Interview Preparation: Dress for Success Part 4

How to Dress for Success

Dressing for success requires understanding why your appearance matters and then using that information to best market yourself as a candidate.  As part 4 of our 4 part guide we will publish how to be prepared for that important interview.


Grooming

    * Make sure your general appearance is neat and clean.
    * Make sure your hair is neatly combed and you have shaved.
    * If you have a beard, make sure it is well kept.
    * If you wear makeup, keep it conservative.
    * Make sure you brush your teeth. The easiest way to cut an interview short is bad breath. Make sure an interviewer cannot smell your last meal or your last cigarette.
    * No alcohol. Without a doubt, you will be eliminated if interviewer smells alcohol on your breath.
    * Avoid excessive perfume, cologne or shaving lotion or strong body odor.
    * Keep any jewelry modest. Dangling sparkly earrings or a bulbous, shiny watch will distract the interviewer from what you are saying.


Accessories

    * Be careful what you bring to an interview. A disorganized bag is the sign of a disorganized person. If you bring a bag or briefcase:
    * Make sure it is modestly sized and easily tucked away so you can focus on the interview.
    * Keep the contents simple: 2 Pens, a clean writing pad, trade periodical, extra copies of your résumé and references and NOTHING ELSE visible to the interviewer.
    * If you are bringing an overnight bag, overcoat or umbrella, store it in the reception area or an outer office. Perhaps, a receptionist will help guide you to a closet.



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Interview Preparation: Dress for Success Part 3

How to Dress for Success

Dressing for success requires understanding why your appearance matters and then using that information to best market yourself as a candidate.  As part 3 of our 4 part guide we will publish how to be prepared for that important interview.


How do I determine what is appropriate to wear?

If you have no idea what to wear to a particular interview, ask your friends or your employment placement counselor. If you are still unsure, do some pre-interview reconnoitering. Visit the company prior to your interview to see what the employees walking into the building are wearing. (This will also ensure that you know where the company is located and how long it will take you to get there). If all else fails, Ask a Global Expert.


What else matters concerning my appearance?

Dressing for success starts the morning of your interview and entails much more than donning a nice suit. Proper grooming and accessories are equally important for success.


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Interview Preparation: Dress For Success Part 2

How to Dress for Success

Dressing for success requires understanding why your appearance matters and then using that information to best market yourself as a candidate.  As part 2 of our 4 part guide we will publish how to be prepared for that important interview.

What should I wear to an interview?

Dress for the job you want and not the job you have. On one hand, do not dress too casually, and on the other, do not dress too formally for the interview. Also, be sure not to wear uncomfortable clothes or shoes, since discomfort often makes a person seem ill-at-ease.


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Interview Preparation: How to Dress for Success Part 1

How to Dress for Success

Dressing for success requires understanding why your appearance matters and then using that information to best market yourself as a candidate.  As part 1 of our 4 part guide we will publish how to be prepared for that important interview.

Why should it matter what I wear?

A common question asked by job candidates is: “My résumé and Gild Certifications speak for themselves, I am an engineer, not a fashion model – why does it matter what I wear to an interview?”

Like it or not, empirical studies show that interviewers make decisions about candidates quickly. While your Gild Certifications help interviewers to understand your job performance potential, the first subjective impression you make in-person often begins with how you look.

Professional and fastidious self-presentation matters because it will position you as a candidate that is:

    * Respectful of the interviewer
    * Interested in the job
    * Attentive to detail
    * Confident
    * Presentable to clients
    * Professional in demeanor and approach
    * Possessing high self-esteem




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Why the Cover Letter Matters Part 2

Why the Cover Letter Matters

The cover letter is your electronic look in the eye and handshake announcing you to a prospective employer, marketing you as the best candidate for the job.

Your cover letter must get the recruiter or hiring manager to be interested enough in you to read your résumé. Recruiters look over hundreds of cover letters each and this is no easy task. Now, let’s review the steps of writing a cover letter that will help you stand out from the crowd.

How to Write the Best Traditional Cover Letter

FORMAT

When writing a conventional cover letter that you plan to mail to a company, your cover letter should follow basic business letter writing conventions. For professional letters we recommend using 11- or 12-point type set in a legible, professional-looking font such as Times New Roman.

