Selling Yourself

Selling yourself... it's the most effective way to get a job (or so I'm told).... and I'm not talking about "selling" yourself... just your skills at the job.  It sounds easy, especially if you are a confident person... and while I do consider myself to be a confident person, I have trouble convincing an employer I'm the best person for the job. For me, the hardest part is trying to convey my entire personality, experience, smarts, sense of humor, etc all in a cover letter and resume.

First the resume... did you know that when you have enough experience you can allow the resume to go over one page??  I had NO idea until I saw a career counselor who polished up my resume.  I felt stupid knowing that I was trying to squish years of work, college, awards, and reference all on one little page.  I kept making the font smaller, going into the margins, etc.  Then Nancy (my counselor), told me to write down all my achievements (not just awards, but projects I had a hand in too) in all of my jobs and college... I did just that which did give me a confidence boost.  Then we took some of those achievements and added them to my career objectives and after each job.  That pushed education, awards and references all to the second page.  At first I asked if this was ok, don't employers only look at one page?  And they might... but my professional experience is why I would get in the door since 1. my jobs all require a degree anyhow 2. I mention that I won awards under the job I that corresponds (then go into the details on page 2) and 3. it's not unusual to have references on a separate page.  So now with a sparkling resume I was confident to get it out... but now I need to write a cover letter.

The last time I had to write a cover letter I was fresh out of college, and even then I didn't think it was that great.  I know that the more professional experience you have the more you SHOULD know how to write a cover letter and resume... but who is supposed to teach you these things???  For me... Nancy.  Between looking at books and online I found some professional cover letters then tweaked them to talk about me.  The thing I learned was once you have a base of a great cover letter then you just need to tweak certain words to work with the job you are applying for.  And a great way of doing that... use some of the words they are using in the ad... it makes you look like you read all the directions of the ad, and using the same wording they use makes you look like you will fit it.... or so you can hope.

Now keep in mind I don't have a job yet... but I have gotten positive feedback on my cover letter and resume.... I'm getting a little bit better at selling myself, selling an employer the idea that NO ONE will do this job as well as I can.  Now I just need them to see it from 2,000 miles away!