Spears was a wholesome, southern belle with talent, unlike you Heidi). Scary part #3- She also tells Robin Roberts she hopes to get her own Barbie someday and seems flattered when Robin almost slipped and called her a Barbie Scary part #4 Her new album is called Superficial, (sorry, I refuse to link to it here) and she timed the announcement of all this surgery right as her album dropped. PR stunt anyone? Scary part #5 Heidi really believes that this surgery will advance her career to fame and fortune. How far would you go to advance your career? Do you believe that looks can advance someones career in industries outside of Hollywood? Any one want to predict how long it will be before Heidi gets her next surgery? Or worse, what she will look like by 35? Have you listened to her album? I did. It sounds like a copy cat of Brittney Spears but way worse and soooo digitized. I guess that explains why she wouldnt sing in the Good Morning America interview.. I think that depending on your looks might help you land a job but keeping it and avoiding a sexual harassment suit is a whole different story. Please let us know what you think about using plastic surgery as a way of advancing your career!

The Top US Staffing Trends of 2015 [STUDY]

The Top US Staffing Trends of 2015 [STUDY] LinkedIn recently released a report on the US staffing trends of the last four years, which has pin-pointed three  key trends to incorporate into your business strategy for 2015. The report was  based on LinkedIns fourth annual survey, which covered  11 countries, 1,994 staffing leaders and 300 million members; drawing conclusions about the recruitment industry in the US. This slideshow by LinkedIn gives an insight into what 2015 has in store for recruitment in the US and the three trends that they  recommend firms  build into their 2015 strategy are investing in and managing branding, utilising social professional networks  job boards for ROI, and better candidate  job matching. Here are some tips on how your firm can take these on board. Branding: Business branding  can be paramount  in building a reputable name for a company  and is definitely something worth investing money and time in. Social media can be incredibly beneficial for  building a positive reputation for the company and a brands online presence can help to in recruiting the top talent and increasing business. LinkedIns survey found that the number one use of their network is for viewing members profiles and 76% of job applicants reportedly viewed an employees LinkedIn profile 6 months before applying for a job at that  company. This demonstrates the importance of branding on social media, not only for the company itself, but also by their employees and it is therefore crucial that employee profiles are kept up to date and professional, exhibiting the business in the best possible light. The impact that branding can have on placements and prospects has also been recognised, as it was revealed that 75% of B2B purchases are influenced by social media and 57% of buying decisions are made before a sales rep is involved. When asked about the branding within their organisation, 68% of staffing leaders said that their brand has a significant impact on their ability to grow business, however only 58% have a branding strategy and a small 33% measure the health of their brand in a quantifiable way. Online professional networks and word of mouth from friends and family have been identified as the top channels for promoting firm brands; whereas the effectiveness of the firms website and traditional job boards have dropped. Some steps that you can take to measure your firms brand in 2015 are, to communicate your expertise in  what you do; use cost-effective social media tools, such as the free version of LinkedIn; specify  your branding budget and measure your brand in terms of clients, placements and company followers. Make use of social professional networks and job boards for ROI: It has been found that social professional networks and job boards provide the best quality and quantity of placements, ahead of internet resume databases and internal databases and it is important to use different sources of ROI, in order to target both passive and active candidates. The growth of social networks such as LinkedIn has resulted in an increasing talent pool and therefore a higher number of potential candidates, making them an essential tool for recruitment. Performance can be measured in terms of client satisfaction and placement quality, however the most valuable performance metric is the number of placements. Hindrances to the recruitment can also be monitored, with the top obstacles being availability of top talent, the offer made by the client and competition. Some steps that you can take in order to make the most of ROI sources are, to equip yourself with data about your target market and  talent supply and demand, using LinkedIns free Talent Pool Reports; use different search tactics for passive and active candidates; generate tailored messages to candidate based on what you think might motivate them to move jobs; and define what what ROI means for your firm and measure it. Optimise your candidate and job matching: Improving the ability to match suitable candidates with jobs  was the top identified staffing trend for 2015 in the world and this can be achieved using the  LinkedIn Matching Engine. It has also been found that 50% of job views on LinkedIn come as a result of recommendations from other members, meaning that both passive and active candidates can be reached. Some things that you can incorporate into your 2015 strategy to improve your candidate and job matching are to boost your job views with the use of industry keywords and by making use of the correct channels to promote jobs, and to understand the importance of illustrating the whole opportunity, rather than just the job in hand, including aspects such as the culture, team and company.