YOUR ADDRESS

Put your current contact information at the top of the letter, including your:

    * Full name
    * Mailing address
    * Telephone number – put a number that you control, and it is best to include a number that accepts voicemail that only you check. If you don’t have a telephone where you can consistently get messages, do not put your telephone number down. For example, if your forgetful 7 year-old sister is in charge of taking down all messages at your home – do not include a phone number.
    * Email address – if your email address is inappropriate (for example: iamnotfunny@yahoo.com) get a new email address that you can use for professional purposes.




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Why the Cover Letter Matters Part 1

Why the Cover Letter Matters

The cover letter is your electronic look in the eye and handshake announcing you to a prospective employer, marketing you as the best candidate for the job.

Your cover letter must get the recruiter or hiring manager to be interested enough in you to read your résumé. Recruiters look over hundreds of cover letters each and this is no easy task. Now, let’s review the steps of writing a cover letter that will help you stand out from the crowd.

How To Prepare to Write the Best Conventional Cover Letter

RESEARCH. RESEARCH. RESEARCH.

Company Needs

Research the company you are applying to by going to their website, looking at their profile or conducting a web search on the company name to understand exactly what the company is looking for.

Company Contacts

By addressing your cover letter to the specific decision-maker, it shows your attention to detail and interest in the position since you have taken the time to find out who’s hiring for the job opportunity. This means you should find out the contact information for the employer by:

    * Searching on the Internet for “XYZ High-Tech Corporation” and “HR manager”
    * Calling the company’s main telephone line and asking for the name of the person who is hiring for the position that interests you
    * Asking any friends who work for the company whom you should contact concerning the position

If you cannot find the appropriate contact, you should still send the cover letter to “Dear Hiring Manager.” However, this generic approach should be taken only as a last resort.

START AFRESH

A good cover letter will require considerable time and effort to create and it must be tailored to the specific company and job opportunity. Remember, any job opening you find represents, in business terms, either a problem a company needs to solve or an opportunity they want to seize. Your cover letter must address why you are the person who will solve this problem and/or address this opportunity.



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How to Write Great Résumés Part 3

As a general rule, include your work experience of the last 10 years and avoid work period gaps whenever possible. Experience older than 10 years is usually too remote and outdated—especially given how fast and relentlessly IT and relevant skill sets constantly evolve.

Include any work experience you have had, whether you were paid for it or not. If you completed the work as an intern, volunteer, or teacher’s assistant, include that information if it is relevant to the job for which you are applying. To properly list your experience, you should include three components, your employer, your position, and the time period during which you held that position. For example:

IBM, Database Administrator, June 2001 – present

Database Administrator, IBM, June 2001 – present

If your job title was significantly more impressive than the employer’s name in the industry, list your title ahead of your employer’s name. If your company is as impressive as—or more impressive than—your title, lead with the company name.

If you held different positions within the same company, use the company as a heading and list your positions below. For example:

IBMSenior Database Administrator, June 1999-present
Database Administrator, June 1998-June 1999
Standing Out From the Crowd: Positioning Your Experience

As much as any other step in your job search, positioning is incredibly important when drafting and perfecting your résumé. As you learned in How to Stand Out From the Crowd, positioning yourself is a five-step process.

   1. Take the research you have done about the company for whom you’d like to work and use it to determine what the company needs from you.
   2. Take the research and contemplation you have done about yourself and identify the skills that you have that the company needs.
   3. By understanding both the company’s needs and the skills and traits you can offer, you can compare the two and determine how you, as a potential employee, can most help the company.
   4. Explain and demonstrate to the company’s representatives how your skills will benefit them by citing specific examples of how you’ve applied your skills in the past.
   5. Lastly, be sure to show the company how your soft-skills complement and compound your technical skills, making you an even more valuable potential employee.

PAR

A widely used and very good technique for positioning your skills and experience within a résumé is commonly referred to as PAR (Problem, Action and Results). Use the PAR approach when citing past work experiences and accomplishments to explain your value to your potential new employer. PAR statements, in essence, answer the following questions in the following order:

   1. Problem – What problem did I solve for my employer?
   2. Action – What action did I take to solve the problem for my employer?
   3. Results – What were the beneficial results of my action?

Consider using the PAR structure when detailing your prior employment experience. For example, a PAR statement on your résumé would read:

Reduced cost of purchased network systems by over $35,000 by finding and negotiating with alternative suppliers.

Implemented standardized configuration control standard to streamline helpdesk operation and increase calls handled per hour by over 23%.


