Write a Killer Resume and Cover Letter in the Cloud

From Wired How-To Wiki

Resumes and cover letters are many things, including flirtation with would-be bosses, conversation pieces for an interview, and not-so-secret tests of your ability to write well and spell correctly. But one thing they're not — barring ultra-creative jobs, or opportunities at Google or Facebook (where you must battle other geeks to the death with keyboards) — are formulas to be toyed with.

Good online career-building tools embrace time-tested job application structures in different ways. But the best make the business of summing up your professional existence (and impressing hiring managers) a whole heck of a lot easier.

When opportunity comes a-knockin', here are a few great cloud-based services to make it count.

This how-to was written by Dave Mosher, a freelance science journalist and Wired contributor. He has not only landed quite a few jobs but has also edited a shocking amount of cover letters and resumes for friends (who ultimately got what they wanted).

Contents 1 Resume 1.1 Resume Builder 1.2 LinkedIn 1.3 Razume 2 Cover Letter 2.1 CareerZone.org 2.2 Google Docs 3 General advice 3.1 Tips 3.2 Faux pas

Resume

Before drafting your cover letter or updating your social accounts that hiring managers might spy on, get your resume hammered out and polished.

We won't reinvent the wheel here, in terms of covering the art and craft of writing a resume — there are oodles of online resources for that. But below are some online tools to help you get started.

Resume Builder

The Flash interface for Resume Builder (by LiveCareer.com) is a little busy, but it's powerful.

You can work from a resume stored on your computer, or start fresh. Options allow you not only to tailor it based on your career level, field and sub-field, but also identify weaknesses in work history (e.g. "I have switched jobs frequently" or "I am changing from one career field to another") and soften or capitalize on them.

When you're done jumping through the hoops, you can download your resume from the cloud as a PDF, web page, Microsoft Word document or plain text.

LinkedIn

We all like to poke fun the overly corporate social network that is LinkedIn, but we all use it anyway — right?

Your profile is actually great resource in both creating a tidy summary of your professional existence and highlighting it online. As you fill out pieces of your professional accomplishments, work history and so on, you are drafting a resume.

While there's no Microsoft Word document export feature built-in, you have options. There's a "PDF" button below your profile, but LinkedInLabs has developed a stand-alone resume building tool called... Resume Builder (shockingly creative, I know).

The service prompts you to link it to your profile, then lets you play with the layout of your profile information and export it as a PDF.

While not as feature-rich as LiveCareer.com's resume builder — you have to edit your LinkedIn profile to edit your resume — it's also not as clunky, and a nice way to kill two birds with one stone.

Razume

Pronounced raz-oo-may, Razume is the social approach to applying for a job.

Out of the kindness of their hearts, users in the online community critique anonymized resumes and add notes and advice with highlighting and comments. A numbered scoring tool also allows resume pros to rate you on your sections, formatting, language and potential to be hired.

Nifty, and 100 percent free for job seekers.

Cover Letter

Cover letters are delicate balancing acts. In just a handful of short paragraphs, you have to exude personality, remain professional and tease hiring managers to interview you. Done right, a cover letter goes entices a company to salivate over your existence.

We've touched on cover-letter writing here before, but ultimately there are few good online tools that exist to craft cover letters. It's an old-school art form that entails reading a lot of samples, overhauling templates and reviewing articles on the subject.

That's not to say, however, that the web can't help.

CareerZone.org

This web page looks like a GeoCities page straight from the '90s, but some tools never go out of style.

If you have no idea where to start with a cover letter, start with CareerZone.org. Fill in the empty boxes and stick to the directions, then export your work as an HTML page, PDF or Microsoft Word document when you're satisfied.

We'd recommend the Word option, though, because once you have your cover letter you'll want to revise and polish it.

Google Docs

Asking someone to review your resume is a big favor, so make it easier for them: Invite them into a Google Doc.

Not only does this spare them the frustration of saving a file somewhere, edit it and email it back to you, but also opens up the possibility for collaborative editing.

