Q: Firms all want prior experience - how do I enter a field without it?

What do I market without industry experience? What should interns and first-time job seekers stress?

I answer these and more during my sixth video guest post at http://www.wallstreetoasis.com.

Are you wondering How to Get Hired? Join the discussion on my Facebook Group Polished and ask me anything you have ever wondered about resumes, cover letters, interviews, and job hunting!

Q: Why do employers care about cover letters? What can I communicate with a cover letter that isn't on my resume?

A cover letter serves a number of specific purposes for an employer.

First, it is an indication of how interested the prospective employee is in a particular job. Anybody can attach a resume to an email, but a cover letter takes time. It can help provide insight into one of the most important questions an employer must answer: "Does she really want to work for me?"

I often will place a specific request in a job description, such as "please describe a team experience where you had to overcome a particular problem". I generally would really care to hear the response, but more importantly, I want to see which candidates put out the extra effort to craft an individual letter to address this issue. This has proven to be a great weeding out process!

Second, a cover letter can create an important narrative about one's qualifications and possible impact in a particular role. It better expresses character traits and passions than a resume. Lastly, it can provide insight into a candidate's communication skills and judgment.

For you, the writer, it gives you the opportunity to frame your skills and experiences in a way that is most favorable for you. Put in the extra effort. It is worth it.

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Q: For interviews and cover letters, I've heard that the best way to show interest in a firm is to give historical facts (founding date, important deals) or logistics (number of employees). How often should we work these in?

Yikes, what bad advice. That is the last thing I want to hear. When I am reading your cover letter, I do want to know that your letter has been written specifically to answer my job description, and that it is not a form letter. Likewise, when I am assessing you in both your cover letter (and resume) and during your interview, I am looking for evidence that you would want to work for me and my firm.

But, regurgitated facts are not the way to show it.

Experiences and skills that are aligned with what I do are much more relevant to me. I am never going to leave an interview thinking, “Wow, she was able to name all three of our founders and knew when their birthdays were!” But you will be heading towards an offer if I am thinking “Wow, that research project she worked on covered exactly the type of problems we deal with every day!”

Dazzle me with your skills and evidence of interest in my industry; don’t bore me with memorized facts about my firm.

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Q: Should I make a new resume for each company I apply to? How different should each cover letter be?

It is perfectly fine to customize your resume and cover letter for each opportunity. Your goal when doing this will be to highlight your particular skills and strengths as they relate to the individual opportunity. For example, if giving presentations will be a key part of the job, make sure your presenting experience and skills stand out over less related information.

Just be aware of the logistical problem of remembering which version went to whom.

With regard to cover letters, once you have done four or five of them, you usually have covered most iterations and can cut and paste the right pieces together. Keeping your information general, but tayloring it to each particular opportunity, is the best combination.

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Topic: Excellent, Superior and other Superlatives

When describing their skill levels, I often warn job seekers to refrain from using words like “excellent” and “superior” for four reasons:

1. These words are their opinions not mine. I don’t want to hear opinions. I want to see facts and examples and formulate my own conclusion.

2. Chances are I have a different, and likely higher, expectation of what it means to have “excellent communication skills” or “superior understanding of business marketing”. If there is not corroborating evidence to support these statements, they are likely to go in the “no” pile.

3. These statements of opinion are extra words that make it harder for me to find their relevant skills.

4. If they do make it to an interview, you can be assured that I am going to drill down very hard on this area and see if they meet my interpretation of these words.

Of course if you meet my definition of what an expert is, I want you on my team, but trust me, unless you have at least 5 years of work experience under your belt, you won’t . Best not to go there.

Btw, here is an easy fix. Change “excellent” or “superior” to something like “honed my”. This simple change makes the statements actions not opinions.

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Topic: Cover Letter Body Paragraph(s)

For those of you struggling to formulate a cohesive message in your cover letter, try answering the following question. Generally, this is what recruiters are really asking you to tell them in the letter:

"Please describe for me in one or two paragraphs why you think you will add value to my team. Please give clear examples, not opinions, as to how:

1. Your skills will lead to success in the position we are offering.

2. Your strong character and intellectual capacity will propel you to future advancement."

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Topic: Cover Letter Focus

The purpose of your cover letter is to introduce yourself to a prospective employer and articulate how you will add value to her firm. Many job seekers feel compelled to focus a meaningful part of their letters on what they hope to gain from the experience of working at a particular firm or in a particular role.

