The Job Search Advice You Need to Hear Again and Again

The Job Search Advice You Need to Hear Again and AgainJob Search AdviceThe Job Search Advice You Need to Hear Again and AgainOne of our newest career-related distitelies is What Would Dad Say?, a blog written by dad and business authority G.L. Hoffman. He had a fantastic post last week, The Class Everyone Thought You Took, But You Didnt.The class in question was Interviewing 101. Frankly, its nothing that we havent all heard (or said) before, but its so basic, so important, and so simply stated that it really ought to be embroidered on a throw pillow.Im a believer in simplicity. Wasnt it Thoreau who said, Simplify, simplify, simplify? Thats probably why I loved the post. It lays the foundation for job seeker success by condensing the essential elements into 10 simple statements.Heres the first, direct from the duh truckWhen you send out a resume, send a cover letter too.Make both perfect.Come on, theres just no arguing with thatUnfortunately, that doesnt stop people from arguing. Sur e, some big companies will just strip the cover letter out of your electronic application and scan the resume into a database. Some hiring managers will overlook typos in your resume. But why risk it? Just write the letter and fix your mistakes. Its not hardHeres the second painfully obvious pointKeep track of what company and to whom you send your resume and cover letter. You do this so when you are called by the companys recruiter, you dont say things like how did you get my resume, or who are you and why are you calling me?Trust me, this scenario really is painful. I have actually said to a phone interviewer, Forgive me, but can you refresh my memory about which company this is, and which position you have open? Yeah. Still couldnt tell you what that company was, because strangely they passed up the opportunity to hire me.Keep a record of all the resumes and letters you send out. Organize it so that when an interviewer calls (which is the whole point), youll be able to determine instantly which version of your resume theyre looking at, what you said in your letter, and which of your qualifications are most relevant to this position. Again, its not hard.You get the picture. I urge you to check out the other eight basic statements in the post to remind yourself how simple job seeking really ought to be.You dont have to get fancy to advance your career. You just need to understand and master the basics. Do that and youll be miles ahead of most of the competition.Do you agree? Is getting hired really a simple process? Or is it a complicated jumble of variables in which success depends on dumb luck and a precise planetary alignment?