Good Job Application Cover Letter Will Secure Interviews

A job application cover letter is the single most important document in your job search package when you apply for a job. A well prepared letter can make a difference if you're going to get interviews or not. Therefore, it is important to learn how to write a professional letter.

Hundreds of candidates with good qualification and work experience will react to a job ad. The employer will usually do a quick scan on the application packages to pick the best candidates to interview. The hiring manager will never have time to go through the whole stack of resumes. Based on information from the cover letters, the employer will pick a few candidates that look professional and meet their requirements. The rest of the resumes will probably go into the dustbin.

You need to have an effective job application cover letter to get noticed. So, how to write a letter with great impact?

Good Job Application Cover Letter Will Secure Interviews

1) What to include

Since the employer will only have time to browse through your cover letter, the letter will have to be prominent to motivate the recruiting manager to find out more about you. Usually, you just need to highlight specific information from your resume such as your professional experience, skills, strengths, and the value you can offer to the future company.

2) Benchmarking the best

Since cover letter will determine if you will get interview or not, you should make use of all available resources online and offline to craft your job application cover letter. This includes the use of samples from the professional and valuable software tools.

Today, the job market is full of high caliber and experience people. To win in the job search competition, the only way is to rise above the battle and show the future employer that you're the right candidate. Make use of the letter samples that are proven to attract interviews. You do not need to reinvent the wheel.

3) Important things to keep in mind

When writing your letter, here are some things to remember.

Do research on the company, the job and the industry. This will help you in writing your letter and handling the interview. Send your application package to a real person. Proofread your letter to make sure it is free from spelling, grammar and punctuation errors. Stay within one page with 2 to 4 paragraphs. Thank the hiring manager for reading your application letter and request for an interview.

To get interviews of your dream job, you must put in efforts in preparing your job application cover letter.

Good Job Application Cover Letter Will Secure Interviews
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Human Resources - Strategic Business Partner

Human Resources, with its diverse internal and external customer base, the ability to touch all levels of the organization and the legendary understanding of the organization's environment could not be more suited for the critical role of a strategic business partner.

In General Electric's recently published 2008 annual letter to shareholders, the CEO Jeff Immelt stated the following: ".....The secret to all of these dimensions of developing leaders is to have a great team of human resource professionals. Enduring companies must have a passion for people. GE has a great HR team that protects our valuable human assets. I want to give them special recognition this year...." For years, GE has acknowledged the success of Bill Conaty, their Senior Vice President of Corporate Human Resources. Bill Conaty is highly valued for his continued contribution to the organization. His insight and input have been invaluable. In a 2004 article written by Anne Freedman, Conaty himself stated: "I consider my real core competency and my value to the organization as being a human resource leader, but without having the business grounding, I don't think I would be an effective HR partner."

Organizations that consider their employees to be the most valuable asset cannot afford to not have human resources functioning in a true strategic business partner role. Human Resource professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and abilities, the talent to partner with senior leadership to not only be involved in the strategic management of the organization but drive the implementation of it. As stated in "The 8 Practices of Exceptional Companies, How Great Organizations Make the Most of Their Human Assets" by Jac Fitz-Enz, "Strategic plans must be laid on a core strategy, a solid wall of values. Core strategies lead to strategic plans, organizational charts, operating plans, quantitative objectives, and ultimately, to specific human behavior and task performance." Business oriented HR professionals can help design a strategic plan that balances the needs of the organization, its employees, and other stakeholders. It can help align the efforts of the various functions in the organization with the plan's strategic goals, and it can support those functions by ensuring that they can recruit, develop, and retain the necessary company team members. HR, as strategic business partners should be the drivers of the organizations values thus the drivers of the strategic plan.

Human Resources - Strategic Business Partner

HR should be made responsible for owning the leadership and employee development, as well as direct all communication efforts, especially as it relates to the pulse of the employee population. Succession planning is an area that a strategic HR business partner should be involved in. As discussed in "Good to Great" by Jim Collins, having the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats is the key element to the success of any organization - who better than to manage the people process than a strategic HR business partner.

