Category: Charting Your Career for Success

Resume Cover Letters: How important is your resume cover letter?  It is as important as your resume for getting an interview.

Resume Cover Letters: Do You Have the Perfect Resume and No Job Interviews?

Do you have the perfect resume and not getting interviews?  The reason could be your cover letter.

If your cover letter does not compel the reader to read your resume, either you are applying for the wrong job or, quite simply, your cover letter failed.

There are some simple steps to writing an effective resume cover letter.

The first sentence must state the purpose of the cover letter.  For example, your opening sentence might read like this: “The purpose of the cover letter is to submit my resume for [name of position].”

Second, the letter should be short.  Recruiters do little more than glance at a resume.  They are sorting out the resumes of people who are not a fit for the job.  Therefore, recruiters should be able to glance at your cover letter and feel compelled to read your resume.

Third, you need to show enthusiasm for the job.  Your enthusiasm sends positives signals to recruiters that your application is worth their time.

Lastly, your cover letter should have a call to action.  Ask when you can speak or meet with the recruiter.

Sample Email Cover Letter

Name of Recipient:

The purpose of this email is to submit my resume for [name of position].

I am excited about your opportunity.

Are you available in the next week for a phone call?

Your Name
Your Phone Number
Your email address

Postal Cover Letter

Your Name
Address, City, ST ZIP Code [Optional: Add if your address shows you are local]
Telephone
Email

Date

Recipient Name
Title [if you know it]
Company
Address
City, State ZIP Code

Dear Recipient Name:

The purpose of this email is to submit my resume for [name of position].

I am excited about your opportunity.

Are you available in the next week for a phone call?

[Signature]
Your Name

Wrong company: What should you look for when you are interviewing for a job? Are you wasting your time when you could be making better progress in your job search?

As the owner of a recruiting firm, I coached applicants who dealt with troubling issues during the interview process. Here are things I learned from my experience in helping these applicants.

Wrong Company:  The company location is unsafe.

In major metropolitan areas, office and factory spaces are expensive. To save money, companies locate their offices in inexpensive locations. In major metropolitan areas, the less expensive locations are often in high crime locations. I have had three clients whose offices were inside chain link fences that had barbed wire on the top.

If you do not believe that the location is safe, you need to ask yourself whether you are interviewing with the wrong company.

Wrong Company: The interviewers fail to keep their commitments.

Interviewers may have valid reasons for cancelling an appointment, and they explain those reasons to you. An effortless way to manage the situation is to show understanding and simply reschedule.

However, interviewers raise red flags when they fail to keep commitments.

• The interviewers cancel appointments without attempting to reschedule.
• They cancel appointments more than once.
• Worth of all, the interviewers completely fail to call you or to meet with you without calling to cancel or reschedule.

If interviewers can’t keep their commitments, you should see that as a sign that you are interviewing with the wrong company.

Wrong Company:  Interviewers make calls during your interview, or they allow people to come into their office to interrupt your interview.

This type of behavior is a sign that the interviewer is not interested in you or simply does not respect your time.

Remember that the way an interviewer manages an interview is a sign of how a company deals with its employees. This behavior is uncommon, but when it has happened, applicants have often complained to me about it and rightfully so.

The interviewer is the face of the company. If the interviewer does not respect your time, how well will you be able to do at a company that may not respect your time? This type of company is the wrong company.

Wrong Company:  The company withholds details on benefits and salary range during the interview process.

The company benefits and compensation are confidential information. For competitive security issues, companies must protect the details of their operations. However, to avoid wasting their own time and the applicant’s time, the best interviewers provide general information on benefits and compensation. Often, companies include information on benefits and compensation in the job description.

You need to work for companies that put the information out front. Companies that play games during the interview may be companies that bait and switch on commitments. This type of company is the wrong company.

Some cities and states offer more than a place to work.  They offer high job growth rate and long-term career security. What are the top states and cities?

Studies from the Arizona State University W. P. Carey School of Business give interesting information that helps us find answers to those questions.

ASU’s Top 10 Cities for Job Growth Rate

ASU’s Top 10 States for Job Growth Rate

Maps based on Arizona State University W. P. Carey School of Business studies.

The Consumer-Packaged Goods Industry: Is It for You?

Are you just beginning your career?  Or perhaps, are you considering switching industries?   The Consumer-Packaged goods industry might offer the career you are seeking.

The Consumer-Packaged Goods Industry Defined:

What is the Consumer-Packaged goods industry?

