How to write Impressive

Resume and Cover

Letter
Allan Parker

How to Write Impressive Resume and Cover Letter

by
Allan Parker
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Contents
1) How to Create an Impressive Cover Letter for Improving Your Interview Chances
2) 3 Tips for Writing an Impressive Resume
3) Heavy Words to Avoid When Writing a Cover Letter
4) The Internship Cover Letter
5) Tips for Making An Internship Resume

Cover Letter and Resume Tips

How to Create an Impressive Cover Letter for Improving Your Interview Chances
Whenever you wish to apply for a new job, you will first need to get two things
together: a good resume and a cover letter.
People are always looking for cover letter tips that will give them the edge over the
other applicants. We will discuss one way that almost nobody does that will give you a
huge advantage and literally doubling your chances of getting an interview.
Use a Follow-up Cover Letter to Land the Interview
In most job applications nowadays, you will most likely need a good cover letter.
Gone are the days where you just mail in a resume. Most companies use an online
application service or a direct email submission where the applicants must usually fill
out a survey with their basic information followed by the usual uploading of 2 critical
documents: the resume and the cover letter.
But how many people actually take the time to follow up?
For people in sales positions, they know that follow up is a key to having success. The
same is true for the job application process. If you can simply send a follow-up cover
letter a few days after your initial application submission, you will literally double your
chances of getting an interview!
Think about it for a minute. If you send in a cover letter two times, you then have twice
the chance of your information getting read by the hiring manager. This will work
especially well in positions where you know they are getting many applicants. You will
also want to re-attach your resume at this time as well.
Follow-up Cover Letter Tips
The process of creating a follow-up cover letter is actually pretty simple. All you want
to do is add a small opening paragraph to your existing letter that lets the hiring agent
know that you are still interested and available for an interview.
By doing this, you are showing the company that you are serious about this position,
and it is almost certain that most of the other applicants are only sending in one cover
letter! Make it a top priority to do this for every application that you fill out. Start by
sending your initial resume and letter, and follow up in about 4-5 days with your follow
up cover letter.
By sending in a primary and secondary cover letter, you will literally mathematically
double your chances of getting a phone call to set up an interview.
3 Tips for Writing an Impressive Resume

When you are applying for a new job or career, you are going to have to put together
a resume. After the cover letter, the resume is going to be the first impression that the
employer has of you. It is a concise, but detailed outline of your skills and
qualifications. It is obviously crucial that you do everything within your power to create
the best opportunity for the hiring manager at the employer to review your resume.
Unfortunately, for many people, their resumes will never actually be read. Many larger
companies nowadays, in order to sift through the number of applicants, will have their
cover letters and resumes scanned by machines that search for keywords and phrases
that will then proceed to be reviewed by human eyes and sorted out to see who gets
a phone interview, and then the much anticipated in person interview.
Prior to writing a resume, you should first focus on your cover letter. Review the top 5
cover letter writing tips for more information on effective cover letters.
3 Steps to Keep in Mind When Writing Your Resume
Use Powerful Action Words
Remember those resume scanners we mentioned above? This is the reason you want
to use certain keywords in your resume.
Some examples of these types of words are managed, prepared, and developed.
Using these powerful action words will allow the scanners to flag your resume, which
then can be further reviewed by the hiring managers. The employer will set the
scanners to target certain words that apply to the position that you are applying to
and if your resume does not pass the selected criteria, it will probably be overlooked.
Be Clear and Stick to the Point
Prior to even writing your resume, you should have a good grasp on what your goals
and objectives are. You need to first identify the skills that you have and if they are
applicable to the position you are applying to. If you are applying to an experienced
sales position for example, make sure that you are clear on what the hiring company is
looking for. This will make writing your resume much easier.
Next, you will want to design your resume and your writing style around what the
company is looking for as the position aligns with your skills.
Concise brevity will get you very far when crafting your resume for success. You do not
need to elaborate on your skills and experience, if you can do a good job of being
concise. Remember, if everything is written properly, you should be able to further
elaborate once you get the interview.
Stay away from prose, and use bullet points if necessary. This will allow the hiring agent
to quickly scan your credentials and pull out the important topics for discussion. And

remember, place yourself in their shoes and think of how many potential resumes that
they could be reading for this position.
Do what you can to stand out. The resume only has one goal to get you the
interview!
Research the Company
This may seem obvious to most people, but you would be surprised how many people
fail to do this and freak out when they show up for the interview and the first question
is, So, Mr. Jones, what can you tell me about our company?
Once you know what the company is looking for, your homework is to find the best
way to relate this to your skills and resume credentials.
If you follow these first 3 steps, you should have a better idea as to how to craft your
ideal resume.
Heavy Words to Avoid When Writing a Cover Letter
When it comes to writing a cover letter, many people first think that you should try to
use intelligent sounding words in the content. However, it is actually better to use
words from everyday language to address your skills and qualifications.
This seems counterintuitive to a lot of people because we feel like we need to impress
the hiring manager in the HR department who is looking at our qualifications.
Consider this sample:
I have utterly encapsulated the monotonous commissions in order for you to further
discover the daunting rigors of my activities.
If the HR manager has a difficult time trying to understand what you are trying to say,
or has to resort to a thesaurus to understand your content, you might as well consider
that your resume and cover letter will be sent to the bottom of the pile.
You never want to sound like you are an English teacher in training. Most positions that
you will be applying for, probably have some type of communication involved. If you
are trying too hard to give example of your amazing communication skills by overly
complicating the English language, you may be putting your chances of getting the
interview at risk.
Consider this translation of the above quote:
I have completely summarized the tedious tasks in order for you to further understand
the discouraging severity of my activities.

