• Technical Skills for an Entry-Level Job. Employers will expect you to be able to do the technical aspect of the job for which you apply. If you are applying for a job as a computer programmer, for example, you will need to offer specific evidence that you can write computer programs in the desired programming languages. Such evidence might include college classes, technical training, and/or previous experience writing programs.

• Job-related Computer Proficiency. Regardless of the employment you are seeking, you will need to have basic computer skills. Many jobs will also require knowledge of specific software applications. Those who plan to be accountants, for example, will need to be familiar with accounting information systems and a variety of accounting software packages.

• Communication Skills. Again, regardless of the employment you are seeking, you will need to be able to provide evidence of communication proficiency. As information becomes increasingly important for organizational success, those who can demonstrate their ability to use it well are increasingly in demand. Career success will depend not only on what you know, but also on how well you can communicate it through writing and speaking.

• A Sound Work Ethic. What evidence can you provide that you are willing to work and have the initiative and perseverance required for career success? Your previous work record and record of academic achievement are the best indicators of how you will perform in future jobs. For this reason, it is important that you establish the kind of record that will support your claims of initiative and dedication to hard work and excellence.

Also, you will need to cultivate references who will be willing to support your application for employment. The best references are your instructors and those for whom you have worked. If your instructors, employers in part-time and other temporary jobs, and supervisors for internships and co-op work experiences have been impressed with your abilities, chances are good that you will continue to impress those for whom you work. Past performance is the single best indicator of future behavior.

Remember that for you to be of value to an organization, you will need to make a contribution to the organization’s profits (however those are measured). Your productivity must exceed the cost of your salary and fringe benefits. Your letter of application and resume must demonstrate that you have the education, experience, and personal qualities necessary to make such a contribution.

Before you begin writing your resume and cover letter, assess your qualifications and the job opportunities available to you. Then match your skills with the requirements of the available jobs, and design your resume and letter to emphasize your best qualifications for the kind of work you wish to do.

Your job application package may well be the most important piece of business correspondence you undertake. The finished product should show that you took its preparation seriously. The best job application package in the world cannot guarantee you a job, but a poorly prepared job application can certainly prevent you from being selected for an interview. Remember that organizations may receive hundreds—and perhaps thousands—of applications for every job available, and they use job application packages as screening devices to screen out those they do not wish to interview. For this reason, the job package needs to be prepared with care.

Invited and Uninvited Applications

The readers of your application package will be in one of two categories: either they will have asked for your application (and perhaps hundreds of others at the same time), or they will not have asked for it. Your application, then, will be either invited or uninvited. In either case, you should apply for one particular job. In an invited application, you will have a want ad, job description, or specific request to go by; in an uninvited application, you should apply for the job you can do best.

With invited applications, job descriptions sometimes ask for more qualifications than any one applicant could reasonably be expected to have. Five years’ experience desired does not mean, for example, that an employer won’t settle for less if you show that you can do the job. When you have a want ad or job description, be sure to address each of the stated job requirements as specifically as you can in a positive way.

With uninvited applications, apply for the kind of work you can do best. First-time job applicants sometimes fear that, if they apply for a specific job, they won’t be considered for a related job that happens to be available. This is usually not true. Personnel managers and others who make hiring decisions are looking for a match between skills and job requirements, and strong applications are given first consideration regardless of the specific job applied for.

Nothing sounds weaker in a job application than saying, I’m interested in filling any vacancy you may have available. Job applicants—especially college graduates—should be mature enough to have some idea of what they want to do with their lives, and the application package should reflect this sense of purpose. On the other hand, your application should also demonstrate the you-attitude by showing a willingness to do work useful to your prospective employer. In addition, your package should demonstrate self-confidence and competence (proofread carefully).

