Letters are described as written messages using various characters to convey or relay certain information.

It had be one of the oldest forms of communication, dating way back during the ancient Egypt. Written messages before, had been the only form of communication of people from different locations.

But with the advancement of modern technology, this has been just one of the many options for communication. Other forms had been introduced such as the use of telephones, telegraph and email messaging.

Letters are used for various reasons or purposes such as the following:

1. Personal communication of friends or relatives

2. Formal communication for business or office use

3. Public announcement

Cover letters in specific are used to introduce a need or a much broader topic. These are usually used for:

1. Application for a job posting or vacancy

2. Introduction in submitting a quotation for offered product/s or service/s

If the cover letter is used for applying for a vacant job post, the following should be included in the content of the letter:

1. An explanation on why the individual is sending a resume.

All resumes should have an accompanying cover letter that would explain what post the individual wants to apply for.

2. Indicate from where one had heard of such vacancy.

It would be of help if one would be specific in indicating where he or she had heard of the job vacancy, that is if it was from a television ad, from a certain website or through word of mouth.

Indicating the name of the individual who suggested that an application be sent or written is likewise appropriate.

3. Catchy enough for the reader to want to read your resume.

The letter should be polite and not over-demanding or too confident, so much as to arose interest to look upon the attached resume.

4. It should focus on the selling points of the individual.

This may include the education attained, past work experience or previous posts held, ever so slightly touching the said topic but not too much so as to loose interest to further read the accompanying resume.

5. The attitude of the individual should be a reflection of the letter.

Enthusiasm for work, politeness and motivation should all emanate from the letter so as to give the employer an overview of the individual’s positive points.

6. Any other information that is requested by the employer.

If the needed information is not stated in the letter or the attached resume, the individual should state the availability of the information upon personal appearance or request.

Below is the proper formatting of the cover letter for application purposes:

1. State the current date

2. Indicate the name to whom the letter would be forwarded

3. Designation and address of the person on number 2

4. An opening paragraph that is catchy or would arouse the interest of the person reading the letter.

5. The middle paragraph should point the interest of the applicant and should have created a desire on the part of the reader to consider for the position the sender of the letter.

6. The following paragraph should subtly direct the reader to read the attached resume.

7. The closing paragraph should ever so slightly hint or suggest a certain action from the reader, that is, the sender could state his or her available time for an interview, if needed.

By: Jimmy Sweeney

About the Author:

Are you frustrated with trying to write your own resume?

Are you bogged down with information overload or just where to begin?

You need a plan, a guide to assist you in writing your resume.

You need a resume outline!

When a person needs to build a house they use a blueprint. It contains all the information needed to construct it from the print.

When a person needs to write a resume they need to use an outline. The outline of a resume is the blueprint to resume writing success. It centralizes all of the information needed to write a resume making it easier to target them to specific job announcements.

Generally speaking the majority of resumes contain the same basic information as outlined below:

Outline of a Resume

Top of Page (usually centered)

Your name Home address Home phone number Cell phone number (or other contact #) Email address (make sure it is a professional email & not a nickname)

Objective Statement (optional)

The objective statement should be targeted to a specific job announcement for which you’re applying.

Example: Seeking a position as a Volunteer Coordinator for Mokena Humane Society

Qualification/Career Summary (optional, but I recommend using it with all resumes)

Over ten years experience in production management. Adept at meeting organizational objectives while meeting the needs of employees Proven ability to work efficiently and effectively under pressure

Education (list all relevant education)

Degrees (highest 1st) Certifications Training Work Experience/Employment History Current or most recent position Continue listing pertinent work experience

Activities & Associations

Organizations Associations Student government Community activities

Special Skills

Foreign language Typing Computer/Software any other skills that “fit” the specific job description

Honors & Awards (formal recognition you’ve received)

Professional Academic Community

Set aside at least 2 or more hours when writing your resume outline. Don’t forget to gather all the pertinent materials you’ll need such as current and past employment data, education information degrees/certifications, reference information (names, addresses, phone numbers), and any job announcements for which you plan to apply.

