Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/somegeekintn/3709203268/

Classifieds are an excellent resource when it comes to finding jobs – for this reason alone: employers that post in the classifieds are sure to be looking. However, it is also because of this fact and the wide availability of most classifieds (including online and newspapers) that there is bound to be a lot of competition when it comes to applying for jobs advertised in classifieds.

This goes double for any town that the Craigslist service works for; generally, Craigslist is pretty well-known and it’s a widely-visited site, and so there is a ton of traffic going towards Craigslist. And with this traffic comes a lot of applicants. And with a lot of applicants comes the difficulty of making oneself stand out from the rest of the applicants. What’s worse – Craigslist is done online, meaning that one will not be given the opportunity to appear in-person and make a statement to the manager (what’s the percentage of communication that’s done in body language?). This can be a benefit or a setback, depending on your people skills – but either way, it’s irrelevant in the “Expansion” phase of job-hunting.

So how does one set themselves apart from the rest of the herd?

1. Follow Instructions

photo credit: sillygwailo

This one seems obvious, but it’s surprising how many applicants carelessly break requirements (or try to sneak past them). If the employer requests that the resume be in the body of the e-mail, then don’t send it as an attachment. If the employer requests certain experience, don’t bother applying if it’s not there. Get the drift? This saves trouble and time for both the applicant and the employer. Undoubtedly, not following a requirement will likely disqualify the applicant from the position.

2. With the E-Mail…

photo credit: quinn.anya

Highlight pieces of the resume! Don’t be afraid to mention previous experience in the industry, or any relevant volunteering experiences. Because the e-mail is the first thing the Craigslist employers generally read (unless they request phoning in, which will be addressed in later points), hit ‘em hard with qualifications and past experiences.

For example, if it’s a bartending or restaurant job, mention the SmartServe qualification (for Canadian residents). (If one hasn’t completed it yet, please Google Smartserve and complete it; it opens up many possibilities).

If there’s no response within an hour, don’t panic. There have been times when responses took even a week or two to process and for the employer to reply; in this case, the key to getting more responses is simply to apply to more jobs (makes sense, right?)! Chances are one will receive more replies the more opportunities that he/she applies towards.

However, here’s an idea: consistency is appreciated mainly more towards walk-in methods of application – on the Internet, this method is called “spam”. One’s dedication towards applying for a job can easily be misinterpreted as an annoyance; this will further disqualify the applicant from the job. Don’t get desperate. E-mail once and move on.

To Whom it may Concern:

My name is Herbert Lui, and I’m interested in the ABC position in XYZ company. I believe that my experience with DEF company bolstered my communication skills, used to address customer inquiries and interact with co-workers. The details of my experience can be found in my resume, which you will find attached to this e-mail.

I hope to hear from you soon.

From,

Herbert

Granted, it’s a bit crude and not perfect (far from it, actually), but it’ll work. Do not copy this e-mail word for word (what’s the point? In fact, if a prospective employer gets ahold of this article and sees that the e-mail was copied and pasted, how would he feel?), but please try to take away the general picture. In fact, the whole “To Whom it may Concern:” part seems a bit formal, and can be simply replaced with “Hi there:”.

Secondly, don’t hesitate to create a framework for e-mails. Because of the numerous e-mails one will be sending throughout the distribution of his/her resumes, it will be very beneficial to simply copy and paste his/her OWN layout and adjust company names and personal qualities to suit the prospective employer. Don’t copy this one.

…and yeah, it’s the layout I like using.

3. With the Telephone…

photo credit: Daquella manera

It’s usually not common to see Craigslist employers request a telephone call (this is more common towards dedicated employment sites, such as Monster or Workopolis), but if the opportunity ever comes up, then by all means capitalize.

There will be people who are more comfortable speaking to a real person than communicating via e-mail; and with telephones, these people will naturally shine and stand out. They will have the voice, tone, and wit to carry a conversation with the employer. For everyone else (possibly the majority of people), telephone conversations will pose more of a challenge than an e-mail because text can be edited and revised, whereas spoken words can’t.

One possible solution would be to try emulating the conversation before it actually takes place; anticipate the questions (both common sense ones – like “What part of this job interests you?” and “What qualities do you feel can serve us best?”, but also more untraditional questions relating to your job, which can be usually expertise-related).

Secondly, try to breathe consistently. Breathing is key to voice control; try not to gasp, but breathe through the nose. A slow, relaxed, breath will set the tone for a more relaxed conversation, which can give off the sound-image of your confidence towards people.

With voice, try to show enthusiasm; don’t be afraid to inquire about the job (in fact, this can be recommended) – don’t discuss touchier subjects like Vacation Times or Wages, but talk about the developmental possibilities that this job entails.

Timing

photo credit: MarvinSiefke

One last thing about Craigslist is the importance of timing; weekends are usually when employers rest, so my recommendation would be to take a break on the weekend and switch gears on weekdays. A good time to check would be at 1PM, when the morning posts are up; and at around 5PM – I say 5PM because afternoon posts would be up, while there will still be people at the workplace to check responses (assuming that the employer stays behind to look into the job applications and doesn’t just leave work at 5PM).

Best of luck. Stay hungry.

At my University’s orientation, I mentioned to a professor counselling me on my course selection that I wanted to be a freelance writer. Taken aback, he mentioned that he had been a freelance writer for a couple of years, writing for a local paper where he made a less-than-luxurious amount of money (I’d prefer to leave it undisclosed, but you probably get the idea).

Naturally, this was a bit disheartening, and I began reconsidering a lot of my options. At the peak of my disappointment with freelancing, I’d even considered switching to major in Business and out of the Media Information Technoculture course that I’m currently enrolled in. In fact, I took the month of July to study Calculus and Vectors to prepare me for a possible switch to Business.

