Fortunately (and unfortunately) as a Manager you will frequently get involved in the process of hiring new staff. The unfortunate downside is that as a Manager you will also have to sometimes terminate staff – see my post on PIPs earlier – but this to some extent goes with the territory. Let’s look at the positive aspect first and let’s look at it in two parts as it might be you on the other side of that chair at some point!
Selling Yourself
Some key things to always include in a cover letter are:
- Key Accomplishments and Awards (i.e. How did you benefit your last company? How much money did you save them? What process improvements did you initiate and how successful were they?)
- Customer Testimonials – if you are applying for a Customer Service role and your customers are willing to be your advocate that says some really good things about you and the level of Service you are able to provide.
Finally, with regards to your CV/Resume and cover letter, there is probably one really important thing that I have not yet mentioned … it is extremely important so please pay attention … studies state that 85% of applicants currently applying for new positions, make this simple elementary error.
In today’s day and age with the tools we have available, there is no excuse for simple spelling and grammatical errors. Remember, Hiring Managers are looking for a reason to put you in the NO pile – don’t give them an easy out!! Once you have read it, read it again and then get your wife to read it and your brother and as many other people as you can think off. Not only will they hopefully find any errors, but they might even be able to add some additional accomplishments that you’d forgotten!
In addition unless you are in a highly specialized field, you want to ensure that your resume is readable AND understandable by the “lay” person – remember more often than not, the Hiring Manager in HR does not really understand the role that they are hiring for and is really only looking for those keywords I’ve mentioned before!
I hope that the above has been useful information with regards to CV/Resume creation as well as the cover letter. In later posts, I will cover the different job boards (for you and your candidates), recruiters as well as the disciplinary and termination process.
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