Applying for a new job...

It's that time of year - some of us will be leaving college armed with super Diplomas and looking to start down the path to make our fame and fortune at some fabulous company who are just waiting for someone like us!

Or, you may already be working but are feeling hemmed in, dissatisfied with your lot and generally want a change of career.

Once upon a time you got your diploma, you sought out a job you liked the sound of, you applied with a letter, you got an interview - you generally sat a competency test and you either got it or you didn't.

These days, job hunting has become big business and, if you don't know where to look, you could end up paying big bucks to someone else in the hope that their 'experience' will create a super CV/Resume for you.

Well, until recently, I had never had to create a resume but I took the time to first of all go to local government websites where there is a wealth of free advice for people needing to learn how to create a great resume. Then I looked further and found there are many sites where you can download examples of resumes, the lay-outs, the buzz words to use and also the covering letters to go with the resume.

One word of advice: try and create your own 'buzz' words. Can you imagine how boring it must be to receive hundreds of applications for the same job only to read, over and over again, that the applicant is a 'team player', 'task orientated' etc etc! Personally, I try to avoid such terminology. When these terms were first introduced they sounded exciting and modern - now they just sound old hat.

Try and think up your own variation of these buzz words and stand out from the crowd!

Good luck!

That is so true! Make your resume unique to catch the attention of the interviewer. I am lucky in that way I would say. I got selected On Campus during my last year graduation. Normally, our college prepares resume for the class' top 10 students and suggest their names for the Interviews. I got nominated in that way. However, I recommend people to learn the proper way to create their resumes to out-stand from the rest.

It's a great idea to do proper research when preparing your resume as it's the first contact that you will make with the company, so you really want to give a good impression.

Does anybody really send in a cover letter with their resume and application anymore?

I have heard that it's an outdated trend, but maybe that's only in certain fields.

Sending a resume in a cover letter? Sounds weird to me. My company prepared all our resumes on our behalf and sent it via E-mail to the recruiting department. In the last two years even this 'Resume via E-mail' trend has become out-dated.

All the companies have an official website for them and they even have a page for 'Careers' where the applicant have to fill up an online application form after which the applicants will be called for an interview process. This is how it is happening these days.

There certainly doseem to be a lot of different preferences for submitting resumes.

I have applied for a couple of jobs in local government this past year and they have a prepared form which needs to be completed. The problem with that method is that you can only complete the form by either downloading it from an email link and then it has to be completed by hand in black ink (how outdated is that?!!) and that doesn't work at all well if you have a lot of detail you want to put into the section where you want to add comments in support of your application or by typewriter! You certainly have to have very neat handwriting to complete the form by hand.

The other way is by downloading the form and then completing it in Word - but it's such a fiddly way to do things because the text boxes keep moving as they're completed - drives me nuts!

But last week I saw a job advertised which asked for a resume and a covering letter. The covering letter is actually very handy because it is here that you can bring attention to the skills that you have which, hopefully, are the skills that you know they'd want in the applicant. It's tricky doing a covering letter because it's not to be too long and certainly not a duplicate of your resume - just an introduction to you and how fabulous you are

Thx all of u girls! i learnt a lots from here, really, thx^^

That's one of the hardest problems, I think. It's so hard to make your resume stand out from your cover letter. I don't want my potential boss to get bored and then just abandon my resume.

I actually still send a cover letter with my resume, even if it is send by email. The trick is to make the cover letter so interesting that they will definitely want to read the resume.

Since starting this thread I read about a job opportunity and it sounds really, really interesting.

I recently sat and passed the final module of my ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence) which means I am now able to show prospective employers a certificate which proves that I can design and use Spreadsheets, Database, PowerPoint and Word etc. I have been a secretary for many years and am a fast shorthand typist but I realized that my skills need to be upgraded to fit the modern office.

So now I've polished up my CV and am crafting my covering letter. Actually, the covering letter is taking me the longest time because I know I need to get it absolutely right to catch of the person receiving it.

Just how do you say: PICK ME! I'M FABULOUS!! without sounding OTT!