Here was my rationale: although money wasn’t the most important factor in a line of work, it was definitely a major consideration for me. The side of me that loves money is a realist — it knew that the chances of me making money (I’m talking big money) on writing alone were slim to none. And it was convincing me that the feast-or-famine cycle was the least appealing quality of the job.

But lately, I’d been doing a lot of reading — I’d actually stumbled the majority of it accidentally. Through a lot of clickthroughs from various websites and blogs, I ended up at this article: http://www.skelliewag.org/30-days-to-become-a-freelancer-961.htm

I was deeply impressed. Although this wasn’t my first time reading Skellie’s work, I had never seen freelancing being broken down like that before. And the thing is, freelancing could be given a try while I was a full-time student (it was either on this article or another that mentioned freelancing should be started at 1-2 hours a night while maintaing a full-time job — my full-time job is studying). With my love for writing rekindled by this hope, I’d decided to go all-out in August and try to become a freelancer by the beginning of September.

No doubt, this part is a lot easier, because I’m on Summer break and have the whole day to work on freelancing. I’m aspiring to be a freelance writer, but I do want to try and get some other knowledge in; finances and employment opportunites, as well as online income, are piquing my interest right now.

Why am I saying all this? This is just an introduction into the world of freelancing, which I consider to be a source of making some money; secondly, I plan to study and personally undergo this 30 days towards being a freelancer, and keeping myself accountable with this blog. Hopefully, my documented journey will be able to help future aspiring freelancers.

There’s no shortage of articles teaching people how to write good resumes, and truthfully I wished I’d written this article because it somewhat addresses all the points that I felt were necessary. I don’t believe in writing content that has already been covered by someone else without contributing an extra idea or two, so here goes:

1. Tailor your Resume

photo credit: TheTruthAbout

This piece of advice was actually suggested to me by someone I bumped into at a job fair – but he told me to tailor my resume to whatever job I was going to. Similarly, another friend told me to create a second, more streamlined and slimmed down, version of my resume, which he felt would be appropriate for certain other jobs (“so you don’t seem overqualified”).

Either way, you get the point – a strategic approach would be to tailor your resume towards places you plan to apply to ahead of time – for example, if you’re planning to apply to a retail store, highlight your interest in fashion. Don’t be afraid to mention your previous experience in another retail store, and make sure you personally hand your resume in to the manager so that he/she can see your sense of style (thanks Nick).

Such minor observations and tweaks can make the difference between you and the next guy, so make sure you take every opportunity to tailor the resume towards where you’re applying.

2. Your Resume doesn’t have to be one page!

The general rule of resumes is to make it as short as possible and avoid the dreaded second page, but I’ve found it to be beneficial to go over the one-page limit sometimes. Firstly, the mindset of having a second page makes it easier to throw absolutely everything down on the resume. Keep in mind that this works well on a spill draft of the resume, but it would be wise to filter out much of the more important stuff (as my friend tells me, “No one gives a shit about which elementary school you graduated from.”).

Here’s the ‘checklist’ as found in the Simple Dollar article previously linked to:

• Name/address/phone/email
• Summary of Qualifications
• Work Experience (unless this is your first “real” job)
• Professional Organizations (unless these are slim, then eliminate or move to end)
• Honors (unless these are slim, then eliminate or move to end)
• Education
• A note indicating that references are available upon request

I found that my “Summary of Qualifications” and “Work Experience” (I also included a few volunteering experiences) already took up my first page, and I figured it wouldn’t necessarily be wise to skim down my experiences. One idea would be to cut down on the number of points per experience, another would be to simply extract the unnecessary ones.

photo credit: HowardLake

Under recommendations from a friend (thanks Dhruv), I threw in an Awards section to bring up the awards I’ve received in competitions (such as DECA) or other certifications that I’d earned previously.

Lastly, I mentioned this briefly: my Interests section used to have things closest to my heart – from random stuff like philosophy to music. It sounds silly, but I really wanted to personalize my resume. I got hit by the stone cold truth by the job fair guy: the employers don’t care about your interests unless it has something to do with them! Chances are if you talk about irrelevant interests, you’ll be diluting your qualifications and good points with unimportant interests and your resume will end up in the recycling bin. Sure, you can share interests with your coworkers and managers…after you get the job.

3. Highlights of Qualifications/Summary of Qualifications

Employers scan resumes, and the peak of their interest will probably be at the beginning of your resume. Make sure you highlight your strongest points by creating a Highlights of Qualifications/Summary of Qualifications section, where you bring out your most important skills.

For example, one entry on my resume is:

• Adaptability: able to understand situations, adapt accordingly, and obtain new skills

Although the grammar isn’t the greatest, it’s straightforward and concise, perfect for a quick scan. I recommend bringing up 4-5 of these entries in your Highlights of Qualifications section, and don’t be modest! If you’ve got something you really want to shine, then make it beautiful.

Icing on the cake…

photo credit: yumyumbubblegum

That’s just my two cents – the web is overflowing with information on resumes, so here are a bunch more for you to peruse at your own leisure.

• http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-write-a-resume
• http://jobsearch.about.com/cs/resumewriting/a/10steps.htm
• http://writing-resumes.suite101.com/article.cfm/10_tips_for_writing_a_killer_resume
• http://www.internationalgraduate.net/resume.htm
• http://blogs.bnet.com/ceo/?p=1899

Remember, the resume is the key to the interview, which is the key to the job. Don’t cheap out on effort when it comes to the resume. Enjoy!