How to Make Your Cover Letter Grab the Employers Attention

How to Make Your Cover Letter Grab the Employers Attention Companies and recruiting agencies can get thousands of responses for job openings. Under such circumstances, they will be able to give each letter a few moments to get the gist of the candidate’s proficiency, qualification and experience before moving on to the next one. If you are making a serious bid for that job, your cover letter must have that unique element to hold the recruiter’s attention and make them go through the entire content. How do I make my cover letter stand out? Making your cover letter noticeable requires skill and creativity. Some type of customization such as a motto, creative catchphrase or a unique title can help you get noticed. There is no doubt that they are not to be used as a rule and are entirely optional. Yet, it is necessary to give these elements a try just to make your letter look exceptional and different from others. Where should you put your creative bits? The creative tag can figure at the top of the letter so that they can catch attention immediately. It should not be mere words but must reflect your value to the organization. You can visit the website of the company to get an idea of how you can word your slogan to sync them with company’s objective. If the job is for a school teacher for instance, the slogan should reflect something about caring for students or helping them learn better. Similarly a candidate for a marketing position can have a slogan that talks about dealing with challenges, creating more closures and meeting obstacles head-on. What about testimonials and cover letters? Testimonials are another way of getting your cover letter to be different than that of others. Testimonials can be in the form of lines from recommendation letters, vendor appreciation notes and by way of performance evaluations, memos issued to staff or other types of acclamations. When compiled creatively, they can create a powerful impact on your recruiter or interviewer. It can send a clear message to the company that they can do better by getting you on their side. Should you include goals and objectives? If you want to make a statement about goals and objectives in your cover letter, make sure they are specific to the opening or your professional objectives. It should be able to convince the employer about your commitment and the difference it can make to your potential employers. It must amply reflect the value that your skills and talent will bring to the company. Bottom line: Cover letters are serious business and can be a game changer in a situation where competition for a particular opening is tough and the talent pool available is more or less of the same standards. A well written cover letter can help you get that winning edge over others and help you land that coveted job. Just remember to incorporate the above stated elements effectively and judiciously. Author: John Dough is a master’s level career counselor and an internationally certified as a Career Management Practitioner (CMP) by the Institute for Career Certification International. Click here for  cover letter examples  to further help develop your cover letter writing. [Featured image: Shutterstock]

No More Razor Bumps With These Awesome Tips!

No More Razor Bumps With These Awesome Tips! Are you gearing up for the much-awaited date with the person you’ve been crushing on for ages? Or it is the wedding season? Either way, we understand that you want to look really good, and a part of looking good and well-groomed is getting rid of unwanted hair. Right from shaping your eyebrows to cleaning that upper lip area to make that little mustache vanish, unwanted hair is a big no-no. Then, there are underarms, hands, and legs to worry about, too. After all, if you’re planning to strut in that halter neck little black dress, unwanted hair is the last thing you’d want. Even though women have the option of waxing and hair removal creams to take care of their underarms, hands, and legs, when there are ‘emergency’ situations, the razor is always the go-to thing. Even though razors are handy and save your day many-a-times, the sore feeling after you’re done is enough to discourage you from using them again.     Here are a few ways to get rid of the painful razor bumps. Baking Soda It doesn’t just make your cakes fluffy and soft; it helps get rid of razor bumps as well. Thanks to the anti-inflammatory properties it has, baking soda will soothe the skin and prevent irritation. Sodium bicarbonate takes care of pH imbalances caused by the razor, which is why it is very helpful. Take a tablespoon of baking soda and dissolve it in one cup of water. Soak a piece of cotton in the mixture and keep dabbing it on the affected area for five minutes before washing off. Baby Powder Baby powder is one of the most effective remedies for those awful razor burns. After you’re done shaving, your skin tends to feel itchy, and the burning sensation that accompanies it just makes matter worse. In such times, fall back on the powder that works like magic even on something as sensitive as a baby’s skin. Sprinkle baby powder on the area you are going to shave 10 minutes before you do, and repeat the process after you are done with the shaving. Honey Thanks to its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, honey is a great way to take care of the painful aftermath of the razor. Many recommend using honey as a replacement for shaving cream, but even applying it after the shaving is done will help soothe the red marks and soreness. Sugar Sugar is a good way to help the sore skin. All you have a need to do is take two tablespoons of sugar, mix it with four tablespoons of coconut oil and one tablespoon of nectar. Apply on the affected area, leave it for a while and rinse off. Aspirin It isn’t just a cure for aches and fever; it also helps relieve razor bumps as well! Two aspirins and a teaspoon of warm water are all you need to get an instant cure for these painful razor burns. Using this mixture on the affected area twice a day will bring you some relief from the burning sensation. Strawberry Paste It’s so tasty that there are chances that you will lick some off, but as delicious as it sounds, strawberry paste also works wonders on razor burns. Blend crushed strawberries with any soothing cream. Apply it to the affected area and leave it on for 10-15 minutes before washing it off. It’ll soothe your skin and smell incredible as well. With these tips at your disposal, your shaving experience will be much better. Razor burns can be prevented, but even if you can’t, these tricks will help you step out with all your sassiness, minus the sore skin. Images via www.pixabay.com