9 Healthy Coping Mechanisms to Overcome Workplace Stress and Anxiety

9 Healthy Coping Mechanisms to Overcome Workplace Stress and Anxiety With the long hours, and competitive spirit in the workplace, it does not come as a surprise that more and more employees are dealing with work-related stress and anxiety. The sad part is, this condition has become so common that many people consider this as part of the job.While it is true that there is nothing we can do about changing the demanding nature of our work, you will be happy to know that there are ways on how you can overcome stress and anxiety due to work.evalIf you wish to enjoy your time at work without dealing with the unwanted stress, here are some of the tips that you need to know:1. Take note of your stressorsIt can be quite difficult to manage stress if you are not able to identify what are the things that cause it. That is why it is about time that you monitor your stressors.You can do this by keeping a journal for one to two weeks. Every time you feel stressed or anxious, try recording your feelings, thoughts, the people or circumstances that made you feel that way. In addition to that, you also need to take note of the time and place.By doing so, it will be easy for you to pinpoint which, who or what stresses you. By knowing these, you can be able to avoid the instances or the person that caused you stress. It will also be easier for you to manage your stress.2.Have work-life boundariesThe main cause of work stress is we do not know our limitations, and we spend too much time working. To avoid this, it is important that you draw the line between your work and your life.Once the work hours are over, avoid doing work-related stuff like talking to your staff or checking your emails. During these hours, you should just focus on enjoying time with your family or friends.3. Do yoga or meditationThe reason why people get stressed is that they think of the past or the future and not focusing on their present situation. If you wish to manage your stress, you need to practice mindfulness, and the best way to do that is to do meditation or yoga.eva lWe all know that there are plenty of yoga and meditation benefitsand one of these is reducing your stress and anxiety. This is because this practice helps you to stay more focused and concentrated on the task at hand.As a result, you can get to accomplish more and be more productive and less stressed.4. Enjoy a healthy lifestyleIf you wish to be stress-free, you have to be physically, emotionally, and mentally healthy. Unhealthy foods, cigarettes, alcohol, and lack of sleep can increase your chances of being depressed, so it is important that you incorporate more fruits and vegetables into your diet.In addition to that, getting enough sleep can help your body to recover, giving you the energy you need to overcome a stressful day.5. Vent it outevalIf you wish to release your stress, you need to let it all out. It is important that you open up about your work or what you are feeling to your family and friends. Just by simply relating the stressful situation to other people can help y ou calm down.In addition to that, other people may also give you a sound piece of advice on how to deal with the stressful situation in the future.6. UnplugThere is no doubt that technology has made our lives easier but for a busy person like you, it can be a liability if you don’t know when enough is enough.Turn off your phones or laptops when you feel the need to relax and take a break from all your distractions.7. Organize your deskYour work is already stressful in itself. Adding a messy desk into the mix can make the situation a lot more stressful.If you want to manage your stress, try to take a small step by organizing your desk. This simple move can help you regain a sense of control which can reduce your stress.8.Take a short walkIf you are already feeling overwhelmed and too stressed out in the office, take a break and go for a short walk outside the building.For many of us, stress has been our immediate response to some of the things that are happening to us and the only way that we can break this cycle is to have a change of scenery and a walk, no matter how short it is, can give you that.9. Make your to-do list more realisticThere is no doubt that having a to-do list can help you become more productive. When your list is too short, you will be under-productive, when the list is too long, you will fail to do everything on the list and you will end up feeling as if you have failed, which will cause you to be more stressed. That is why you should keep your list realistic and achievable.evalAvoiding stress is never easy, but managing stress is always possible. We know that your work is important but please be reminded that your health matters the most. This may sound like a cliché, but it is true. That is why it is important that you also take the time to take care of yourself.Try to take control of your stress, and you can do that using one, two or all of the strategies that we have mentioned above. Do this, and you can have a more fulfilling work l ife and get to improve your relationships with other people too.

