Good competent resume is extremely important if you want to get a job. Also a cover letter, which many jobseekers neglect, can really help you to be invited for an interview. Our customer resume service provides you with all the necessary information on resume and cover letter writing. But if you want to have in your disposition a really great resume, it would be better to use our resume writing service. Professionals of our website will create customer service resume for you, using personal approach and meeting all the modern demands to resume writing. Now we are going to give you some tips on how to respond to the vacancy correctly to make an employer invite you for an interview.

How to respond to the open position correctly

Why do intelligent people sometimes send very weird responses to the vacancies? It is enough to write simple respectful letter and to tell few words about yourself. But when people are asked to write about themselves, something strange happens and it seems that their brain “turns off”. Well, let’s figure out and “turn it on”.

To get a job, you should find a vacancy and respond to it at least. But it will not be enough just to send your resume to attract the employer’s attention, your resume should be accompanied with a cover letter. Our professional online resume service gives you an instruction how to do it in a proper way. This post will be useful for everyone who at least once in the lifetime wants to find a job.

So what do you begin with? You write a letter responding the vacancy you are interested in. Your letter will be read by an HR manager, or by an employer. HR manager decides whether you can be allowed to meet the employer; he works as a coarse filtering device: he throws aside ill, inadequate, incompetent candidates and all those, who do no match the formal requirements of a vacancy. The result of such an activity is that employer meets adequate jobseekers only.

An employer makes decision about hiring. He has one main problem: there is a “functional hole” in his business and it should be filled with a qualified, mature and self-dependent worker urgently. It is desirable that a worker is able to cope with work on his own, without someone else’s help. If employer manages to “fill the hole”, the problem is solved and there is no need to waste time on it anymore.

An HR manager and an employer have another two main problems: a candidate is inadequate and does not match the requirements of the vacancy; a candidate is not self-dependent and he needs a lot of attention and much help.

To get an invitation for an interview, work on yourself and do no create these problems to HR managers and potential employers. It will be enough. Especially try to avoid the following points:

Tell your detailed biography. You will be asked about it during the interview.

Tell how much money the company will earn with your help. You can not know it for sure, and it also sounds ridiculous and childish.

Compare yourself with other candidates. You do not know who else has sent a resume.

Tell how much you need this work to pay the rent and feed your children.

You well-being does not interest anyone for now.

Trying to be invited for an interview by any means, for example, “I would like to tell about my work experience when we will meet face to face”. It looks like manipulation, and employers usually do not have time to meet everyone. So it will be easier to deny you.

Now let’s show our potential employer that you are adequate, competent and self-dependent.

The vacancy requirements

Imagine that the vacancy text is a treasure map. You should know how to read it and pilasters will be yours. Look at each point of the vacancy and think why it is written there. What does it hide?

Communicability. It is important that you want and are able to communicate with the clients from morning to evening. Clients can be very capricious sometimes.

Full customer support. You should deal with a client on your own, answer all the questions and solve the problems. The most important thing is not to distract your colleagues and do everything by yourself.

Contractor Management, work with contractors. You will get job for seven workers and your task is to make seven independent contactors do this job for a reasonable price and in good quality. You are responsible for the result.

Team work. There are other people except you, who work in the department, and they will ask you something all the time. Be ready to help them.

Work on the result. You do not complain, and do not give up if something goes wrong, and finish what you have started to do, even if you have to spend extra time.

Stress-resistance. Your colleagues, partners, contractors or bosses are unorganized, forgetful or unreliable. Accept this fact of life and cope with it.

Work experience in a corporate environment. You should know that corporations are depressing swamp. You should be able to resist it and do your work well.

Work experience in marketing no less than 2 years. A company does not have time to teach you. If you do not know how to work, you will not cope with it.

Study the requirement of a vacancy under the microscope. If you do not correspond them even in one point, it is a “serious baggage”.

Make a table that consists of three columns: “Yes”, “No” and “Do not know”. In the “Yes” column write down all the requirements you definitely match to and you can prove it. In the “No” column write those requirements that you definitely do not match. And in the “Do not know” column write the requirement that you think you match, but you can not prove it, and also those ones, which you do not understand. The table you have made is the plan of your cover letter. Now let’s write it.