To fulfill a strategic business partner role, HR leaders must understand the organization's business. In addition to fully understanding the business, HR must understand the environment in which it operates, the competition, and the circumstances that could influence the progress of the organization. HR can no longer focus on its own internal tasks. It must be responsible for ensuring that HR's strategy, goals and priorities are driven by and aligned with the overall business needs. It must establish key business partnerships with senior management, as well as key figures in other functions within the organization. Although the operational role of HR, the day-to-day tasks required to run an organization are not strategic in nature, the responsibilities must mirror the goals of the organization. There needs to be a more integrated global company-wide process that considers how each of the HR programs can help move the entire organization in the right direction.

In addition to HR increasing its own knowledge of the organization and creating solid partnerships through collaborative communication efforts, increasing its knowledge in other areas is extremely important to being a successful strategic business partner. HR must increase its knowledge of Finance and Accounting, Marketing and Sales, Operations, and Information Technology and hone in on key business skills. Almost every activity in an organization can be referred to as a project. That is why it is important for professionals in HR to improve their project management skills. In addition to project management skills, strategic HR business partners must fully understand the strategic planning process. HR must be able to manage change, perform environmental scanning, and understand the importance of outsourcing and the process associated with outsourcing. Being able to manage technology and measure the effectiveness of all company-wide programs and efforts are equally important. HR should also be playing a vital role in leadership coaching, should be responsible for implementing strategies to become an employer of choice, and should be responsible for leading programs to safe guard your company performance from external elements.

To summarize, Human Resource professionals touch every level and every department in the organization. Due to the involvement across the company, employees at all levels get to know and trust the members of the HR team. Because of HR's familiarity with the change management process and human capital development, successful companies benefit from having HR fully functioning in a strategic business partner role. If your company is not already doing so, allow Human Resources to be represented in meetings along side other senior leaders. There is not a more suitable functional group within the company to be responsible for leading the development of strategic plans, implementing key tactics, and measuring the organizations success in executing its plan than Human Resources.

Human Resources - Strategic Business Partner
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Jeannie Moravits Smith

Principal Consultant, President/CEO

HR - Rx, Inc. http://www.theHR-Rx.com

April 2008

History of Discrimination

Discrimination has a long history throughout the world.  Most societies, especially the larger ones, have practiced some form and some degree of discrimination.  In fact, a notable trend (though by no means necessarily an always true law) is that larger societies have had a larger propensity to discriminate.  Why?  Because of their achievements.  Larger societies, to reach the size that they were, had to accomplish.  They built extensive and complicated networks.  Their engineering was on a scale and level enough to support a large society.  Their art was complex.  They had a formal language and writing system.  All of these things were--and are--marvelous achievements.  But couple with them the fact that for most of human history, people lived only within their societies and had almost no contact with peoples of different societies, and it becomes easy to see why discrimination occurred.  They saw others as foreign and "backward," not having accomplished as much as they did.

From a list of all of the societies that ever existed, it is easy to pick out societies that discriminated.  Spain used to discriminate heavily against the Jews, who were forced either to convert Catholicism or to leave Spain.  The Spanish also created a body--called the Inquisition--to persecute who were not like them.  So, people were persecuted for being Jews.  If someone was thought to be a witch, the she or he was also persecuted.  Likely, homosexuals were also persecuted.

In South Africa, Australia, and the Untied States, the black and indigenous populations have faced heavy persecution.  Jim Crow laws in the United States, intentionally imitated by South African and Australia, persecuted blacks.  Segregation was prevalent in all of these three countries.  Blacks were illegally prevented from voting.  Violence against blacks was common.  In the Untied States, the native American population faced heavy discrimination.  Their families were broken up, the children were forced to go schools that would eradicate their culture, and families were forced to abandon their original ways of life and live on reservations.

History of Discrimination

Fortunately, the world as a whole is less tolerant of discrimination today than it was in the past.  Most nations have laws barring most, if not all, forms of discrimination (discrimination based on sexual orientation is an exception, though, and still faces a lot discrimination across the world).

One specific barring of discrimination in the U.S. involves employment practices.  Employers are prevented by the law from discriminating against employees or potential employees (during interviews).  If you feel you have been a victim of any sort of work place discrimination, contact the Orange County Employment Discrimination Lawyers of Perry Smith by visiting their website or by calling 888-356-2529.