Spending the necessary time upfront will save you time in the long run. Your resume outline is the blueprint to success containing everything you need to fill-in-the-blanks of your resume regardless of the format (chronological, functional, or combination).

By: Jeff Melvin

About the Author:

Did you know that there are ways to write the perfect administrative resume that will help you get the job of your dreams? First of all, your resume should start with your objective, which naturally is the job you are applying for. Everything else that you include in the resume must relate back to this objective. You have to show that you have the skills the employer is looking for in an administrative assistant.

A resume is more than a simple list of your work experience, skills and education. It is a way of showcasing yourself to prospective employers. Through the resume, employers should be able to see at a glance whether or not you meet their needs. They should also gain enough information about you from the resume that they feel they know you already and want to meet you in an interview to gain more information.

When you list your skills and experience on a resume, use bulleted points, rather than detailed paragraphs Employers don’t like wordy resumes, so you don’t need to go into great detail describing your accomplishments or duties at previous locations. They want to simply get a snapshot of your skills and then make a decision about whether or not you would fit with the company. Keep in mind that your resume will be one of hundreds, so you have to make it stand out.

One way to make a resume for an administrative assistant position stand out is to highlight strengths and prior work that would impress prospective employers. For example, the words “monitored”, developed”, supervised” sound much better than “worked on” wrote or “looked after”. It will also give the employer the impression that you are a professional in your field.

A resume should never be longer than 1- 2 pages. You don’t want to bore your prospective boss, just try to get him/her to offer you a position. The resume should be free of any mistakes in spelling or grammar and should not contain any negative comments.

You need to include the main points of your work experience and education to show that you are capable of anything that would be required of you as an administrative assistant.

In summary, your resume should:

• Show off your skills to prospective employers
• Be clear and concise
• Entice the employer to want to know more about you
• Be free of negativity and mistakes

By: Jay Tokarz

About the Author:

A Qualifications Brief instantly sets you apart from everyone else

If there is one document that will separate you from the masses of people who are submitting their resumes to prospective employers it’s the qualifications brief.

Resumes give a brief overview of a persons work history and educational background. Resumes include jobs held perhaps with some job descriptions and accomplishments. While some formats may differ the information is fairly standard. the largest section nearly always explains a persons job history.
A qualifications brief on the other hand is designed specifically to get an interview.

At the top of the Q Brief you should have your name , address and phone number. This immediately gives the prospective employer the most basic information that he or she needs.

First section – “Record of Success”

This is where you are selling yourself – do not be modest! Use a bullet format with short sentences. Items like awards, attendance records, customer reactions and compliments are used in this section.

Next section – “Educational Accomplishments”

Anything relevant to this job.

Next section – “Extra-curricular Accomplishments”

Anything that shows you are a responsible person.

Next section – “Awards”

Any award you have ever received.

Next section – “Other Facts”

This is where you would show anything else that shows you are a good candidate for the job.

Next section – “Interests and Hobbies”

Anything that shows you are a team player.

Why take the time to create a Qualifications Brief?

Reason #1 – Most of your competition will not have one.

Reason #2 – It demonstrates you have the skills, personality traits, and record of success the employer is looking for.

At this point you may be saying…

“What if I don’t have a lot of skills and success that I can highlight on a qualifications brief?”

Guess what?

Everyone, including you has things that he or she is good at and accomplishments he or she has earned.

All you have to do is take some time to dig them out of your memory banks. List them – then incorporate them into your qualifications brief.

Rules of Road

You should always have one when you apply for a job, ANY job, and it should focus on the needs of the employer.

A well crafted qualifications brief clearly shows you have the

Character Personality Traits Background

to meet the employers needs.

If you take the time to design your qualification brief just right the prospective employer says to themselves -

“This is just the type of person we are looking for.”

By: Ian James

About the Author:

There is no doubt that teaching jobs are more difficult to secure than ever before. States around the country are drastically cutting their budgets in an attempt to battle rising fuel costs and a tough economy. In fact, many school districts are being forced to cut more than 20 million dollars from their budget. Unfortunately, this is leading to many people actually losing their teaching job.

So how are teachers supposed to get a teaching job in this situation? Is it even possible?