RECOGNITION AND AWARDS

Make sure your résumé highlights outstanding recognition you have received for past accomplishments. Such recognition and awards might include:

    * GILD Certifications
    * Customer recognition for an achievement
    * Co-worker recognition for an achievement
    * Manager recognition for an achievement
    * A promotion
    * A company award
    * A productivity bonus
    * Being selected to assume greater, special professional responsibilities



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How to Stand Out in a Phone Interview

More employers are using phone interviews as screening mechanisms to narrow down their applicant pool. These calls can range from short and perfunctory to long and in-depth, but either way, it's crucial to be prepared for them.

Here are 10 tips to help you become a phone interview ninja:

1. Ask ahead of time how much time to allot for the call.This can tell you what type of interview to expect. If you're told it'll take 10 to 15 minutes, it's just going to be a simple screening to check your basic match-up with the job. But if you're told to set aside 45 minutes or an hour, expect a much more thorough call where you might be asked about past accomplishments and where you might face behavioral interview questions.

2. Make sure you have somewhere quiet to talk where you won't be interrupted. This sounds obvious, but some candidates on phone interviews get interrupted by kids, barking dogs, coworkers at their current jobs, or other calls coming in. Not only does this come across as unprofessional and as if you're not taking the opportunity seriously, but it also will harm your ability to focus.

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How to Write Great Resumes Part 2

How to Build an IT Résumé

Remember the hard work you put in at school studying, at work building a solid reputation and a valuable set of skills? If you want it to pay dividends and get you the right job, you need to convincingly tell your story in an attention-grabbing résumé.

RÉSUMÉ COMPONENTS

A standard IT résumé will consist of the following sections:

• Header
• Objective statement or summary of qualifications
• Education
• Certification
• Technical Skills
• Experience

The Header

Your résumé header should include:

• Your name in bold type at least 2 points larger than type througout the rest of the document
• Your mailing address including city, province/state and postal code
• Telephone number – use a number that is used and “controlled” by you, exclusively, and that accepts voicemail that only you check. If you do not have a telephone where people can leave you messages which you can consistently retrieve, do include your telephone number. For example, if your forgetful 7-year-old sister is in charge of taking down all messages at your home – do not include that number. If you include a phone number, be sure to check your voicemail frequently. We recommend using a single telephone number so any and all voicemail messages are consolidated in a single location.
• Email address – if your email address is silly, inappropriate or unprofessional (for example iamnotfunny@yahoo.com) get a new email address that you can use for professional purposes. An address based on a combination of your first and last name, possibly using punctuation such as underscores or hyphens to divide them, will seem both professional and customized to your identity.

Objective/Summary of Qualifications

Your résumé’s Objective Statement will be one of the first things an employer reads. Therefore, it presents your first and best chance to grab their attention, announcing to them that you are the best candidate for the job and that you bring solutions to current company challenges.
Do not fall into the traditional trap of telling the HR Recruiter that you would like:

“To obtain a position as a systems administrator that utilizes my experience and knowledge of administering optimized secure LANs.”

Instead use this objective statement to market yourself and convey a powerful message about what you offer, while stating the position for which you are applying. To write a powerful objective statement:

• Avoid clichés such as “I am a hard worker.”
• Be aggressive and creative, but do not lie. You must be honest and not overstate your abilities. If you do, you could end up in the wrong role and seriously damage your credibility. Portray your knowledge and abilities accurately—but confidently.
• Include personal characteristics using key words that convey your soft-skills and personality traits, such as, for example: approachable, self-motivated, team player, team leader, personable, outgoing, leader, effective communicator, customer service skills, receptive, strong soft skills, motivator, positive influence, sales and marketing, professional. There are many, many more similarly powerful descriptors you can and should use. Find the ones that best encompass your greatest strengths.
• Keep your objective short and concise.
• If possible, highlight your key skills and traits identical to those listed in the company’s job description. Try, however, to rephrase and use enough synonyms to suggest you are not simply mimicking their statement of job requirements.
• Use adjectives, terminology and phrases important to IT employers.
• Do not try to be modest—writing your résumé is a rare chance to sing your own praises without seeming conceited.
• Describe your relevant past experiences—work, volunteer, and extracurricular—in terms of duration, scope, responsibilities, accomplishments, and recognition.
• Emphasize your soft-skills—especially if your professional work experience is somewhat thin.