This is at best irrelevant information and should not be included unless it is explicitly asked for (e.g. some educational internships or non-profit opportunities, offering “an experience”, may actually encourage this).

It is not that employers do not care about this information, but it is not relevant to the process of deciding whether you should be called in for an interview. It only dilutes your message and may introduce risk, i.e. “I hope to gain intimate industry knowledge so that I can start my own firm”. Yikes!

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Kyle: I recently had a political internship with the Democratic mayoral campaign. Does the fact that I supported a single person/party hinder or help my chances of getting hired? Should I seek to balance this out by taking an internship with a Republican?

If you enjoy campaign work and you feel that it is providing you with skills that will help you land a future job, then by all means keep at it. Affiliation with a major party should not hurt (or help) you as long as you do not come across as too ideological or extreme: such people are not very good team players.

Of course, you might want to avoid the risk completely and simply mention the candidate’s name and leave off the party affiliation all together. When you think about it, it really isn’t relevant. When a prospective employer is evaluating your qualifications, she is focusing on your skills: what you did, not who you did it for. Leave it off and then you don’t have to worry.

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Ryan: I've read that you should try to express your enthusiasm for a position through your cover letter. But how do you do that in one paragraph without coming across as a phony?

A good point. The key is not to say that you are enthusiastic; that can sound phony. Instead, let your enthusiasm show through your description of past achievements.

Phony: "I would really love to work for your company. I know that I will excel in its fast pace environment, and if given the chance, I will do a great job".

Genuine: "During my summer internship, I very much enjoyed answering calls and helping solve customer problems. The experience was fascinating; it honed my communication skills and taught me to think on my feet."

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Henry: I was on another site and it stressed displaying "tasks" [on resumes and cover letters]. You stress "skills" and discourage listing "tasks". What gives?

If you are an inexperienced job seeker (a college student, recent graduate, or someone changing to a new field), it is my opinion that you are better off giving examples of your skills for one simple reason - skills are often transferable to different situations, whereas tasks are not.

For example, if you had a summer job working in a biology lab, your analytical and analysis skills may be similar to the skills needed in marketing, advertising, finance or administration. However, your tasks of running tests and documenting your experiments are specific to a science laboratory and most likely will not be seen as transferable.

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Sheila: You discourage people from using words like "excellent" in their resumes. I think I have "excellent" communication skills. Why wouldn't I want to advertise this?

First, your claim that you have excellent communications skills is an opinion. If I am reading your resume (or cover letter), I am not looking for your opinions. I am looking for your skills, and evidence that you are a good fit for the particular job for which I am hiring. I want you to give me the supporting evidence. Then, I will make my own decision as to the level of your skills.

Second, superlatives are a source of risk. People have widely different definitions of what "excellent" means and you will not always fit with their definition. If you fall below their expectations, you have seriously compromised your chances.

Are you wondering How to Get Hired? Join the discussion on my Facebook Group Polished and ask me anything you have ever wondered about resumes, cover letters, interviews, and job hunting!

Polished: Adding Shine to your Resume, Cover Letter, and Interview Skills is a complete job search guide written specifically for college students and other first time job seekers.



Here's the official description from my website:

"Written by R. Scott Morris, former CEO of the Boston Options Exchange and Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, Polished outlines the methods for success and the many pitfalls that doom most job seekers.

Scott has been working with the students in the Chicago Careers in Business program at the University of Chicago for the past three years. Polished is the culmination of his teaching and their insight. Many of the examples in this workbook are based on actual participants from this program.

Scott puts his experience to work for you!

Polished reveals invaluable tips that will make employers notice you! Real life examples from a seasoned executive will teach you how to put your best foot forward in all stages of the job search, including

* Cover Letters - create focused, concise prose that highlights your skills and advances you to the interview
* Resume - develop insightful techniques that make it easy for employers to find and understand your key selling points
* Interviewing - leverage the value of your first impression by crafting your appearance and articulating your words for maximum effect
* Career Choice - assess careers and organizations to find the best match with your own personality and professional goals

Polished gives you the tools you need for a successful job search. Author R. Scott Morris tells it like it is from his unique perspective as a hiring decision maker who has seen thousands of resumes and conducted hundreds of interviews. This book puts his experience to work for you!"

Let me know what you think!

Are you wondering How to Get Hired? Join the discussion on my Facebook Group Polished and ask me anything you have ever wondered about resumes, cover letters, interviews, and job hunting!