5 Unmistakable Signs Your Boss Is Trying to Make You Quit - And How to Respond

5 Unmistakable Signs Your Boss Is Trying to Make You Quit - And How to Respond Passive aggression isn’t a good look on anyone â€" especially not your boss. If your boss has been acting weird lately and it feels like something is up, he or she might be subtly, quietly trying to push you to quit. Although this type of conduct is less than becoming, it happens quite often. Firing someone is awkward and difficult, and sometimes your boss might not have the gut or the necessary cause to do it. In such situation, some bosses might decide that making your life at the company more miserable will make you quit on your own accord, saving them the uncomfortable duty of firing you. If you think that is the case with you and you’re being pushed to quit â€" dont sit idly. Look for signs and make some moves. 1. You No Longer Feel Like a Part of the Conversation Communication is the entire basis for accomplishing anything. If no one knows what anyone else is doing, we’d all be bumbling around in the dark without two sticks to rub together. Effective and frequent communication makes a workplace function at its highest capacity. If you have suddenly stopped getting memos and notifications about a big project, or your attendance at the business meetings is no longer required, this should be cause for concern. It might mean that people are working around you, rather than with you. 2. Something Isn’t Right When You Log In Everything is digital. You probably need several different credentials and passwords to log into things at work. If you can’t log in or your permissions seem messed up, it might be a cybersecurity issue. Rule that one out first. If it isn’t, this means someone has revoked your access or changed your permissions. If this change seems to isolate you and it affects your ability to do your job, it could be an obvious hint that your contributions aren’t needed to important projects. 3. The Team is Moving On Without You Think back to that “Teamwork Makes the Dream Work!” poster in the breakroom. Even if all those team building activities felt a little cheesy at the time, they were important. They helped to foster a connected work environment where everyone understood their teammates’ strengths. If it seems as though these bonding activities are taking place without you, or that other members of your team seem to be placed in elevated roles, this kind of exclusion is a bad sign. If your boss intended for you to be a part of the next group project, he or she wouldn’t have let you sit out during team time. 4. You Feel Like You’re Under a Magnifying Glass Some bosses are natural micromanagers â€" and it annoys most people who are competent in their roles. If your boss doesn’t have a history of micromanaging you but suddenly seems to be taking a different tact, scrutinizing every action you take, this could be an all-out attempt to annoy you. Your boss might be attempting to aggravate you so much that you decide to leave. Alternatively, he or she may be laying in wait for you to make a mistake that can be used against you as a cause for termination of employment. 5. You’re Suddenly Training Someone Else It’s a lot like making someone dig their own grave. A new hire comes in and is assigned to you. You start teaching this person the ins and outs of your position. They get a decent handle on things, and you’re out the door. You’ve trained your replacement, and that was the last thing the company needed you for. This situation isn’t uncommon or wrong in scenarios where the employee knows they’re getting a transfer or a promotion â€" oftentimes, bosses will outright ask them to train the person who will be filling their previous role. If that’s not in the cards for you, the situation is different. If you’re being assigned new faces out of nowhere and these people are outright shadowing you, you should be alarmed. You shouldn’t make it easy for your company to replace you in such an underhanded way. How to Respond If you’re still a little unclear about what’s going on, talk to your boss. If the signs are ambiguous or there are alternative explanations that make rational sense, a conversation might be able to clear things up. If you hit a lot of markers on the list, optimize your resume, start looking for a new position, and go to interviews. Quit once you have something new lined up. You deserve to be treated better. About the author:Sienna Walker is a business and education blogger, an ex-tutor, and a huge advocate of lifelong learning and constant self-improvement. Whenever not trying out new online courses or listening to some motivational speeches, Sienna might be found online, participating in discussion with HR experts, business owners and employees.

