11/5/07: Targeting Your Resume

By Dalya F. Massachi

In my last column, I discussed the essential priority information you need to include in your resume and cover letter. Now that you know the topics you want to address, you need to know what your readers are specifically looking for.

In general, employers looking to fill jobs in the social sector are:

• Busy people who will only skim jobseekers’ correspondence. Remember that they’re reading your material in between their other work. You want to make it as easy as possible for them.
• In search of what’s important to them and what YOU can do for THEM (i.e., make their lives easier).
• In-the-know about their issue, their organization and their needs. That is, they don’t need you to flatter them by using glowing terms to restate what they do.
• Looking for a reason to weed people out of the candidate pool. Don’t give them a reason to weed you out!
• Looking for the best fit (so they don’t have to go through this again).

Hint: Don’t forget to read your target organization’s website before submitting your application. It could give you insights about their organizational culture and style.

Refine!

Now let’s look at a few things you can do to refine your documents to get across your priority information, while taking into account the needs of your readers.

Cover Letter

• Address it to a specific person (get a name if you can).Cover letters that seem like form letters don't get much attention, as they indicate little initiative or care on your part.
• Keep it to one page. Go any longer and you'll lose your reader.
• Proofread!

Resume

• Consider using an “objective” as your first line, but it is optional. Make it as skill- and level-specific as possible (and not just the job title you are applying for). Alternatively, you can try a summary of your most important or relevant skills.
• Use vivid, active verbs to begin all work descriptions. And choose the appropriate tense.
• Categorize everything so that it’s accessible at a glance.
• List job titles in reverse chronological order within each category. This is true whether your categories are based on skills, industries, or another theme.
• Begin each entry with the most relevant information. Remember that your reader may not skim past the first sentence!
• Proofread!

Hint: Nope, I didn’t accidentally ask you to proofread twice. Catching all of the typos and grammatical errors is crucial to making a great first impression.

Submitting by email?

Employers are quite likely to ask for cover letter and resume submissions by email. You don’t want your email tagged as spam, left unopened, or mixed up with another candidate’s!

1) Use a subject line that identifies the email as a response to a specific job posting.

2) Your cover letter is just that: a letter. It goes in the body of your email.

3) If attachments are accepted, save your resume with an identifiable name (something like “resume_your name”) and attach it. Otherwise, cut and paste it into the email's body.

Not enough job postings that fit?

The alternative to responding to job postings is proactively approaching people who might want to hire you. This can be in the form of a “letter of inquiry” or a request for an informational interview.

The key here is to keep in mind the issues your reader might be worrying about in a new employee. These things could include all kinds of human resource problems, including:

• resistance to supervision
• lack of time management skills
• lack of enthusiasm or motivation

You want to assuage these concerns as you describe what you would bring to the organization. Your “marketing package” should go out to as many people as you can find who hire workers in your preferred type of organization.

Next month, I will give you some tips about what to do if you’re afflicted with a bad case of Writer’s Block (the ironic name of this column). I’m also looking forward to hearing from you – so send in your questions, comments, complaints, compliments, etc.!
Until then,
Happy Writing!

Dalya F. Massachi

Dalya F. Massachi specializes in helping nonprofit professionals advance their missions through outstanding written materials.

She has worked with community-minded organizations for more than 15 years: authoring countless successful marketing pieces, articles, and grant proposals; teaching popular writing workshops; and coaching professionals one-on-one. She will soon publish "Writing to Make a Difference: 50 Powerful Tools & Techniques to Boost Your Community Impact.”

Check out and subscribe to her e-newsletter at her website: http://www.dfmassachi.net dalya@dfmassachi.net