1. Cover Letters & Resumes Your Professional Story

2. 2 Relevant in Today’s Digital World? Position Industry Purpose

3. 3 Cover Letter: What It Says About YOU How much time (or little) you invest in applying for the role Role AND Company Tailored or stock letter Personality or lack thereof Persuasive compelling business case on why the company should choose YOU

4. 4 Before You Begin… Define your Purpose Provide an engaging personal introduction; don’t leave the hiring manager guessing on the unique qualifications you offer RESEARCH Use relevant key words you learned about the company in your cover letter Avoid ‘to whom it may concern’ Organize your thoughts, don’t jump from one topic to the next without correlation Identify your call to action

5. 5 Cover Letter Keep it short Elevator pitch on why you’re the right choice Be confident but not cocky or misleading Avoid the use of ‘I’ over and over; address needs of company Tailor to position, don’t be generic! Know someone in the organization? Pick their brain With permission, use name in cover letter Tell a story; infuse personality into that story Refrain from repeating your resume Get critiqued Call to Action!

6. 6 Doug Lee; Executive Recruiter/Randstad Professionals

7. 7 Applying for sales position Confidence; value Lacks contact info (see below)

8. 8 Different font Poorly phrased sentence

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10. 10 Resume: Six Seconds Pros Cons Objective ‘References available upon request’ Quality not quantity; leave irrelevant information off Personal attributes; think age and picture Over-embellishment Extreme color or font; stick with the basics Personal URL information along with phone and email Choose not to construct a cover letter? Include your elevator pitch Chronological order to include company, title and dates of employment Achievements in 2-5 bullet points per position. Lead with verbs, not ‘I’ Community involvement

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12. 12 Applied: Now What? Follow – Up Importance Don’t hound Google Social Media – personal and company LinkedIn Facebook Twitter

13. 13 Resources Careerbuilder.com LinkedIn.com Ted.com Forbes.com Money & Career Cheat Sheet

14. THANK YOU