Unemployment Style

Cover Letter – Do you really need one? August 20, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — cherylsjohnson @ 4:07 pm

That’s a good question. At first I thought, I don’t need a cover letter. They’re a waste of time. Employers never read them. I wanted to put all my energy into a well-crafted, organized resume. But what I failed to realize is that a good cover letter is meant to introduce you to the employer. It’s their first impression of you. A good cover letter puts a human voice to your name.

A cover letter is a marketing piece used to get you the interview. So make sure you craft it to reflect your skill sets and capabilities for that specific job. I’ve listed a few tips below:

Custom tailor each cover letter
Be strong, confident and professional – the cover letter is a sample of your writing skills and how you communicate in a written format
Make it personal – if you know the hiring manager’s name use it, if not skip the greeting introduction all together. I don’t recommend using generic terms like “To Whom it may Concern” or “Dear Sir/Madam”.
Get to the point – Which position you are applying for, How did you learn about the job (this avoids the appearance of a mass produced cover letter)
Research the organization and highlight specific ways your expertise can benefit the organization
Match your skills sets to the job requirements
Peak their interest so they want to learn more about you
In closing, express your gratitude for their time and interest. Make sure to outline your next steps by stating when you will contact them to follow-up on your resume and the status of the job.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Resume, Resume, Resume, competition is fierce so you need to set yourself a part from the masses, and a good cover letter can do that very thing. It can get you one step closer to an interview.

So remember – a cover letter and resume go hand-in-hand. You don’t want to have one without the other.

Stay positive.

Cheryl

Resume, Resume, Resume August 9, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — cherylsjohnson @ 7:48 pm

This is what I’ve discovered since becoming unemployed – drum roll please – there are millions of resume experts in the world! Everywhere you go, every site you visit, every other e-mail is someone telling you how to craft a resume. I know, I do appreciate all the help but it does create confusion in several areas: functional vs. chronological, years of employment history, year on your college degree, etc. I’ve actually revised my resume four times in six months. I do believe my resume is much better than the original.

Resume #1, way too much information making it four pages long! I thought I had to cram everything I did in my lifetime into my resume. But with the help of an expert, I got it down to two pages. Resume #2, now it was too generic. I had removed too much, sacrificing my most important accomplishments and their results. Not good! So onto resume #3, added back in my biggest accomplishments and their results, included only 15 years of work experience, made the font smaller and rearrange my header. Much better so I thought.

I was on monster.com one evening and noticed a “Free” comprehensive resume evaluation button. I thought it couldn’t hurt. It’s free. So off went my resume to another expert. I received a phone call three days later from a gentleman, who represented a company called Bakos Group. We chatted for about 20 minutes and he actually gave me some valuable tips for free. Of course, he wanted me to go one step further and paid for a professional writer to revise my resume for around $200. I politely declined and we completed our call. He also followed up with an e-mail. All FREE. What a pleasant surprise.

All this to say there is no right or wrong way to write a resume. Competition is fierce so your resume needs to set you apart from the masses. It needs to be a passionate representation of who you are and why you are the best person for the job. Below are the must haves that are in my resume. So revise away and take on the competition!

Select the right resume type that works for you – chronological, functional and combination – This depends on the industry you are in and years of experience
Keep layout clean and easy to read
Make sure you have NO spelling errors
Profile – describe yourself in a brief paragraph
Professional Experience – most say 15 years of work experience
Education – I have my graduation year listed
Awards/Honors
Professional Memberships or Certifications

Stay positive.

Cheryl

Comments (5)

Top 10 List of Unemployment Benefits August 2, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — cherylsjohnson @ 3:11 pm

10) 40 more hours to spend with family & friends

9) Saves wear and tear on the Snooze button

8) No Suits, No Shoes, No PROBLEM

7) No waiting in line at the gym

6) 8+ hours of sleep each night

5) 75% reduction in commuter road rage

4) Unlimited Blogging & Face Booking

3) Zero-based budgeting has a whole new meaning

2) Time to make an audition tape for Survivor (reality TV show)

And the #1 unemployment benefit

1) Endless vacation days

Disclaimer: This is a satire piece. I truly would like to be employed!

