Resume and Cover Letter Need Constant Attention
1 or 2 years gone, I was out of work and hopelessly attempting to find a job. I dusted down the old resume and cover letter and got them prepared to send to my first possible employer, and after signing up for the position I felt miles better already. Then I began to realize that each job for which I applied ( and there would be many ) will require some edits to my resume and cover letter, and it occurred to me that those are 2 things that need continuous attention, particularly when you're looking for a job.
The 1st job for which I applied was as a journalist for a construction newsletter based in my area. I made some updates to my resume and cover letter and sent them in.
I knew that my possibilities of getting that job were probably not as good as they would've been 5 years back, so I chose to take what my bro calls the shotgun approach and just start firing out as many applications as practicable. The difficulty was, not every job was in the writing field, and I shortly found myself having to make major overhauls to my resume and cover letter in order that they would seem sensible for the job for which I was applying. I had originally made a decision to send out ten resumes a day, and I had to chop that to seven a day simply because making those 2 documents applicable for each job was so time-intensive. Lots of the resume and cover letter really stayed the same, re my work experience and education and that kind of thing but I did desire to re-word my reasons for desiring the job and why I was an acceptable fit for the job in just the best way. I also needed to tailor my work experience to the prerequisites for the job.
I wasn't deceptive about what I could and couldn't do, but I did make a point of it to emphasise that I was skilled in the job abilities needed on my resume and cover letter.
It didn't so much trouble me I had to do a little bit of work to get my resume and cover letter into shape for each job. It was just the indisputable fact that I had it in my mind that after you had them finished, they may be used transposably for any job. In the final analysis, I was capable of finding work as a writer. My employer was impressed with my resume and cover letter and I suspect that was truly a very sizeable part of the reason why I got the job. I'm aware that if I find myself in the situation again where I want to find a job, and I need to provide my resume and cover letter, it'll take more work than I used to believe. At least now I know.