A chat sidebar and as-it-happens text changes can show you how, where and why someone makes the changes they are making in real time. It's a move that pays dividends if you're not yet comfortable with approaching cover letters, and any good friend should be open to the process. (Think of the teach-a-man-to-fish proverb.)

General advice

When pulling your application packet together, keep the following points in mind:

Tips

• The most crucial stage of resume- and cover letter-writing? Revising, followed closely by sleeping on it. When returning to a draft after a few hours, your brain can catch all of the garbage it thought was gold before.
• Brainstorm accomplishments by working backwards through career history. Try to get five per job, then weed out the least relevant ones (per the position you're applying for).
• If you're smart, you've kept a running list of your accomplishments. If you're not smart, get smart and start doing this. (Google Docs makes an easy-to-access-from-anywhere option.)
• Organize each section chronologically, starting with the newest information first.
• Start every bullet point in your resume with an action word and keep the variability high but not over-reaching. (E.g. Built, Created, Organized, Led, Reviewed, Assembled, etc.)
• Try to keep each bullet point to one line. This saves precious real estate for impressing goodies.
• In your cover letter, avoid passive sentences (i.e. has been, to be, etc.). Maintain a clear, direct and confident voice.
• Good, clean design matters. It cuts back distractions and makes for easier reading. So keep your bullet points lined up, and make sure the spacing is consistent and the same font is used in both your resume and cover letter.
• Keep the cover letter to one page unless asked to do otherwise.
• Keep the resume to one page unless asked to do otherwise. If references are requested, it's ok to put these on a second page.
• No matter how you attack writing the resume, read, reread and read again the job posting. It's typically a painstakingly crafted document and has most of the clues as what hiring managers are after.
• It's also essential to learn everything you possibly can about the new job and the company you'd be working for. This will also help you score points in the interview when the interviewer asks questions like, "Why do you want to work for this company?"
• It helps to have a website to refer to in your resume and/or cover letter, especially if a portfolio might be an important part of an application (even if the job posting doesn't ask for one). Having a site can highlight how organized and prepared you are, plus emphasize your seriousness about the job.
• If emailing your application, keep it together in one file, just as you'd mail everything envelope in one envelope. Compile your application into one PDF and give it a memorable filename — your name (e.g. "Jane-Doe-application.pdf") — so it doesn't get lost in the digital shuffle.

Faux pas

• Going longer than a page each for the resume and cover letter is a recipe for losing the hiring manager's attention. Be succinct — you only get one shot.
• Never insert scents, weird colors (either paper or text), glitter, moon dust, nanobots, etc. in your application packet. Be like Teddy: Speak softly and carry a big stick.
• Unless they ask for photographs (e.g. for a photography job, acting job, etc.), do not insert an image of any kind into your application packet. Pictures distract from your qualifications and portraits make you appear vain, or just plain weird.
• The last thing any employer wants to see, no matter how lowly or lavish the job, is any evidence of carelessness. Use spell-check and have several trustworthy people proof your near-final documents.
• Don't have Bob the jobless burn-out crashing on your couch review your application. Track down a good friend with a job to be honest about your application's goofs.
• If you don't read every bit of text aloud, chances are you'll miss some glaring errors or sloppy constructions.
• Weird contact information is, well... weird. If the last time you created an email address was in high school, get a grown-up address without a bunch of numbers, strange words and the like.
• Providing salary requirements up-front — even if requested — is a great way to get screened out. Delay answering this question as long as possible. Use phrases such as, "Salary requirement: Flexible" or "I'd be happy to discuss salary requirements in an interview" in your resume or cover letter. Research both what you're worth and tactics to delay answering this question. That way, hiring managers must go for a higher number, as they won't want to risk your loss of interest in the job.
• Don't be late! Get your application packet in early and follow up every few days with a phone call, which shows more prowess than an email. (Exception: Respect phrases like "No phone calls," if present in the job posting.)

This page was last modified 15:12, 17 April 2012 by howto_admin.