October 25, 2004 - Essentials for the Job Search

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Essentials for the Job Search
By Sarah K. Holland
October 25, 2004

With today’s job market being what it is (somewhat non-existent), we need every possible hint to help us land the perfect position. While God promises to reward the faithful, it’s awfully difficult to make your resume jump from the stack if you’ve not bothered to submit one. Here are the six essentials for the professional job search.

A Personal Resume
While your resume should contain all the basics—education, experience, and employment—that can be slightly modified to fit the position for which you are applying, make sure to include information that makes you stand out from the pack. For instance: spent time traveling in Europe? Include it! In charge of organizing a young men’s camping trip for your youth department? Make sure that makes it in. Getting the interview is the hardest part; if your resume doesn’t make you different from the rest, it’ll land in a pile, or worse, the round file.

A Quality Resume
Should you bother with buying the expensive resume paper? Absolutely! You are showing your future employer that you want this job and you will do what it takes to acquire the position. Don’t go cheap here, as employers start weeding out applicants immediately.

Once your qualifications are spelled out on paper, make sure to check for errors. No one cares who you are or what you’ve done if your resume is full of mistakes. Take your resume to a trusted friend or family member and ask them to look it over for errors. The fastest way to demonstrate that you don’t really care for the position is to have spelling, punctuation, or grammatical mistakes in your resume.

Research the Position
Most companies are now including job descriptions and needed qualifications along with the job posting on their website. Read carefully over this description and make sure you actually hold the needed qualifications or education to receive the position. If you don’t, then do not bother applying, or you will simply waste that expensive resume paper. Also, research the company, know what you like about them, and find real reasons why you would like to work there. These bits of information will become incredibly handy once you are called for an interview.

A Clearly Stated Objective in your Cover Letter
If you do match the requested qualifications, sit down immediately and type out a cover letter. This letter should be formal letter style and printed on the same paper as your resume. Address the letter to the contact person given in the job listing and tell them exactly why they want to interview you. State where you saw the job posting, why you want to work for their company (they are known for superb technology or generous contributions to youth organizations), and why you are qualified to do so. Be sure to state specific qualifications that you meet which were listed in the job posting. Explain how you can be contacted for an interview, and how during that meeting, you look forward to learning ways that you might contribute to the success of their company.

Face to Face Contact
Armed with your cover letter and resume, and dressed in a suit or other appropriate apparel (you should always dress one level above what you would actually wear while working the position for which you are applying), go to the job site and hand in the envelope containing your letter and resume in person. (This may be the most difficult step of the application process.) There is nothing more intimidating than walking into an office and requesting the proper person (HR director or other), and nothing more impressive to a future employer. This move allows your face to become familiar to the employer, as well as demonstrates the needed confidence.

Prayer
Lastly, though this should have been first, pray, pray, pray, before you ever fill out the paperwork. My request to God is that He not allow me to be offered positions that He does not want me to have. I explain that in my limited human knowledge, I may take a wrong position unknowingly. By giving the job search into God’s hands, you can not only be confident of the ending, but also reside in His peace which passes all understanding, as you wait for the calls to come in.

ninetyandnine.com

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Sarah K. Holland resides in Pontiac, MI and she has taken enough classes on interviewing to have all the answers, and yet no job. Now that’s ironic.