Cover letter

Relax and take a deep breath. It is easier to write cover letter than it may seem. Take the first formal requirement fro the “Yes” column. Explain in a paragraph why you correspond this requirement. When you have finished describing all the requirement from the column “Yes”, move forward to the column “Do not know”. Continue to be honest. You can use this formula: “I do not know + my real experience + possible problems and obstacles”.

For example: “It is hard to say how much communicative I am. At the previous working places I communicated with the colleagues and contractors all the time, I spoke at conferences, prepared and performed presentations within the company. I feel I do not have problems with communication. At the same time, I do not have oratorical education, and I did not pass courses on communication or negotiations”.

Another example: “There is a requirement “stress-resistance” in the vacancy. It is hard to judge whether I am stress-resistant or not. At the previous workplace sometimes I had to work in emergency mode and in stressful situations. I had to finish projects at night, remodel presentation in 5 minutes before the beginning or to find new contractors urgently. I managed to cope with such situations, but after them I needed rest. Unfortunately, I do not know special techniques of stress fighting now, but I am going to study them”.

And now move to “No” column. Also honestly admit that you do not correspond these requirements. If you are ready to correct this disadvantage, write about this: “Unfortunately, I have never worked in a corporation. At the previous workplace I worked remotely, communicated with the contractors via Skype, and reported to one supervisor. I am ready to work in office, but I do not know how corporative style can influence the work”.

In such a was you disarm the addressee: he was going to throw your resume aside because of the discrepancy with the formal requirements, and you honestly admitted what you can not do, but you are ready to change. Honesty is the best strategy.

Remember that formal requirements are written for certain reason. If it is said “work in office”, it does not mean you will arrange to work remotely. So if you do not match this requirement, you do not match the vacancy in general. Even if you are genius, and your cover letter is genius as well.

The last steps

If there are 5 formal requirements in a vacancy, there should be 5 paragraphs in your letter, one paragraph for each requirement. There are 3 paragraphs left: introduction, conclusion and appeal.

In the introduction you say you want to work on this position. This is the first paragraph of your letter. The introduction target is to immerse the reader in context. Here you are, here is the vacancy, you want to occupy it. Full stop.

Conclusion goes after the main test of the letter. Tell why you want to work in this very company. If you have nothing to say, and you just need money, then skip the conclusion and move to appeal.

Appeal is your invitation to continue the dialogue. For example: “I will be glad to answer your questions and perform a test job”, “I will be glad to talk in person” and so on. Do not forget to give your telephone number.

So what do we have?

As a result, your letter will be like this:

Calm and brief introduction: “I want to work in your company”.

In what you meet the vacancy, point by point. Formula: “I do not know + my real experience + possible problems and obstacles”.

What requirements you do not match, point by point. What you are ready to change.

Conclusion: “I want to work because…”

Appeal: “I will be glad to talk…”

In this structure there is no place for life description, self-imposing, practicing in wit or creativity, requests and pleas, proposals for mutually beneficial cooperation and other unnecessary things. Everything is strictly about the business.

Expectations

You have written great cover letter and attached perfect resume to it. Will you be invited for an interview? Not necessarily. Think about the addressee. He has several dozens of candidates, whom he filters in several steps: throws aside crazy and completely incompetent candidates (90 of 100); moves aside those, who do not meet formal requirements (5 of 10). Among those who meet the requirements, he will choose three the most experienced and skillful and invite them for an interview. If none of them pass the interview successfully, he will start choosing from those, whom he has moved aside on the second and the third stage.

If you sent good cover letter, you passed the first stage. Not the addressee will evaluate your professional skills and compare them with other candidates. If they are obviously better than you, even a genius cover letter will not help you. Remember than a person gets a job, not a letter. Sometimes you just do not have enough experience and sills, and it is okay.

On the other hand, if you have made good impression, the addressee will pay attention to you. Any employer understands that it is better to hire an adequate, mature and inexperienced worker, than capricious but genius “diva”.

However, do not have too high expectations. An excellent letter is not an invitation for a job of your dream. So send this letter and start writing the next one.