Comments (6)

Priceless August 1, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — cherylsjohnson @ 6:35 pm

Suit – $300

Shoes – $150

Styling Salon – $200

Going back to Work – Priceless

If I Had a Dollar… July 30, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — cherylsjohnson @ 4:43 pm

If I had a dollar for every time a family member, well really just my mom, asked me if I’ve found a job yet — I wouldn’t have to work – I’d be a Millionaire! Seriously, I talk to my mom every week and she always finds a way to work it into the conversation. Now I know she is only asking because she’s concerned and cares about me but it makes me feel a little embarrassed – like I’m disappointing her. Not sure why I feel this way because when others inquire about my job status I feel fine answering the question. I guess I feel like they understand what’s happening in the marketplace – they live and breathe it every day. But not my mom. She’s never had to work outside the home. She’s from the generation where most moms didn’t work outside the home; they raised the children and kept the home clean. She truly never experienced the lack of work – she raised five kids all by herself. She cooked three meals a day, attended sporting events, chauffeured kids to and from activities – never a moment to herself. And I truly appreciate her for that!

I know, I know I shouldn’t feel embarrassed about telling my mom that I don’t have a job yet but I still believe that the majority of us never want to disappoint our moms.

Stay positive.

Cheryl

Comments (3)

But I thought the interview went so well… July 27, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — cherylsjohnson @ 4:19 pm

How do you know when you’ve nailed an interview? You hit it off with the HR person, had good chemistry with the hiring manager, had a 95% match to the job qualifications and skills. But didn’t make it to the next round. Do you ever really know how well the interview went? Nope. Not until you’ve actually landed the job! Then, and only then, will you know the interview went well!

This has happened to me on a few occasions where I just knew the interview would get me to the next round. I left feeling proud of myself and confident that I would get the job. But didn’t. So what happened? I’ll probably never know why I didn’t get the job but I can assure you of one thing – I was prepared!

Be prepared

Research the company – review their website, their annual report/10K, review them on www.hoovers.com and/or Dun & Bradstreet www.dnb.com, read current news stories, talk to your connections that either work at the company or do business with the company
Research hiring manager – organizational affiliations, common interest
Be prepared to demonstrate successes you’ve had in the at past – Have 5 to 10 accomplishment stories that are relevant for the position (I’ll expand on this in more detail in a later posting)
Anticipate questions and prepare answers
Have your own list of questions about the company and position
Know the industry salary range for the position (www.salary.com)
After the interview, follow up with a hand-written thank you note to the hiring manager and HR person
Was I over prepared? Can you be over prepared? I don’t think you can ever be over prepared so I’ll call it fate. I do believe that everything happens for a reason and it just wasn’t my time to work for this company.

Stay positive!

Cheryl

Comments (1)

Professional Recommendations July 24, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — cherylsjohnson @ 11:02 am

How many recommendations are too many? I had this discussion last week at a LinkedIn seminar. Some say 3-4 but not more than 5. I disagree. It depends on the industry you service. Take me for example, I’m in marketing and interact with many different segments of the workforce – peers, team members, field and industry marketing leaders, agency people, advertising reps, clients, etc. Having several (I have 12) recommendations provides a well-rounded cross section of the business world.

Thoughts?

Stay positive!

Cheryl

Brand ME July 22, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — cherylsjohnson @ 2:22 pm

Okay the unemployment rate as of June 30, 2009 is 9.7% – what does that mean? Well it means that I’m competing with thousands of unemployed marketing people – we’re a dime a dozen in today’s marketplace. But have no fear marketing people know how to market themselves right, WRONG! I attended an American Marketing Association (AMA) seminar last week titled “Get noticed. Get the interview. Get Hired”. I had a strategy for attending the seminar – meet the speakers and get, at least, one new thought or idea. I executed my strategy and got both – Worth the investment!

What I found interesting was the lack of knowledge among marketers on how to market themselves. We can market a product or service but when it comes to marketing ourselves, most of us don’t do a very good job of it. I shouldn’t of been surprised, I didn’t like to talk about myself much – I would always let my work speak for itself. But I had to learn and learn fast and feel comfortable doing it. In today’s environment you have to talk about yourself! It’s key to landing a job.

