When it comes to cover letters and resumes, one size does not fit all
By Jim Wiederhold
Last month, I discussed the importance of increasing your activity and setting reasonable stretch goals to get the results you want in your career transition journey. One of the essential activities of someone who is looking for the next step in their career is submitting resumes and cover letters to a recruiter or an employer for a specific opportunity—what I like to call “getting paper out.”
You cannot control the job market and make positions materialize out of thin air, but when possible, I often recommend setting a goal of getting five pieces of paper out per week. This requires you to stay accountable and keep tabs on opportunities through your network, advertisements, recruiters, or LinkedIn.
To apply or not to apply.
How can you know if an opportunity is worth applying for and find that balance between applying for a good number of positions but also high-quality positions? First, you need to draft your Top 12. This is a list of priorities you have for your next opportunity, and could include things like location, work-life balance, job responsibilities, etc. Once you have your Top 12, you can use them as a filter to decide when to throw your hat in the ring.
I recommend starting by applying for positions that meet at least 40% of your Top 12 criteria. If you find that is creating more activity than you can reasonably keep up with, then raise that percentage to 50%. You have to balance quality and quantity.
Additionally, as you filter these positions through your Top 12, make decisions based on facts from the position description and other sources, not assumptions about the job or the company. This helps you to take what can be an emotional decision and make it a logical one.
Your resume indicates where you want to go.
Good companies with fulfilling jobs and a great work environment are flooded with applications when they have open positions. For applicants who are looking for the next step in their career, it is essential to differentiate yourself from the crowd. An often-overlooked way of doing that is by fine-tuning your resume and cover letter for each opportunity.