History of Discrimination
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Joseph Devine

Pharmaceutical Sales Brag Book - How to Make, What to Include, and How to Present Within Interviews

Many of you new to the pharmaceutical sales career search process may not have heard of using a brag book or interview portfolio to win the job. A pharmaceutical sales brag book is simply a way to support or prove the claims made in your resume and within the pharma sales interview.

Think of it this way: your interviewer doesn't know you from Adam...so a brag book essentially validates and corroborates your story within the interview process.

In effect, your pharmaceutical sales brag book is a sales aid - similar to the detail binder that pharmaceutical reps utilize when promoting products to physicians. In the same manner that the detail binder backs-up, supports and adds credibility to a rep's sales presentation, the brag book adds credibility to your resume and supports your assertions of skills, experience and accomplishments.

Pharmaceutical Sales Brag Book - How to Make, What to Include, and How to Present Within Interviews

In fact, the brag book is considered such an essential part of the pharmaceutical sales interview that if you fail to create one...you'll very possibly fail the interview. PERIOD!

Now, just as a pharma rep utilizes "features and benefits" to sell a product, you must think in those terms, as well. Your mission is to shamelessly sell your "benefits" (aka achievements) to the hiring manager, and your pharmaceutical sales brag book is the key!

Now, on to your next question...what in the world goes in my Pharmaceutical Sales Brag Book?

Now assemble all the documents, in addition to your resume and reference page (co-workers, supervisor's names/titles/contact info), and organize in a logical manner. Next, go to your local copy store to have it spiral bound together (wire spiral) with a professional-looking cover. You may also wish to utilize tabs for the different sections, in order to quickly access during the interview.

How to best use your Pharmaceutical Sales Brag Book to your advantage?

It's all in the presentation...

Your pharmaceutical sales interview portfolio, or brag book, is best utilized in the same manner a pharma rep would present to a physician. In other words, only the most important information (achievements) will be highlighted. Avoid hypnotizing/boring the hiring manager by going over it page by page. ~YAWN! Instead, utilize it in response to an interview question. If the manager asks you about your sales aptitude, provide a great example of your sales aptitude (STAR format) and back it up by pointing to the appropriate, tangible achievement in your brag book. Also, practice using your brag book in response to interview questions. Make sure you know the contents inside and out, so that you may effortlessly find the appropriate section within the interview.

Pharmaceutical Sales Brag Book - How to Make, What to Include, and How to Present Within Interviews
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Anne Marie Posegate - former pharmaceutical sales recruiter, teacher, corporate trainer, and current interview coach - has created one of the largest FREE pharma sales jobs information sites in existence...filled to the brim with candid advice and information about pharmaceutical sales careers.

In addition, Anne has just released to the public her time-tested, step by step, e-book system for gaining pharmaceutical sales interviews AND jobs...and she's absolutely thrilled to have helped hundreds of candidates gain the pharma jobs of their dreams!!

Tough Interview Questions - How to Answer Difficult Interview Questions

Many of the people that I work with in my career coaching practice express a concern about how to answer what they define as tough interview questions. It will come as no surprise that people define tough in different ways. So for example the person that has not prepared for an interview may class a lot of the questions as difficult. Whereas if they have prepared there is a certain type of question people see as tough.

Preparation

Preparation for any interview is the key to success and there is a separate article by me which gives much more detail on this. However the key points to good preparation are:

Tough Interview Questions - How to Answer Difficult Interview Questions

Make sure you can run through your CV in three or four minutes Consider in advance the type of competencies an employer may be looking for in the successful candidate. So for example many roles require the ability to deliver results against tough deadlines. The interviewer will be looking for evidence of this and may ask a question like 'can you give me an example of where you had to deliver results against a difficult deadline. What did you do? What was the outcome?' If you can work out the competencies most of the questions are likely to follow this format So if you haven't prepared and you are going for a job that requires creativity you may well find this type of question tough 'describe a time where you had to be particularly creative. What did you do and what was the result?' Make sure you look at your experiences and achievements for examples of the competencies the interviewer is likely to be looking for in a good candidate. Be ready to give an example of where you have shown each competence, what you did, and the result

The Tough Interview Questions

In this group of questions I include all those questions that it is difficult to anticipate and for which it is hard to prepare. These are much less likely to be based on the competencies for the job. They are often questions that the interviewer has been asked before and found difficult. Alternatively they might be questions that are a favourite of the interviewer. From a candidates perspective they often seem to act to create a black hole in the interview, but they do not need to. I have listed below some of the questions my clients have reported back to me as being tough. Beneath each is a guide to providing a good answer which is unlikely to risk your prospects of getting the job.