Experienced candidates often find that an objective statement no longer than five or so lines works best. In it, one should attempt to accomplish many or all of the following:

• Summarize your experience most closely related related to your job objective.
• Demonstrate your understanding of the key components of the position – i.e. customer service, vendor management or team leadership.
• Detail your skills which will enable you to effectively do the job – i.e. attention to detail, creative thinking, problem solving, etc.
• Provide any educational background that complements your relevant professional experience.
• Touch upon personal characteristics that contribute to making you a good choice for the position, i.e. self-motivated, creative, dedicated, proactive, works under pressure, etc.

Your objective statement can be formatted as either a paragraph or a list.
Because of the high volume of résumés that result from most every job posting, it is always a good idea to let the HR Recruiter know explicitly which open position for which you are applying. You can highlight the position title in the first instance where it appears in your objective statement by using a bold face font. For a great example, please refer to the Sample Experienced Résumé.

Education

When detailing your education, the key elements are: your college or university name, the official title of the degree you earned, your graduation year and, if it is impressive, your grade point average (GPA).

COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY

Prestigious College

If you attended a prestigious college, list the name of the college first, then the degree, then the graduation year, then your GPA.

Cornell University, B.S. Computer Science, 2003	3.66/4.00 GPA

Normal or Non-Prestigious College

If you did not happen to attend a prestigious school, do not worry, list your degree, then the name of the school, then the graduation year, then your GPA. For example:

B.S. Computer Science, University of Phoenix, 2002

3.66 GPA

Degree

Typically include your degree and any relevant concentration. List any graduate degrees prior to any undergraduate degree.
If you attended college, but did not receive a degree from that school, note your studies relevant to the position for which you’re applying. For example:

Web Design and Programming, Cornell University 1999-2000

GPA

Whether to include your GPA on your résumé depends on how high/impressive it is and what in what country you hoping to work. In the U.S. you will want to include your GPA if it was 3.5 or above. In India, include your GPA if it is 7 or above. If you are unsure, ask a college placement officer. If you graduated more than 3 years ago, you may omit your GPA unless it was very impressive—the more time that has passed and the more professional work experience you have acquired, the less relevant your GPA will become.

Certifications

Certifications should be listed separately within the educational experience section of your résumé.  Remember, when listing certifications use the correct abbreviations. Many résumé-scanning programs will only register strictly correct abbreviations. If you want or need to fill space, feel free to write out the certification, completely and unabbreviated, followed by the correct abbreviation in parentheses.

Additional Course and Training

This is a good area of the résumé to point out your skills in other areas that make you more attractive as a candidate and help you stand out from the crowd.

Certifications:
CompTIA A+ Certification, Microsoft MCSE
Additional Courses and Training:
Exchange 2000 Server: Server Administration

Skills

After the summary section, the most relevant and important section of your résumé from the perspective of an HR Recruiter is the skills section. This should be incredibly detailed, concise and well organized.
Divide the section into subcategories so the reader can quickly scan through your knowledge of programs and applications. Possible categories include: hardware, software, operating systems, networking, office productivity, programming/languages, web applications and database applications. You should only list programs/applications that you could confidently discuss in an interview. Correctly formatted, a skills section would resemble the following:

Programming:	HTML, Visual Basic 5, C++, Java, Java Script, ASP
Networking:	Windows 2000/NT, Linux, FTP
Applications:	SQL Server 7.0, Goldmine 4.0, Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat Writer, Corel WordPerfect
Design:	Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft FrontPage.

How to Write Great Resumes Part 1

Your résumé is one of the best tools to assist you in getting the interviews that can lead to your best career opportunities. In this section, you will learn what it will take for you to create the best possible résumé to highlight and convey what you offer potential employers.

Research, Research, Research!

By this stage in your job search, you have no doubt noticed a pattern to the steps necessary to achieving success. Like every other major endeavor you will undertake as you pursue a great job with a great company, the creation and refinement of your résumé begins with crucial preparation in the form of research.