My financial history, and stop whining about your job

My financial history, and stop whining about your job I tell people all the time to change their job if they dont like it, and people tell me this is totally impractical advice. A lot of people write to me to say that my advice only applies to rich people. Or they tell me that single parents, families living paycheck to paycheck, people in debt, cannot use my advice. I think these people are in denial. Of course, there are exceptions, but usually these people are really saying that the things they have in their current standard of living are more important than being happy in their job. Thats fine. But dont complain that the advice doesnt apply to you. It does. You choose to have an expensive lifestyle instead. I want to tell you a short history of my financial life. It is so unstable that when I told my brothers that I was writing for Yahoo Finance, they thought it was a joke. And then they got concerned for me that Yahoo would find out the real me, and Id lose my job. My bank account looked very good when I was running my own companies. They were well funded, and I extracted a large salary from investors on top of equity because it used to be okay to do that. The year my husband and I moved to New York City, I earned more than $200,000. I had never lived in New York City before. But I had seen photos of John and Carolyn Kennedy coming out of their Tribeca loft, and I figured thats where I would live with my husband. It was a harsh reality when I discovered that our combined income would need to be in the millions in order to have a loft in Tribeca. So we moved into a one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn that was so small that I had to buy storage for all my books. And just about everything else, too. Then the World Trade Center fell. I was there, and my being there changed me and my husband. We both realized we wanted kids right away, and we wanted to change careers: Bye-bye big paychecks. My husband started volunteering at human rights organizations. I became a freelance writer and had a poverty-level income for New York City. Then we had a baby. I want to tell you that we lived off our savings for a while, but we didnt. It lasted about nine months in New York City. Thats when we realized we had to totally shift our lifestyle to accommodate our work choices. We made big decisions. We stopped being friends with people who couldnt stop ordering $70 bottles of wine at dinner. We didnt go to the beach because we didnt have a car to get there, and besides, beach passes were too expensive. Soon, we found ourselves making almost every decision based on money, and we didnt want to live that way. So after a lot of research, we moved out of New York City. We moved to Madison, Wisconsin. I write a lot about how we chose Madison, but the bottom line is that we looked for the city with the lowest cost of living that we could be happy in. (Other runners-up, in case youre interested: Minneapolis, Portland (Oregon), and Austin.) Once we got to Madison, things changed. Money was not nearly such a big issue. We became more flexible, we have more freedom in our decision making. Im not going to tell you that Madison is a bastion of culture and innovation. Its not. But if you want to live in a bastion of culture and innovation, itll cost you. In personal flexibility. If you want personal stability, flexibility to find fulfilling work, and meaningful personal relationships, thats about as much as you can ask for in life. Thats a lot. All the other stuff is secondary. Great if you can get it, but not as important as this stuff. I am not positive, but I have a feeling that I do not need to live in a major city in order to get these three things. If you want to have the ability to change careers and quit jobs you dont like and try out new things, then you might need to make huge life decisions to accommodate that. I have friends in San Francisco who had only one kid so they could afford to keep their low-paying jobs. This is a big decision. I have friends who are moving from the center of Portland to the boondocks of Portland so they can afford for one of them to be a stay-at-home parent. Im not saying you have to live in rural Alabama or forgo having kids. Im saying you need to be an adult, and realize that adults make big decisions. Things dont just happen to you. You have power to decide what your life will be like. And if you set your life up so you cant change jobs, take personal responsibility for that. It didnt just happen to you. You are making decisions about that.