The answer is yes, but it’s not going to be easy. To land a teaching job candidates are going to have to pull out all the stops…they are going to have use every trick in the book.

One problem many teachers have is getting their resume noticed. How does one make their teacher resume stand out when a school district may get thousands of resumes?

Here’s how…

First, let me preface this by stating that the resume tip you are about to read will always be powerful, but as of the writing of this article it is currently EXTREMELY powerful as hardly anyone is using it.

Also, let me state that I did not come up with this resume tip on my own. It was actually brought to my attention from someone who works in the human resource department at the Sarasota School District in Florida. The Sarasota School District is a very popular Florida school district that gets thousands upon thousands of resumes every year.

In a recent conversation it was brought to my attention that a strategy is starting to be used (by very few candidates – roughly 1 out of a 1000) that is not only making the candidate look good, but also making the candidate’s resume STAND OUT. It is something that will immediately get the readers attention…something that will literally force the reader to take a closer look at your resume…something that simply cannot be overlooked.

What is so fascinating about this strategy is that it is taken right out of marketing 101. It is the same strategy that has worked for sales letters and websites for years…it is so simple I can’t believe I didn’t think of it myself!

What is this amazing resume tip?

Simply add testimonials to your resume. That’s right…testimonials!

**Important Note: This is not meant to replace the reference section of your resume. You will still have a section at the end of your resume where you write your references (including name, title, and phone number).

However, in addition to references you will now include testimonials on each page of your resume. Just like you would see on a website. Simply use the left margin of your resume to write testimonials from other people about you. Remember, when it comes to getting a job, you are “selling” yourself, and ask any marketer and they will all tell you the same thing…testimonials increase sales. So use the left margin to write short 1-sentence testimonials. Use small font, and italics with the person’s name and title included.

For example:

______ has an outstanding

work ethic.

–Jim Ross, Principal

Mr.______ has been

a real team player.

–Harriet Cohen, Principal

______’s positive attitude has

helped inspire students to learn.

–John Smith, Teacher

You get the idea. Simply place several testimonials on each page and watch how much more your resume stands out from all the others.

Again, this strategy is currently being used by very few people so now is the time to take advantage of that. I guarantee there will be a time soon when this strategy becomes routine and every resume will include testimonials. Until then you have a golden opportunity to make your teacher resume grab the readers attention and get you the teaching job of your dreams.

By: Adam Waxler

About the Author:

nt to write a good resume, keep in mind that it should be a powerful sales and marketing tool. And it can be – if you treat it that way from the time you begin writing. Your resume should showcase your strongest points so that you stand out from the competition. Ideally, it will match your skills against an opportunity in such as way that the hiring manager will instinctively reach for the phone to invite you in for an interview.

As we all know, just getting started is often the hardest part. That goes doubly when it comes to writing a good resume. To avoid feeling overwhelmed, give yourself permission to take a stab at it, knowing that you can edit and change it once your get something on paper. Keeping that in mind, let’s look at some tips to get you started.

Gather All the Information You Will Need Up-Front

Use a legal pad, a notebook, put it in spreadsheet form – whatever is easiest. The concept is to gather all of your source materials together for easy reference. This information should include personal information, work history, skills, awards and achievements, education…everything that could conceivably be needed for your resume. At this time, you want to stay focused on collecting information. This is easier to do if you are not simultaneously thinking about editing and formating. There is plenty of time for that in the next step. When the time comes to actually commit something to paper, you will get the best results if you start with as much information as possible.

Decide On the Best Format

Generally speaking, most resumes follow a similar format. However, there are some differences – some subtle, some easily noticed – that apply depending on your situation. For example, if you are right out of school and have little work experience, your focus will be more on education, skills, and abilities. You will put your education more prominently on the page. You can use major projects or volunteer work to help fill out your experience – if you can show how it is relevant to the position you want.

If you have experience, but gaps in employment, you can format the information to focus less on dates and more on responsibilities and abilities. If you have many years of experience, you will be more concerned with what to leave out so that the format is no longer than 2 pages.