RESEARCH COMPANIES

To ensure that your résumé will set you apart from other candidates, you will need to tailor it to the specific company for whom you’d like to work. To do this, must be very familiar with each company you are applying to and understand for what they are looking.
Allow yourself ample time for this stage of the process—it can be time-intensive. The more time and effort you expend at the beginning of your job search, the more likely you will be to get an interview and ultimately, the more successful you will be in winning—then working in—your new position. By the time you’re hired, you will be amazed by how much you know about your industry and the companies driving it. In the long run, this knowledge will contribute to your professional growth. Here are some tips from our experts on how to research companies:

RESEARCH THE COMPANY

Research your selected potential employers and their industries until you can answer the following questions for each company with confidence and certainty:

• What does the company do, make or offer the world?
• Who is the typical customer of this company?
• Who are the three leading companies in this company’s industry?
• What are the similarities and differences between this company and its competitors?
• How does the company match up against its competitors?
• What key strategic and operational issues does the company face?
• What does this company need to do to address those key issues?
• Is this company growing or shrinking, focusing or diversifying?
• How many employees does it have?
• How many key locations/offices/facilities does it have?
• Who are its major partners?
• What differentiates this company from others?
• Who is the management of this company?
• Is management close to retiring?
• What is the company’s reputation?
• What kind of management structure does the company have?
• What sorts of employees does it hire?
• What is its corporate culture like?
• What are its greatest accomplishments?
• What are its greatest failures?
• What is its financial condition?
• What new things are the company pursuing? New products? New Services?

RESEARCH THE POSITION

• Why did the person who previously held the position leave? Where did they go?
• What is the detailed job description?
• To whom does the position report?
• What is important to know about the position?
• What information should you bring to your interview for this position?

Resources for Researching Companies and Positions

There is a wealth of information out there that will allow you to research companies and gather the information you need to succeed. To get started:

COMPANY RESEARCH RESOURCES

• Examine the company’s profile.
• Look at trade journals that mention the company.
• Review the company’s website(s) – especially employee message boards.
• Browse relevant trade group sites.
• Talk with people you know who work, or have worked, at the company.
• Read any business articles you can find written about the company.
• If it’s a publicly traded company, examine its investor information. An annual report, for instance, will provide you with a wealth of information.
• Go to job fairs to learn about the company.
• Attend any expos, conferences, training sessions, seminars and trade briefings that the company may conduct.
• Go to your university career center and read as much as you can about the company.
• Ask your professors and your placement officers, and other people you respect, about companies.

POSITION RESEARCH

Typically, there is not as much information available on specific job positions as on entire companies. To uncover the relevant information, you just may need to get creative. Some good ways to start are to:

• Call the company and ask.
• Ask your third-party recruiter, if you are working with one, get you the information.
• Look at the company’s employee message board.
• Have a friend or acquaintance who works at the company supply the information to you.
• Review the job description on the Internet.

Understanding You Have Skills IT Employers Need

Before even considering approaching potential employers, you must first strive to understand your skills. Set aside some time—approximately two or three hours—to sit down and simply consider yourself. to begin, ask yourself the following questions and record your responses.

WHAT SKILLS AND OPERATIONAL ABILITIES DO I HAVE?

Technical Skills

Assess all of your technical skills including hardware, operating systems, network operating systems, networking, web development, web design, development, database development, database administration, telecom, applications, engineering, systems analysis, quality assurance, helpdesk and any other relevant technical skills.

Management Skills

Assess all of your management skills.

“Soft Skills”

Soft skills consist of your communication and other non-technical skills, including: your ability to communicate with people such as other members of your team, customers and management. These are skills that can set you apart from the crowd. Examples of soft skills are:

Written Communication skills

Your ability to clearly communicate your thoughts in written documents such as an email, letter, project proposal, progress report or application documentation.

Verbal Communication skills

Your ability to clearly communicate thoughts in conversations with people such as your supervisor, a customer or team member, and to groups of people.

Project management skills

Your ability to define, plan, organize, control and execute a range of complex interrelated tasks.

Presentation skills

Your ability to communicate a concept, speech or proposal clearly and succinctly to an audience.

Sales skills

Your ability to sell and convince others, whether it concerns an idea you have, your suitability for your next position, pitching an internal project, or selling to a client.

Meeting skills

Your ability to manage and facilitate orderly and efficient group interactions.

Leadership skills

Your ability to drive a project and team forward, by reaching consensus up and down the corporate hierarchy, directing the project managers, and properly allocating resources.

Problem solving skills

Your ability to efficiently and powerfully analyze and resolve problems and challenges.

Customer service skills

Your ability to meet the needs of customers in a way that creates or increases their loyalty to your company.

Self-direction skills

Your ability to take responsibility for a task and accomplish it in an efficient and logical way, requiring minimal leadership from your superiors.

Teamwork skills

Your ability to build a team and perform effectively as a team player while completing tasks and projects.