Q If you were doing this interview what question would you want to ask next?

A Find a question that allows you to highlight your strengths and not one designed to reveal weaknesses. For example 'What strength do you think would be most valuable to our company?'

Q What has been your biggest mistake at work and what have you learned as a result?

A Find an answer that reveals a weakness that may be strength from an employer's point of view. For example, 'I have learnt that my drive to get results can be detrimental to the moral of team members who do not see the urgency and importance of a project. I am much more aware of this now and make sure I ask people if they are going to be able to hit deadlines beforehand'.

Q What do you see as the five greatest successes in your life?

A Give an answer that has at least three work achievements, an educational achievement or one related to an interest and one related to family and friends. This demonstrates your achievement orientation and a balance in your life.

Q What are you three greatest strengths and weaknesses?

A This is a chance to shine as well as show self-awareness. Give three positive strengths that are related to the requirements of the job. For the weaknesses find two that are strengths in disguise, and one minor weakness that will not impact your employment chances. For example, 'I know that sometimes I find it difficult not to finish a job before I leave and this sometimes means I stay longer at work than I should. I can be a bit of a perfectionist so my drive for top quality can sometimes irritate others. My wife sometimes says I should have more outside interests'.

Q Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

A With this type of question you need to balance your ambition with the expectations of the interviewer and reality. Firstly do not say you see yourself in a job outside the company. Do not say you see yourself as a Director if you are 18 and taking a role at the first level in the organisation. A safe answer would be 'I would hope to have demonstrated my skills and progressed to a level more senior to this job. This shows ambition and drive, as well as a realistic level of career aspiration.

Q Are there any questions you would like to ask us?

A Some candidates see this question as a kind of trap - it isn't. It may be an idea to ask a question to show an interest in the job but you don't have to. A good one that shows you are motivated to succeed would be 'can you tell me about the training and development I can expect to receive?'

There will be a lot of other questions similar to the ones listed here that come up in interviews. But by following the principles given here you will be able to answer them and give yourself the best chance of getting the job. I'm always interested in collecting more tough questions to help my clients. So if you get one please send it to me.

Tough Interview Questions - How to Answer Difficult Interview Questions
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Tony Goddard is the Director of Tony Goddard Consulting, an Executive and Career Coaching Company. Prior to becoming a Coach, Tony was a Director of Human Resources and has many years experience of selecting candidates for roles at all levels of seniority and across all functional areas. More information is available about Tony and his Executive and Career Coaching Company at:

http://www.tonygoddardconsulting.com/career-coaching/

Law Enforcement Articles - Characteristics of a Good Interviewer

Interviewing is hard work, certainly harder than not making the effort. I have observed a multitude of good (and some great) interviewers and they share some common characteristics, as follows:

INQUISITIVE - Simply put, most good interviewers want to know what's going on, have their suspicions raised easily and are nosy.

OBSERVANT - Successful interviewing means thinking on your feet, while observing your surroundings and constantly observing the subject being interviewed.

Law Enforcement Articles - Characteristics of a Good Interviewer

o Not a job for those people who go through life half-awake.

ENERGETIC - No one makes interviewers put forth the effort to get that confession, it's something that comes from within.

o You either have the desire or you don't.

ABILITY - Good interviewers can talk with people and put them at ease, while eliciting useful information.

o There's a fine line here between being an officious "John (or Jane) Wayne" and a complete B.S. artist.

PROBLEM SOLVERS - Interviewers must look at the big picture to succeed in obtaining incriminating admissions from a suspect.