Spark Creative Entrepreneur Retreat, or, How I Lit That Fire To Make A Dream Come True

Spark Creative Entrepreneur Retreat, or, How I Lit That Fire To Make A Dream Come True Sparks Fly by Seize the Night Tania Wojciechowski is a former client of mine who has done The Amazeballs: teamed up with another former client of mine (hi Deanna!) to create a brand-new creative retreat called Spark! Of course I wanted to help spread the word far and wide, so I asked Tonia if shed like to talk about how the heck they made that Big Dream happen (doesnt it seem soooooooooo big and scary and head-explosion-y?!). Such goodness below enjoy! You know those moments where you are completely sure about something? They are pretty rare, so when I do get hit with one of those moments, I try to listen and act on them, cuz seriously, sometimes they can change your life. I had one last fall that I’d like to tell you about. Last fall, I was reading Kelly Rae Robert’s e-book, Flying Lessons. In one section she writes about wanting to connect with other creative entrepreneurs. In order to make this happen, she set up a creative retreat and invited all sorts of women. The people at that first retreat soon became her mentors, her support system, and her lifelong friends. As soon as I read this, I had tears in my eyes and goosebumps on my arms. I could totally picture being at a retreat like this, surrounded by women chatting, sharing, and laughing new friends, entrepreneurs with whom I could learn from and share ideas with. The image made me feel so completely content that I knew I had to make it happen both for myself and for others who might be craving this same connection with others. My first thought was “this is going to be amazing!” But then my second thought was “ohmygodholycrap, how can little ol’ me make this happen?” I knew I needed help making this dream a reality. I instantly thought of Deanna Mullican of Apples and Orange who I had met through one of Michelle’s Operations group coaching sessions. I had immediately felt a connection to her and knew she’d be perfect to work with. I wrote to her immediately and invited her to help me make this a reality. I talked about wanting the retreat to feel welcoming and safe to everyone who came, a place to share knowledge with everyone there open and supportive and cooperative. And I threw out the idea of it taking place in the U.S. Southwest. I’ve never been, but have always been drawn to the area as it has such a positive, creative vibe. She wrote back with a huge “YES!” Soon after, we met on Skype, and started moving forward quickly talking about the goals of the retreat, the feelings we wanted to encourage, the things we’d like to talk about, the people we’d like to invite. We researched locations and costs and then when we booked the amazing Hacienda Dona Andrea just outside Santa Fe, it became very real. Every step of the way, we had moments of “are we sure? is this going to work?” and we’d have a chat and say “of course it is!” and we’d take the next baby step forward. Thats the Spark locale! Couldyajustdie? Image from Spark website When we invited our retreat leaders, we penned two emails one to the lovely Michelle, and one to the fabulous Jessika Hepburn of Oh My! Handmade. I wanted the emails to these amazing ladies to be reflective of the retreat warm, supportive, and respectful and happily, they both said they would love to be our main speakers! Unfortunately, Michelle had to pull out as she is getting healthy (you do know we’re all talking about her bodacious boobs, right?). So an email went to Alexandra Franzen who also said yes, and we couldn’t be more thrilled. So there you have it, a rare moment of knowing, and a dream of being surrounded by love and support has turned into a real-life creative retreat that will take place in just over 3 months. Every step of the way has been both scary and easy. Scary because we are putting in a lot of time and money into something so big. Easy because every part of working with Deanna has been example after example of synchronicity and fluidity. My personal big word for 2012 is “confidence” to me, this means feeling those scary feelings about something and doing it anyway, and listening to those inner moments of clarity and contentment. Confidence is knowing that after hitting ‘send’ on those emails comes the happy dance of joy when that person says yes. And it also means that if they say no, knowing that someone else will say yes. I encourage you to step into your own confidence and make your own dreams come true, however big or little they are. All it takes is baby steps towards something truly amazing! And guess what? Each one of those baby steps are amazing, too! We’re also trying to raise money to bring one lucky lady to New Mexico for free! See the campaign here, it’s all about helping one entrepreneur reconnect with her creativity, something she may not be able to do simply because of finances. Tania Wojciechowski is the owner of manusmade, where she makes modern goods for you and your home from natural materials. She is passionate about helping people connect with their creative super powers. Oh yes, and linen she really, really loves linen.