All the tricks (such as singeing the edges of your resume to show that you are a “hot” prospect) have been tried; most employers want a conventional presentation. A conventional job application package, however, can—and should—reflect your individuality. Note, too, that what is considered conventional may vary depending on your chosen career. Those completing degrees in advertising, for example, would need to demonstrate creativity in a way that those finishing in accountancy or finance would not.

The Basics

A job application package has two basic parts: a resume and a letter of application. The resume may also be called a data sheet or vita. Although authorities do not always agree on the differences among them, the data sheet is usually the briefest and considered the least sophisticated, usually presenting a minimum of facts on a single page.

The resume (from the French résumé, meaning a summary) provides more information and some interpretation. Resumes may be one to three or four pages long depending on an individual’s education and work history.

A vita (Latin for life) is much longer than either a data sheet or resume and usually includes a lengthy summary of professional accomplishments, such as publications, professional presentations, special education, and the like. Vitas are usually required only for senior-level positions.

The letter of application (cover letter, letter of transmittal) interprets and highlights information presented on the resume. The resume is an informational document, while the letter is persuasive. Although modern word processing equipment has made typesetting of resumes unnecessary, the tradition of preparing one resume for use with any number of individual letters of application has continued.

Assessing Your Qualifications

Before you prepare your job package, you should answer the following questions as honestly as you can:

1. Professional objectives. What occupational goals have you set for yourself? Why do you wish to pursue these goals? Are your goals realistic? Are they flexible? Do you have an entry-level job skill? What are your long-term career plans?

2. Education. What has your education prepared you to do? How do your major and minor fields relate to one another? How do they relate to your professional objectives? Can you do what your education suggests you can without a great deal of additional training?

3. Experience. Do you have work experience related to the kind of work you are seeking? Have any of your jobs taught you specific skills required for the kind of work you want to do? Do you have a well-developed work history? Does your previous experience show a willingness to work hard?

4. Personal qualities. Do you have any special personal attributes that make you especially well-suited for the kind of work you are seeking? Do you enjoy working with people? With numbers? With books? Have any of your hobbies or extracurricular activities taught you something about the kind of work for which you are applying? Did you earn part (most, all) of the money to pay for your college education? Can you cooperate, follow instructions, and work as a member of a team? What have you done that demonstrates initiative?

Your answers to these questions will help reveal your strengths and weaknesses so that you can better emphasize your strengths. The questions listed here are, in fact, representative of the kinds of things you will be asked in the interview process. See Negotiating for What You Want for examples of typical interview questions. Note that if you start early, you can eliminate many of your potential weaknesses by the time you are ready to graduate.

Assessing Your Market Value

How much are you worth to an employer? Before you begin your job search in earnest, you will need to know what employers are willing to pay for people with your qualifications. To gauge your market value, you will need to know the average salaries for those with your education and experience in the regions of the country where you would like to work.

Whether you are seeking your first professional job, are planning to change jobs, or are planning to request a raise, you will do better if you have the appropriate salary data to use in your negotiations. Fortunately, such information is now widely available on the Internet. Start with the following sites:

• The Riley Guide is a comprehensive job-search site that includes salary information and articles on negotiation strategies.

• JobSmart provides links to salary surveys and to a variety of other useful sites for those seeking employment.

• Careers, an online feature of The Wall Street Journal, provides a wide variety of information about the job market, including current salary information and advice about career planning.

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides monthly surveys on wages and employment in different regions of the country.

• CareerBuilder is a “Comprehensive Career Achievement Site” that includes everything from tips on writing a resume to a salary calculator that lets you compare the cost of living in hundreds of cities in the U.S. and abroad.

Assessing Job Opportunities

Once you have clarified what you want to do and what you are able to do, you must then locate companies that not only need your skills but also will provide you with the opportunity to achieve your professional goals.

1. For what kind of organization would you like to work? Consider the size and location(s) of the organization; opportunities for travel (or not traveling); the product or service; and the organization’s history, operations, and policies. Will the organization support your efforts to obtain additional education? Does it provide a relatively clear career path, or will you need to change jobs to get ahead? What kind of training does it provide for new employees?