Management

Your ability to manage a group and mentor others.

Foreign Language

Your ability to speak or write in other languages is very valuable in the increasing global field of IT.

Vendor Management skills

Your ability to deal with and handle vendors from a cost and direction perspective.

Marketing skills

Your ability to think creatively about how to position products

Product Development skills

Your ability to direct the creation of new products and services, and to develop new applications for existing ones.

Financial/Business Modeling skills

Your ability to look at a business as a whole from a financial and a business perspective and to use your understanding to predict the impact of different alternative strategies and tactics.

WHAT ARE ALL THE JOBS I HAVE HAD AND WHAT IS MY RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE?

The exercise requires you to write a list of every position you have held at every company at which you’ve worked, including the title and dates of each. Next, summarize your primary responsibilities and accomplishments for each position.
If you cannot remember the details of your work history, conduct some research; look at old pay records, old job offer letters, even call former employers’ human resources offices.
Finally, review this newly minted Work History document with the stated requirements of the job position(s) for which you will applying. Look at each past job position, making notes on or highlighting the skills and requirements of each which best show you would be an excellent hire for the new position(s) which you will soon be pursuing.

Standing Out From the Crowd

Just like writing great code, writing a great résumé is as much an art as it is a science. A great IT résumé needs to do four things:

1. It needs to get you noticed by the right company with the right opportunity for you.
2. It needs to properly market you to that company.
3. It needs to clear the screening process of the HR Recruiter, so you can receive the serious and deliberative consideration of the Hiring Manager.
4. It needs to help you to get you an interview.

GETTING NOTICED

To get noticed and standout from the crowd, you need to follow two simple rules when preparing your résumé:

• Believe in yourself and your abilities. Be confident! You will never get noticed unless you recognize your confidence, competitive nature and self-assuredness and let it show in the way you discuss youself, your skills, and your experience in writing. Having prepared your Skills and Experience Work History notes, you should be confident that you have skills and experience any company would be lucky to get.
• Work to shape and manage your public image. Temporarily suppress your sense of modesty. Do not undersell yourself. Do not be ashamed or nervous about exhibiting a little pride. This can be counter-instinctual, but you can learn how to self-market.

It is important to remember and follow these two rules as you prepare your résumé.

Sending A Thank You Note After The Interview

Sending a thank you note, either email or letter, after the interview can be the key to landing the job.  The thank you note allows you to better enhance your interactions you had with the interviewer and also displays your professionalism and interest in the job.

The thank you note is only effective if it is delivered in time to impact the hiring managers decision.  For that reason, the interviewer(s) must receive your thank you note within 24 hours after the job interview.

The most effective method is sending a thank you note via email.  Usually before you begin an interview, you will get a copy of the interview’s busniess card, and his or her email address will most likely be on the card.  Do not send the thank you note as an attachment, instead, write the thank you note in the body of the email.  Most people avoid opening attachments, so your thank you note may not get read.

An example of a sample Thank You Email

If you don’t readily have access to a computer, you can hand write a letter and drop it off in person.  Be sure to put your letter in an envelop and address it to the interviewer(s).  You will most likely end up giving the letter to the receptionist, so be polite and ask if he or she can pass the letter along in a timely manner.

An example of a sample Thank You Letter

How to Write Great Cover Letters

Why the Cover Letter Matters
The cover letter is your electronic look in the eye and handshake announcing you to a prospective employer, marketing you as the best candidate for the job. Your cover letter must get the recruiter or hiring manager to be interested enough in you to read your résumé. Recruiters look over hundreds of cover letters each and this is no easy task. Now, let’s review the steps of writing a cover letter that will help you stand out from the crowd.

How To Prepare to Write the Best Conventional Cover Letter

Research. Research. Research.

Company Needs

Research the company you are applying to by going to their website, looking at their profile or conducting a web search on the company name to understand exactly what the company is looking for.

Company Contacts

By addressing your cover letter to the specific decision-maker, it shows your attention to detail and interest in the position since you have taken the time to find out who’s hiring for the job opportunity. This means you should find out the contact information for the employer by:

• Searching on the Internet for “XYZ High-Tech Corporation” and “HR manager”
• Calling the company’s main telephone line and asking for the name of the person who is hiring for the position that interests you
• Asking any friends who work for the company whom you should contact concerning the position

If you cannot find the appropriate contact, you should still send the cover letter to “Dear Hiring Manager.” However, this generic approach should be taken only as a last resort.