Consumer-Packaged goods companies sell products essential consumers.  These products they make are ones that consumers buy a frequent basis.  Another term for Consumer-Packaged goods is fast-moving consumer goods.  Consumer-Packaged goods companies stand in contrast to the durable goods industry.  Durable goods companies make products like cars, computers, and appliances.

Categories in the Consumer-Packaged Goods Industry

• Fresh meat
• Fresh produce
• Frozen foods
• Dairy and deli
• Shelf-stable canned or bottled foods
• Health and beauty aids
• Candy
• Pet Food Products
• Home products: batteries, matches, clothes pins
• Household cleaning products
• Paper products

Some people do not include fresh products as Consumer-Packaged goods companies.  However, people with experience in other categories of Consumer-Packaged goods crossover to fresh food products companies.

Consumer-Packaged Goods Points of Distribution.

• Grocery stores
• Convenience stores
• Mass merchants
• Deep discount stores or dollar stores
• Club stores
• Drug stores
• Internet

Fastest growing Sector

The fastest growing sector of the Consumer-Packaged goods company is the natural or organic sector.

Jobs in the Consumer-Packaged Goods Industry

• Category Analysts
• Marketing, Brand, Product Management
• Initiative Specialization to include Innovation and Consumer Insight
• Custom Research
• Team Leader and Account Managers
• Distributor and Broker Managers
• Directors and Executives
• Business Development
• Category Management
• Trade Marketing
• Sales Analysts
• Product Managers
• Sales Planners
• Logistics Analysts and Managers
• Market Research and Analytics

Services and Support Companies for the Consumer-Packaged Goods Industry

• Free-standing Inserts (FSI)
• Instant-Redeemable Coupons (IRC)
• Direct Mail Coupons
• In-store Coupons
• Data and analytics support
• Advertising
• In-Store Marketing Products
• Product Demonstrations
• Shelf Signs or Shelf Talkers
• Floor Signs
• Shopping Cart Signs
• In-Store Radio

Categories in Data Support for Consumer-Packaged Goods Companies

The data industry is a growth industry.  You might want to focus on this sector of the Consumer-Packaged goods industry.

• Category Management
• Syndicated Data
• Panel Data
• Custom Research
• Shopper Insights Research

List of Consumer Products Packaged Goods Companies

Top 100 Consumer-Packaged Goods Companies

Job References:  Can You Trust Them?

“Believe none of what you hear, and only half of what you see.” ― Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson

Most hiring companies do reference checks on potential employees.  How reliable are these references?  How risky are they to the job seeker and to the people who are acting as references?

Intelligent people are not going to give references who will say bad things about them.  They make of list of people who will say positive things.  Before giving the name of the reference to a prospective employer, intelligent people call the reference.  They reach an understanding that the reference is willing and supportive.

The Set Up

One of the worst placements I made had references from two former clients who gushed about the qualities of the person.  Once the person got the job, his performance was the exact opposite of what the job references said it would be.  The references, both of whom held solid positions with solid companies, were clearly in on a set up.

Smart hiring managers know that job references are a set up.  In a way, reference checks are a test of a person’s ability to find people who can say good things about them.

At best, these references are confirmations of employment dates.

The Risks

Reference checks are risky to the job seeker and to the people serving as references.

The people speaking as references put themselves at risk and their company at risk.  If they say something that hurts the job seeker, a job seeker can (and job seekers have) come back and sued past employers.

The intelligent company policy is to prohibit reference checks.  These companies only give prospective employers the employment dates for past employees.

In a confidential job search, a job seeker puts their current employment at risk by allowing hiring companies to call people about the job seeker’s efforts to find new employment.  Nearly everyone says they can keep a secret.  But do they?  To quote Benjamin Franklin again, “Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead.”

Nonetheless, companies continue to check job references, and job seekers continue to give references.

So Be Smart.

There are a few simple things to consider about job references.  None of these things takes all the risks out of reference checks but these are ideas that are worth considering.

• Save the references checks until all the details of the offer have been ironed out.  This step reduces the risk to the job seeker of getting exposed without actually getting a job offer.
• On the other hand, if the hiring company withdraws the offer after the reference check, job seekers might very well believe that their references have wronged them.
• Focus on facts: dates of employment, copies of degrees, college transcripts, or letters of certification.
• Consider a background check instead of reference checks.
• If you choose an agency to do a background check, make certain that they are compliant with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).  In other words, do a background check of the company doing the background check.

hone Interviews: Are they a waste of time?