Were Never Experts In Our Own Hometowns - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Were Never Experts In Our Own Hometowns - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Its one of the most frustrating hurdles for anyone who wants to be a paid consultant or professional speaker: you cant get hired to speak at the event or consult for the company just a few miles from your house, even when you get paid a few thousand dollars to fly across the country and do the same thing. Ive had this problem for years. Ever since I started on the professional speaking circuit, Ive been frequently asked by people in my hometown to give a free talk, even though someone else has offered to cover my travel and pay my speaking fee. Ive actually had to cancel a free talk because someone else offered me a paid gig on the very same day. And yes, I do speak for free sometimes, when I believe in the mission of the group that asked, or when being in front of that particular audience is going to have a bigger payoff in the future. Of course, I have to juggle that decision with whether that free talk is going to cost me money, so there are times I just say no. The problem is, youre never going to be an expert in your own hometown. Ive known large companies in Indianapolis who will fly in a consultant from 2,000 miles away, when an equally-qualified consultant lives 20 miles away. Ive seen companies that gripe and complain that theyre not supported by local customers, and yet refuse to hire local vendors and contractors themselves. Even my old university would hire marketing consultants or industrial organizational psychologists from other universities, rather than asking for help from the nationally-recognized professors they had on faculty. Its one of the most maddening things about being a professional â€" youre a professional everywhere but where you live. You have three choices in the matter 1) Get a second mailing address and Skype number from another city. Tell everyone you moved three states away. This will make you instantly smarter in their eyes, and the local offers will come flooding in. (While Im mostly kidding, there is some validity to this. In the months before I moved, I couldnt get a single job interview in my about-to-be new hometown. So I bought a Skype number for that area code, and got three interviews in two weeks. Who knows? It may work in reverse.) 2) Start focusing on nearby cities. This is going to mean LinkedIn and Twitter networking, and day trips to attend different business networking meetings to build up your reputation in those other cities. Youre basically going to have to rebuild your reputation in that city as if you had moved there, but it can also make people in the city start recognizing you by name. 3) Suck it up and do the free talks when youre asked. Oh sure, ask for money whenever you can get it, but dont bank on it. There are two times Ive been paid to give a talk in my hometown: once when the organizer was actually from another state, and once when I pointed out to the organizer that they had just paid another speaker from out of town to speak to the same group. All the rest of the times, I just sold copies of my books. There are exceptions to the rule, and Im still stubbornly optimistic enough to hope Ill find them one day. And if I find that magic bullet to actually getting those paid talks, Ill let you know. But if youve learned any tricks, or coping mechanisms, leave a comment and let me know. Author: Erik Deckers  is the owner of  Professional Blog Service, and the co-author of  Branding Yourself: How to Use Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself  and  No Bullshit Social Media: The All-Business, No-Hype Guide to Social Media Marketing.