Start Afresh

A good cover letter will require considerable time and effort to create and it must be tailored to the specific company and job opportunity. Remember, any job opening you find represents, in business terms, either a problem a company needs to solve or an opportunity they want to seize. Your cover letter must address why you are the person who will solve this problem and/or address this opportunity.

How to Write the Best Traditional Cover Letter

Format

When writing a conventional cover letter that you plan to mail to a company, your cover letter should follow basic business letter writing conventions. For professional letters we recommend using 11- or 12-point type set in a legible, professional-looking font such as Times New Roman.

Your Address

Put your current contact information at the top of the letter, including your:

• Full name
• Mailing address
• Telephone number – put a number that you control, and it is best to include a number that accepts voicemail that only you check. If you don’t have a telephone where you can consistently get messages, do not put your telephone number down. For example, if your forgetful 7 year-old sister is in charge of taking down all messages at your home – do not include a phone number.
• Email address – if your email address is inappropriate (for example: iamnotfunny@yahoo.com) get a new email address that you can use for professional purposes.

Date

Include the date in the cover letter formatted according to standard business letter writing conventions.

Company Address

Include, in the following order:

• Name of Hiring Manager or other appropriate contact person
• Title of Hiring Manager or other appropriate contact person
• Company address

Subject Line

Insert the position for which you are applying in the subject line. For example:

Re: System Architect Position at ABC Technology Corporation.

Greeting and Salutation

A professional IT cover letter should begin with “Dear Mr./Ms./Mrs. ________:” Treat this person with respect and do not address the letter using someone’s first name. If you do not know the appropriate person’s name start the letter with “Dear Hiring Manager” or “Dear Human Resources Professional.”

Introductory Paragraph – Your Introduction

The first paragraph is where you create a strong impression of yourself and begin your campaign of marketing yourself and selling your services.

Introduction

Introduce yourself.

Self Marketing

Briefly list your qualifications – including your years of experience, last relevant job title, degree.

The Problem You are Solving

State your interest in the position and company for which you are applying.

For example, a strong opening paragraph for an experienced Systems Administrator could look something like this:

As a successful Systems Administrator with four years of experience, I am confident that I would excel as a Systems Administrator for ABC Technology Corporation. My background in networking, project management and technical support positions me to immediately make numerous contributions to your company’s success.

Body Paragraph: Build Your Case

Whether you realize it or not, in your introduction, you have just set the stage for the problem you can solve and/or the opportunity you can address. It is now up to you to expand on your key strengths and provide details that support your assertion that you are the best candidate for the job.

Explain how your skills and achievements will contribute to the success of the prospective employer. Even in IT, it is not just about your knowledge of technology. It is crucial to incorporate what HR professionals term your “soft skills,” such as communication, interpersonal, and presentation skills. An IT cover letter that helps you stand out from the crowd, explains how you have used both technical and soft skills to affect positive change.

An example of a paragraph that got an IT professional a systems administrator position provides:

“I have a proven track record of managing systems for diverse employers, including multinational corporations and emerging companies. As a Systems Administrator for XYZ Technology Corporation, I led the migration from Windows 97 to Windows XP for 73 desktops. By working closely with staff and clearly communicating project goals and work plans, I completed the migration 21 days ahead of schedule. Additionally, my expertise in networking and mentoring ability allowed me to train departments to become highly cross functional, resulting in greater IT efficiency for my employers. Based on my understanding of ABC Technology Corporation’s leading work in database design, I am now interested in making similar contributions to benefit ABC Technology Corporation.”

Closing Paragraph: Present a Proactive Plan

After supporting your strengths and explaining how you can make a positive contribution to a prospective employer, complete the IT cover letter by:

• Emphasizing your interest in the position and the company
• Discussing how you will follow-up on your application

This follow-through will set you apart from the competition and show you as a proactive prospective employee. An example of a closing paragraph that could help get a member of the PAC Community a job includes:

“The accompanying résumé provides an overview of my skills and accomplishments. I am very interested in learning more about the Systems Administrator position at ABC Technology Corporation. I believe a face-to-face meeting would be mutually beneficial. I will follow up with you on 20 September 2006 to inquire about scheduling a meeting at your convenience.”

Closures

Avoid affectionate closures like “Regards” and “Best.” These are too informal for an IT cover letter. Use “Sincerely” or “Respectfully”. For written letters, sign your name above your typed name.