The Essential Phone Interview Handbook by Paul Bailo

Do you really need to bother preparing for phone interviews?  It is just a phone call.  It is not as though the person on the phone can see you.  Can you accomplish anything at all?

You’ve already invested time applying for the job.  You have filled out and application.  You may have completed a web-based questionnaire.

Now you are ready to get face-to-face with people at the hiring company.

But you can’t meet face-to-face, because you must speak with some screener on the phone.

Assume Nothing.

The person on the phone plays a real role in your getting a job with the company.  Even if you never speak with that person again, you cannot get a face-to-face meeting without their recommendation.  Furthermore, the person on the phone may be someone who will be involved with you throughout your career with the hiring company.  Getting off on the right foot may pay huge dividends down the line.

Make it Real.

Prepare as though you are going to a real interview.

Have these things on your desk:

• Your resume
• The job description
• A list of key points you wish to make about how your experience qualifies you for this specific job
• A list of questions

Select your interview place carefully.

• Pick a quiet room.
• Have a glass of water handy.
• Pick a comfortable chair.
• Don’t drive! 

Even though you are on the phone, let your personality shine.

• Smile.  You will project warmth even though the interview cannot see you.
• Listen to the interviewer’s questions.  Answer the questions. Do not just a reply to the question.
• Remember to take a silent deep breath from time to time.
• Say positive things about yourself and about your employer.
• The reason you are interviewing with the new company is that they offer things you cannot get from your current company.
• Make sure you understand the question before you answer it.

Remember to focus.

• Make your answers detailed but to the point.
• Allow the interviewer a chance to speak.
• Ask trial close questions: for example, ask the interviewer when the company will decide.
• Emphasize that you are interested in going forward for with the opportunity.

Do Not:

• Interrupt the call to take another call.
• Allow people to disturb you.
• Certainly, do not multitask.
• Interrupt the interviewer.
• No jokes! Do not try to tell a joke.
• Do not fake your answers. If you do not know that answer to a random question, just say so.
• Again, Do Not Drive!

Remember to close on an upbeat.

Thank the interviewer for taking time to speak with you.  Emphasize that you hope to have a chance to speak again.

How you negotiate salary depends on many things.

Here are three of the things that affect how you negotiate salary.

The size of the company:  Larger companies have structured compensation plans.  The plans have pay grades.  The pay grades have three levels: entry range, mid-range, upper range.  Smart hiring managers don’t hire people into the upper range of the pay grade.  If they did, they could not give the person a pay raise without promoting the person.

The level of the job:  For entry-level jobs, companies pay at or slightly above the market minimum, or entry range, for inexperienced people.  Companies pay all inexperienced people closely the same amount.  As a person gains experience, their compensation package becomes more complex and varies more greatly.  Job seekers have greater differences in their compensation based on their time in industry, their performance, and generosity of the hiring company.

The type of compensation plan:  Some companies pay based on performance.  People who perform better receive higher bonuses or commissions.  I have seen medical sales jobs and marketing service sales jobs where the base salary was half what a person had made in base salary at their previous company.  However, the performance compensation was three to four times their compensation at their previous job.

You can do many things to have a successful salary negotiation.

Here are three things to do to win when you negotiate salary.

Know the numbers: It is easy to know the value of a job in the marketplace.  There are pay range calculators online.  The top sites are Salary.com and Payscale.com.  Use these calculators.

Save everyone’s time.  Put compensation on the table before you start.  Ask the recruiter or hiring manager what the salary range is before you go to the interview.  During the first interview, ask the interviewer what the salary range of the job is.  You are not asking what they plan to offer you.  You are just clarifying whether your interviewing for the job is worth their time and yours.

Show the benefits.  Have solid reasons why you need the compensation you expect.  Show how your reasons benefit the needs of the hiring company.  

Related articles.

• What Not to Say in a Job Interview
• How to Negotiate Anything
• What Not to Say in a Job Interview
• Why You Should Never Accept A Counter Offer When You Resign
• The Things to Understand About a Job Offer
• 5 Interview Tips for Getting a Job Offer
• How To Turn Down A Job Offer
• 6 Things To Know Before Accepting A Job Offer
• Jobs: How to Negotiate Anything from Pay Raises and Promotions to Job Offers
• Counter Offers: The Reason That You Resigned Seldom Goes Away If You Stay.
• Counter Offers: The Stress of Trying to Leave a Company
• What to Say in a Job Interview

Good luck with your interviews and negotiations.