I once saw an investigator lose a rape confession because he wanted the suspect to first admit stealing the car that he used to commit the rape!

o The suspect was willing to admit doing the rape, but didn't want to admit stealing the car.

o The investigator doggedly continued questioning the suspect about the car until the interview ended with no admissions at all.

o When I was asked to help with the interview, I just skipped the whole car issue and secured the rape confession.

o We later discovered that the suspect had been reluctant to admit stealing the car because it belonged to one of his family members.

Lesson: what's most important to you, the interviewer, is not necessarily what's most important to the interviewee.

PATIENT -Police often damage the memory retrieval process by:

o hurrying witnesses

o interrupting people when they are talking

o using inappropriate sequencing of questions

o stopping the statement process too soon.

The most common question I'm asked by students is this:

"Can anyone learn to be an effective interviewer or is it an in-born skill?"

Here's an analogy which may help explain the answer. Think of interviewing like playing the piano. Some children are born with a gift for playing the piano. With diligent practice, they become master concert pianists. Others have very little natural ability, but are also diligent in their training. After years of practice they become adept at playing and become "practitioners" of the piano. The common denominator is: PRACTICE.

Without diligent practice, no one (irrespective of natural ability) will ever play the piano. Interviewing is like playing the piano in that there are some people who are natural communicators and some who are not so blessed. However, if each person practices, both types will become effective interviewers. A good interviewer should understand basic human behavior, should be intelligent, friendly, patient and persistent.

Remember: Good officers do not necessarily make good interviewers.

Law Enforcement Articles - Characteristics of a Good Interviewer
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Chip Morgan is the author of the most exciting, easy to use, interview and interrogation system the law enforcement world has ever seen! Check it Out Here Right Now!

Do you like the above article? If you would like more free law enforcement training, please Click Here! [http://lawenforcementarticles.com]

Appraisal Interviews: What To Say & How To Say It

STEPS TOWARDS A GOOD APPRAISAL INTERVIEW:

Don't say: "You just don't seem to care about doing a good job." "You seem to be more interested in scoring points against Charlie than in working with him." "You're too defensive." Do: Stick to behavior. say, "Here's what I saw," or, "Here's what I heard you say."

Here is some advice for supervisors that will contribute to a successful appraisal interview. 1. Stick to goals. Measure performance against previously discussed and agreed upon goals. 2. Do not discuss rewards.. Make a statement at the beginning such as, "While this appraisal may be the basis for a raise, we are getting together today to review performance past and present and then discuss an improvement plan. Information about raises and promotions will need to come at a future time. We can set up a date to discuss them at the end of this meeting." 3. Consistently ask for the employee's view throughout the discussion. By asking for the employee's view, the supervisor establishes the two-way nature of the performance appraisal process. The supervisor learns how the employee feels about the work environment. This will very often provide important insights into the employee's job performance quality.

Appraisal Interviews: What To Say & How To Say It

Here is some advice for supervisors that will contribute to a successful appraisal interview. 1. Listen to employee. The successful evaluation is a dialogue. The supervisor must be prepared to listen to the employee, just as the supervisor expects the employee to listen. After all, the employee has a very important stake in the evaluation. Also, the employee usually wants the evaluation to be a success: that is, with the result that the employee will be more effective on the job. 2. Accept employee's feelings. The employee may show signs of stress, anger, or disagreement. Accept them. That's not the same thing as agreeing or believing the feelings are justified. Accepting feelings ("I acknowledge that you feel that way") and proceeding with the meeting allows you to avoid getting into a debate as to whether the reactions are genuine or justified. Move on.

Appraisal Interviews: What To Say & How To Say It
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Copyright AE Schwartz & Associates All rights reserved. For additional presentation materials and resources: ReadySetPresent and for a Free listing as a Trainer, Consultant, Speaker, Vendor/Organization: TrainingConsortium

CEO, A.E. Schwartz & Associates, Boston, MA., a comprehensive organization which offers over 40 skills based management training programs. Mr. Schwartz conducts over 150 programs annually for clients in industry, research, technology, government, Fortune 100/500 companies, and nonprofit organizations worldwide. He is often found at conferences as a key note presenter and/or facilitator. His style is fast-paced, participatory, practical, and humorous. He has authored over 65 books and products, and taught/lectured at over a dozen colleges and universities throughout the United States.