   While most people change employers several times during their careers, you should select your first job with all the care permitted by the market conditions. If possible, work at your first organization at least until you earn your first promotion. A current edition of What Color Is Your Parachute, by R. N. Bolles, can help with career planning.

2. How can you find job openings? Your college or university placement office will have a number of publications and lists of campus recruiters available to assist you in your job search. Want ads from newspapers and professional journals and the yellow pages from telephone books for the locations of your choice can help. The Internet also has a number of useful sites, including the following:

   • Career City (Lists virtual job fairs in a number of cities and includes an extensive database of job openings.)

   • Career Mosaic (Lists a wide variety of jobs in business, engineering, and healthcare. Provides links to a number of other job sources.)

   • Careerpath (Lists a wide variety of jobs in a broad range of organizational types.)

   • DICE (May be the largest online job service for high-tech professionals. It provides free access to thousands of IT jobs and a search engine to help you find the job you want.)

   • HotJobs.com (Lists a wide variety of jobs and allows customized searches based on keyword, location, or company.)

   • JobWeb (Lists a wide variety of jobs and provides a number of useful suggestions about career planning.)

   • Online Career Center (Lists jobs by location and type.)

   • Espan (Lists a wide variety of jobs and allows you to search based on your experience and desired location.)

   • Monster.com (Lists a wide variety of jobs and allows customized searches based on experience and desired location.)
   
   

3. How do you select the best possibilities? Once you have found openings in organizations that appeal to you, consider what each of those organizations has to offer. What is the organization’s position in the industry? Has its growth rate been stable? Has it been influenced by recent mergers or acquisitions, and, if so, how? Does the organization have a reputation for downsizing with regularity? Has the organization been outsourcing an increasing number of jobs?

   Does the organization have a well-developed training program or otherwise support continuing self-education? Is it a learning organization that is able to keep pace with cultural and technological change? Does it promote from within?

1. What aspects of your education contribute most directly to your ability to do the work required? List the job duties you would have in the job for which you wish to apply, and make a separate list of your course work that applies to each. Focus on the subject matter of the courses rather than course titles, which may bear little resemblance to the material actually covered in the class. Concentrate on the advanced work in your area of study—beginning and intermediate courses are generally assumed.

2. What aspects of your work experience contribute most directly to your ability to do the work required? The best indicator that you can do a particular kind of work is previous experience doing it. While you are in school, take advantage of internships, career-related part-time employment, and other kinds of work-study opportunities. Even if your work experience is limited or not related to your desired career, you can find positive aspects to stress, such as good communication and computer skills, the ability to work well with people, increasing job responsibilities, ability to innovate, and willingness to make decisions.

3. What personal qualities do you possess that make you attractive to prospective employers? Even if you have the right education and previous career-related employment, an organization will not hire you unless you have demonstrated certain desired personal qualities, such as reliability, a willingness to work hard, the desire to learn more, the ability to take criticism, and the ability to learn from your mistakes.

Remember that the person who hires you will be thinking primarily about what you can do for the organization (and not about what the organization can do for you). Consequently, what counts is that person’s view of your skills. Fortunately, you can influence that view. Using the you-attitude and positive tone will help you create the kind of favorable impression that will get you hired.

You have three basic tools to work with in making your presentation: your job application package (resume and letter of application), the interview, and follow-up correspondence. Each of these tools has a specific use. The objective of the job application package is to obtain an interview; the purpose of the interview is to persuade the interviewer that you are the right person for the job; and the purposes of follow-up correspondence are to (a) thank the interviewer for the time he or she spent with you, (b) express continued interest in the job, (c) overcome any reservations the interviewer expressed about your suitability for the job, and (d) negotiate for any necessary changes in a job offer.

The next section, Selling Yourself, covers preparing a resume and letter of application.