Executive Resume Branding Differentiate Your ROI Above-the-Fold - Executive Career Brandâ„¢

Executive Resume Branding Differentiate Your ROI Above-the-Fold

Market Yourself for a Marketing Career - CareerAlley

Market Yourself for a Marketing Career - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Marketing its the career that is calling to you and you are in the midst of job seeking. The competition out there is tough so you need to do what will make you stand out. But what exactly is that? Check out these tips to help you do the most important thing of all right now, market yourself. Before the Interview Showcase your top-notch communication skills. Communication is key to marketing, and now, more than ever, in a number of mediums. Not only do you need to be able to show your writing and speaking talents, you also need to show that you can convey your communication skills through PowerPoint, emails, social media and other electronic media. Have samples ready and be prepared to create something if an interviewer asks. Perfect your cover letter. The first step of showing your communication skills is to have a well-written cover letter, well, even beyond that. Besides being impeccably written, personalize it as much as possible for each company you are interviewing with. Let the others use the formula, generic cover letter while you show your prospective employers youve taken the time to learn about their company and show why it interests you, as well as how you can benefit them. Use social media. Social media is great for job searching so touch on as much of it as you can get the word out on Facebook, Tweet a link to your rsum, complete a thorough profile on LinkedIn and anywhere else you can get your profile seen. While you are looking on social media, get a little bit of yourself out there, too. You can showcase some great writing samples via a blog (make sure you put it on your rsum) or any other social media forum, and maybe youll catch someones eye and theyll be contacting you. Be smart and write about some current marketing trends, big businesses or latest news. Remember, you are marketing yourself right now. For the Interview Dress the part. If you arent sure what to wear, ask the person who you are in contact with. You dont need to sound like a teenage girl going to the movies, but just inquire about the dress code. You dont want to be dressed in a suit if they are all casual, or the other way around. Dressing the part speaks volumes as well as adding to your comfort during the interview. Ask questions, too. Make the interview a two way street. This will show you have initiative and are inquisitive, two great marketing qualities. Try to be relaxed while still being professional; be confident without being cocky. Questions will help you out here, by showing you care enough to ask and that you dont feel like you know it already, but want to. Say thank you. As you leave the interview, be sure to say thank you to everyone you meet, from the interviewer to the receptionist. You may be working here before long, and want to have a good first impression. Once the interview is over, take some time to follow up with a well-written, personable email. Marketing is a competitive field, growing all the time as companies get bigger and global products and services are more abundant. Show your prospective employers that you are who they want. The job can be yours! == Links to Marketing Jobs About the Author: Heather Legg writes in a variety of areas, from blogging to content writing, covering topics from social media to parenting to the job market. This is a Guest post. If you would like to submit a guest post to CareerAlley, please follow these guest post guidelines. Good luck in your search. Joey Trebif

Resume Writing Services Make Life Easier

Resume Writing Services Make Life EasierResume writing services can save you hours of time and make you more attractive for any job opening. People usually don't have the time to do these things themselves. So, they resort to hiring a writing service. With an excellent service, you can enjoy professional attention, keep your resume updated, and get the interview.Most good companies in San Antonio Texas are actually the same service companies that we see advertised on television. This is not a mistake. Their writers are just as capable as anyone else. Their writing service focuses on delivering quality work to their clients.The first thing that you need to know about companies that offer resume writing services in San Antonio Texas is that they will take care of the editing part. This means that your resume won't be automatically rushed. The service will ensure that your text is as well-edited as possible.A good resume writing service also takes care of all the grammar and spelling is sues on your resume. They will check for grammar errors. They will be able to make sure that you get your jobs from your resume. In fact, there's no substitute for good grammar and spelling when it comes to resumes.They will always come up with creative ways to express yourself and put your personality into your resume. Their writing service is very skilled and can easily catch the attention of a recruiter. In fact, you can even find a good quality resume writer in your area. If you don't like the way their resume is presented, you have the choice to just tell them how you would like your resume to be presented.They are qualified to write resumes for everyone because they are provided by clients. So, they are really interested in making your job search successful. They know how difficult it is to get your resume to a recruiter, especially since some people are not comfortable telling their own resume.And when you're done with the resume, they can even handle the job search! This mea ns that you have no excuses any longer. You have nothing to worry about, because the resume writing service will take care of it for you.