I’ve been unemployed for awhile and attended several, okay numerous, classes, seminars, clinics, etc so I’ve gotten the hang of marketing ME. And I love to share what I’ve learned with others so here we go:

:30 Elevator speech – your commercial

This took me awhile to accomplish and sometimes I still ramble on. I thought I had to cram everything into my :30 spot because I didn’t want to leave anything out. You just can’t – take my word for it. It’s a challenge and I practice my speech everyday while on the treadmill. They say practice makes perfect!

You need to state your name, experience, and what you are looking for: My name is Cheryl Smith-Johnson. I’m a senior level marketing professional with extensive experience in the business-to-business and consumer arena. I’m looking for opportunities in the DFW area with a medium to large size organizations.

Marketing plan – career objective, target companies, demographics

This didn’t take me too long to compile because I already had most of the elements just not in one place. This helped me put it all on one page. (Send me an e-mail I’ll share my with you.)

Professional appearance

Dress to impress. Wear a suit to an interview. Ladies – wear panty hose (boy do I have a story for this one) and never, ever CHEW GUM or suck on CANDY. Not professional at all – I don’t care what industry you are in or who you are interviewing with, not even a friend. Just don’t do it.

Now to the panty hose story (this interview was over a year ago while I was still employed and didn’t have the knowledge I have now) – I went on an interview on a very hot day in Dallas (around 95 degrees). I had spoken to the HR person about the dress code. She informed me that the dress code did not include panty hose and it would be okay not wear them. So I thought I was safe going bare-legged. My attire was very professional but NO HOSE. Boy did I make a mistake. The hiring manager was so stuck on the fact that I wasn’t wearing hose I don’t think she heard a word I said. Now I didn’t know this until the HR person called me the next day but it all made sense after I learned of this. The moral is – always wear panty hose to an interview or wear a pantsuit – I don’t care how hot it is outside!

Make yourself heard – network yourself to death (not literally but close to it)

Inform everyone you know about your employment status. I try and work it into every conversation I have with people. Granted I don’t hammer this information to death – just let them know that you are available for employment and the rest will just happen. I’ve told my doctor, my hair stylist, my neighbors, my friends, people I meet at parties, etc. Just don’t get obnoxious about it.

Final thought – Get out there and market YOU. No one is going to do it for you!

Stay positive!

Cheryl

To Blog or Not to Blog – That is the Question July 20, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — cherylsjohnson @ 3:17 pm

Well I’ve been thinking about starting a blog for some time now, just didn’t want it to be boring and uneventful. So I thought, why not make it humorous – taking a look at the lighter side of unemployment (if there is such a thing).

First a brief background on myself – I became unemployed at the end of January 2009 along with millions of others. I was the Global Advertising Manager at EDS, a technology services company in Plano, Texas. My position was eliminated when HP acquired EDS. I loved what I did – managed all the advertising for the company including but not limited to advertising and media strategies, advertising production, media planning and placement, research projects, managed multiple advertising agencies, worked with Sales and field marketing teams, worked with media reps, etc.

I guess you could say I have a PASSION for advertising. Most people think of advertising as a commercial, a print ad, a radio spot – while that is for the most part true it’s the process that excites me the most – the strategy (both creative and media), how the concept was born, working with the creative teams, production, timelines, budgets (most of the time lack of budget), etc. After all that is said and done the final product that can speak for itself and make the brand proud.

I have stories, boy do I have stories from my JCPenney and EDS days that would make lots of people laugh and some cry but that’s another blog in the making.

During the last several months I’ve been attending classes and group work sessions at Lee Hecht Harrison (LHH), a talent solutions company (www.llh.com). This service was part of my severance package. I now have an updated resume, which I’ve revised four times in five months – I’ll talk about that later – a marketing plan for Brand ME, and a group of supportive LHH friends, which I’ll be discussing in later posts.

So please stay tuned for some funny stories along with a few rejections that I just have to tell you about. I hope I can brighten the day of a few unemployed soles like me.

Stay positive!

Cheryl