Now despite this being a detailed explanation, I avoided using these ridiculous words
that only a college language professor would find amusing.
Here are some tips to use when writing a cover letter and how to avoid using big
words:
- The language should be similar to how you would speak to a friend
- In order to get an interview, the content should be short, sweet, and to the point!
- While reading the letter aloud, you should sound natural.
- Avoid using any tongue-twisting language
- After completing your letter, have a friend in your industry read it. If they cannot
understand any of the words, you may want to adjust accordingly.
Another thing to keep in mind while writing a cover letter is to avoid using idioms that
might come across as unprofessional. For example, you would not want to use the
phrase a drop in the bucket when you are trying to convey that you were expecting
a higher salary at a former job.
The Internship Cover Letter
An internship cover letter is going to be something that you create to give you the
much needed edge over the other applicants. If you are at the point in your
education where you need to start an internship in order to give you the required
experience before launching your career, writing an effective cover letter in addition
to your resume will separate your professionalism from the other student applicants.
Why a Cover Letter is Important
As a potential intern, you are basically going to be working at a company for a short
period of time. You will essentially be an employee, except that you will not be
earning an income in most circumstances. Your goal should be to grow as a
professional and start to exemplify the skills that would make you a good asset to a
company. So what better way to show that you have arrived by treating it like your
real career?
Writing an effective cover letter is one trick that you will take to succeed. And more
importantly, many of your competitors will not do this so it gives you an immediate
edge.
Why a Cover Letter is Important for Your Internship
Unless you have a storied career working in a great job while attending school, you
are in the same boat as all the other students. Unfortunately, besides your academic
accolades, you probably do not have the experience on your resume to separate
yourself from the other candidates.
Most students have odds and ends jobs such as lifeguards, retail associates, or
restaurant work which will not translate well into a professional environment.

Adding a well-written cover letter is your chance to step up and separate yourself
from everybody else and exemplify your adequacies, as well as show off your writing
acumen!
Is Your GPA Important?
Yes, you grade point average may be important, but it cannot tell the company how
effective you will be as an intern or an eventual employee. On the contrary, a cover
letter that is written with your passion exemplified and your drive to succeed will show
the hiring manager that you are a true professional.
Now imagine you are at a large company that is taking on numerous interns for the
summer months. You receive over a hundred applications and resumes for about 10
positions. And of those 100 submissions, about 5 have cover letters. Which applicants
would you put at the top of the pile?
Of course, the cover letter cannot be thrown together without adequate content and
formatting, so that is going to be important too. We will cover that in another article.
But if you take the time to construct a professional looking cover letter, in addition to
your well written resume, you are almost certain to shine!

Tips for Making An Internship Resume

When you are applying for internship, you would also have to give a rsum to your
prospect employer. In general, it should be a concise and clear summary of your
overall qualifications. It should include all your skills and relevant experiences that
would allow key features of your personality to stand out.
There is a general accepted standard of what information a rsum should have.
These data are basically separated into clear sections for easy reference.
Contact Details
One important section is the contact details. Before writing such information, be sure
that they are up-to-date. It is better to provide different means of communication
such as a landline number, cell phone number, email or post. Obviously, all your effort
in applying would go to waste, if your employer cant contact you.
Personal Profile
A lot of experts say that this is the most vital part of your rsum. Basically, its a
summary of your individual attributes and qualities. However, there are still some who
opt not to include such information.

Objective

This section is where you put your objective/s for applying the position. In your case,
you should clearly state here that you are applying for an internship position to
strengthen the skills, theoretical knowledge and experiences that you have garnered
so far from studying at the university and your other work experiences.
If you have some other objectives, then you can add so. However, you should
remember that this portion should not be that long. Keep it short, simple, and straight
to the point.
Education and Qualifications
This section would include the details of your academic qualifications, starting from
secondary school. The information should be written in reverse chronological order.
You should also include the year or duration you have attended a specific
educational institution.
Additional Skills
The additional skills section is an optional section too. Here, you can highlight your
other skills such as proficiency in using computers, knowledge of foreign languages,
use of special computer programs, knowledge in graphic design, etc.
Achievements
This section is also optional. Information on details about academic achievements like
awards received, and contests won can be placed here. You can also put sporting
and professional achievements in this area, if you have any.
Career Summary
This is the section where you can put the details of your past working experiences. Not
only can you put full-time jobs, but also even part-time, temporary and voluntary
employment. All of these should again be listed in reverse chronological order as with
your educational experiences.
Basically, you indicate the company you have worked for, the position you have had,
a short job description of the tasks you did, and the duration of how long you were
employed in that kind of work. Theres no need to put how much you earned, or why
you resigned or were fired from the job.
Personal Details
The personal details section should not be confused with the personal profile section.
This portion of your rsum is where you put your nationality or ethnicity; date of birth
and age; religion; and whether you can or cannot drive.
Interests and Activities

This area is generally omitted if you are applying in the US. However, there are still
some that would argue that it is a good way to reflect and show something about
your personality. Presenting that you are able to maintain a healthy balanced lifestyle
while juggling work, studies and personal life, can sometimes be an asset.