List Your Qualifications for the Job

The job market is far too competitive to get by with the old school style of resumes that simply states employment history, as if to say: “here I am…now offer me a job.” Instead, you need to think about why you would be a great candidate for each employer. Start by listing all of your various qualifications. Then, with a specific employer in mind – plus what you know about the opening they have – write a job objective. Although this objective is uniquely you, it should also be written to show what you can offer for the specific job you are applying for.

By first assembling a full list of your qualifications, you can begin to edit them, including what is uniquely you. Start by picking out maybe 6, but no more than, say, 10 or your most outstanding qualifications for the job. These can be related to work experience, transferable skills, or overall accomplishments. Next, put these into simple, clear statements that sum up your qualifications.

List Your Previous Employment and Education

The most common style of resume contains a list of previous employers along with your role with each one. Give your job title as well as the major skills and accomplishments for each position, starting with the most recent. If you have many years of experience, you can decide to drop experience at a certain point in the past. If you do this, you should also make it clear that you are quite ready to discuss anything in your work history during an interview.

After your work experience, typically you will summarize your education and related credentials – college, the degree obtained and when. An exception to this, as previously pointed out, might be for the person just starting out their career with no significant work experience. Generally, references are not added to the resume. Instead, simply make note that you will provide references upon request.

Final Formatting

You can get special resume formatting software if you feel the need. You can write your resume with any document editor using a simple, clean format and get results that are every bit as good. Simple and clean means that the text is formated and spaced so that it is not difficult to read. Use indented bullets to list items in a clear manner. Use bold for your contact information as well as for the major section names (for example, “Employment History”, “Education”, etc.).

You are almost finished. But before you stop, make yourself read your final version several times. You’ve come too far to allow any typos, or unclear passages to sneak through!

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If you are on the hunt for the perfect job, you may think that attaching a cover letter to your resume might not be such a big deal. After all, you have all your information outlined in your resume, why bother with such an inconvenient formality as a resume cover letter? What you don’t realize is that your prospective employer may get hundreds of applications in a day, and the hiring manager has to sort out through all these resumes to find the right person fit for the job. How would you fancy reading through hundreds of resumes in a day. Not a very appetizing thought, is it?

This is where the resume cover letter comes in. The hiring manager won’t want to waste time sifting through the chaff just to get to the wheat. Having an exceptional introduction to your resume in the form of a cover letter will serve as something to call the hiring manager’s attention to the meat of the matter.

A cover letter that is exceptionally well-written, as well as attention-grabbing, will alert the hiring manager to the fact that here is someone who is enthusiastic and pays enough attention to detail by not leaving anything to chance. The cover letter will be the beacon that leads straight to your resume, and having an outstanding one will help you stand out above the rest of the other job applicants.

A simple, run-of-the-mill cover letter will not work either, as there is a good chance that the other resumes will have cover letters of their own. You will need something that sends a powerful message as well as catches the interest of the hiring manager immediately. Not only should it be a list of all your accomplishments and qualifications; it should be a testament to your meticulous dedication, your focused discipline, and your unflagging eagerness. In short it should serve as a personal advertisement that promotes you as the right person for the job.

Before beginning to compose your killer cover letter, you’ll need to do your research. It always helps to be prepared in the best way possible without leaving anything to chance. Look through the thousands of cover letter samples online to find the best resume cover letter template to suit the job you are applying for, as well as the kind of impression you want to make. A good resume cover letter template will have quality structure and format, as well as unique sentence phrasing that will differentiate it from the generic cover letters that you usually find over the Internet.

As soon as you’ve found one, get to work crafting your own cover letter based on the resume cover letter template you’ve chosen. You’ll need to check and re-check your grammar, spelling and sentence structure to ensure that you have everything down pat. A meticulous and error-free cover letter will get that hiring manager’s attention without fail.

In closing…

There are a lot of questions posed by job applicants about how they can land the job of their choice. Among these questions, the necessity of including a resume cover letter ranks among the top. With a good resume cover letter template to base your actual cover letter on, you can be sure that you’ll have covered all your resume bases, and can be confident about submitting your application without any misgivings.

Dirk Daggler is an online reviewer of niche websites. Want to learn more about an resume cover letter templates or cover letter templates? Visit the website.