Five Rules of Email Etiquette

October 15th, 2009

These rules are guidelines that will help you avoid mistakes, i.e., offend someone when you didn’t mean to.

1. Write Perfect Subject Lines
The subject line can irresistibly pull readers into opening your message and reading every single word of it.

To compose the perfect email subject:
• Convey the core of your message in the subject line.
• Email subjects need to be concise. Skip articles, adjectives and adverbs.

2. Take Another Look Before You Send a Message
You can avoid misinterpretations by:
Allowing every message at least some minutes to rest after you have written it and before you press the “Send” button.

Reread and reconsider the whole message when you return to it, preferably from the recipient’s perspective.

You’ll be surprised at how many ambiguities you’ll clear up even in short and simple emails by doing this.

3. Keep Emails Short
Do not intimidate recipients with too much text.

Long emails can look intimidating and a long sequence of long paragraphs can make the recipient read less than if the message had been only about three sentences long—three witty, concise and precise sentences.

If you do have much to write:
• Break your message into bullet points.
• Begin each point with a concise summary or the action you want taken.
• Make sure important information is not hidden in the meat of your messages or your bullet points.

4. Writing in All Caps is Like Shouting
When you write in all capital letters, this looks (and maybe sounds) to recipients as if you were shouting at them. Besides, all caps are difficult to read.

Use lower case only. Lower case is more widely accepted than all caps.

5. Avoid Embarrassing Emails
Have you ever accidentally hit the “Send” button before your message was ready? Well, I certainly have, much to my embarrassment.

Avoid embarrassing emails by sending them to yourself first. Also, make sure the message does no harm even if you accidentally hit that button accidentally.

You can also avoid embarrassment by doing the following:
• leave the address field empty;
• address the message to yourself while you are still composing it;
• only enter the final recipient when you are ready to send the email.

These core rules of email etiquette help us communicate better via email.

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Five Tips to Write a Stellar Resume

July 5th, 2009

Your resume is your calling card. Therefore, you should do your best to make sure it stands out from the rest and presents you as the most qualified candidate.

1. Start with a piece of paper and a pencil. Brainstorm all your accomplishments and awards at past jobs. Also consider anything worthwhile you may have done in your local community.

Write a list of all the software you know how to use and another list of any skills you’re good at.

Then, make a list of everyone you think would be happy to recommend you and find their contact info. Call them before you even add them to your resume to be sure it’s okay for you to use their names as references.

2. Use no more than two fonts in your resume. I recommend Arial, Verdana or Times New Roman. A good resume uses a variety of simple functions—different-sized fonts, capped letters, bold and italic fonts. But make sure you’re consistent. For instance, if you capitalize and bold the titles of the companies you’ve worked for, make sure you do it for all of them.

3. Highlight your accomplishments. It’s fine to discuss your duties, but you should bullet some accomplishments, too. What did you do for the company? What was the result of what you did? For example, “Created packaging initiatives and increased quarterly sales by 25%.”
Make sure you also state how you can contribute to the hiring organization.

4. Don’t use the first-person tone in your resume. And always use verbs. Even inventing a new filing system could impress your reader if you write, “Implemented filing system to improve productivity.”

If you answered phones, you can say “Responded to inquiries” instead. Think of other words that will energize your resume: collaborate, facilitate, orchestrate, spearhead, generate and revamp. Use these verbs in the present tense only if you’re talking about your current job. The rest should be in the past tense.

5. Revise anything you write, especially a resume. Proofread. When you’re done with the whole thing, print it out and let it sit for a day. Come back and read it. Better yet, ask a friend to glance through it. Check for spelling and grammatical errors that can completely blow your credibility. But also select a good length and look for your resume.
In resume writing, there are no clear rules. I’m sure you have read articles that say your resume should only be one page long or that it should be in chronological format. Otherwise, it won’t be read. But each job seeker has a different set of circumstances. You need to evaluate your situation and come to a conclusion that fits into your reality.
According to Cornell University Career Services, only 20% of jobs are advertised. So answering want ads or posting your resume on the Internet is only one way of looking for work. You must be an active job seeker and use other avenues to find employment.

Wishing you every success in your job search!

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Posted in Business Writing, Job search, Resumes | 1 Comment »

Ten Tips to Write a Compelling Cover Letter

June 13th, 2009

Do you spend so much time and energy on your resume that you completely ignore your cover letter?

That’s a big mistake!

It is the well-written cover letter—not the resume—that can single-handedly land you more job interviews. Using proven marketing strategies rarely found in a typical cover letter, you can use the cover letter to really market yourself to an employer.

There is only so much you can do with the traditional resume. However, the carefully crafted cover letter is more important to your getting a job than any other written document including the resume.

A highly effective job search cover letter consists of seven crucial fundamentals.

1.    Address your cover letter to areal person! Do your best to find out TO WHOM you should address your cover letter. “Dear Manager” or “To Whom it May Concern” is both lifeless and causes your letter to float around the office instead of finding the desk of the hiring agent. You must add a personal salutation to your correspondence to increase your chances of its being seen by the right person.

2.    Correct Address. Ensure that the address is 100% accurate and complete. Double-check everything—even if you pulled the address from the phone book, a classified ad or the company website. Phone the company and verify the mailing address with the receptionist.

3.    Begin with an attention-grabbing sentence that makes your reader really sit up and take notice. Just think—the human resources person may have grown weary from sifting through the resumes of hundreds of people who have applied for the same position as you have. But your engaging first sentence will just make his day! And almost guarantee that your cover letter and resume get a much closer look.

4.    Formatting. Your cover letter should be simple and easy to read. Remember, you are applying for a job. So, keep your cover letter professional looking by using a plain font on crisp, white paper.

5.    Remember—Less is More! The best cover letters have plenty of white space. A clear, focused, short and sweet letter gets you the interview every time.

6.    Focus on what you can do for the employer. How can you benefit the company specifically? Do a little research and relate this value-added benefit simply and clearly in your letter.

7.    Choose words that show enthusiasm and passion for the position you’re seeking. Then carry this passion into the interview with you.

8.    Request one action you want the employer to take: “I would really like the opportunity for a personal interview this week.” (You never know until you ASK)!

9.    End your cover letter with enthusiastic and compelling sentences, such as, “I look forward to being interviewed at your earliest convenience. Thank you so much for this opportunity. Sincerely, John Jobseeker.” (Notice how John assumes he’ll land the interview? This approach is clever, smart, and it works like a charm).

10.    Tailor your cover letter to every job that you apply for. It’s not the number of cover letters (and resumes) that you send out. What matters is the quality of your cover letters (and resumes).

Think of your cover letter as a sales letter. And its goal? To land you job interviews. That’s the bottom line. By using the proven marketing strategies outlined above, you will land a great number of quality job interviews and leave your competition trailing in the dust.

You must get your foot in the company door first to have any chance at all. With the right cover letter, you can explode several doors wide open immediately. More job interviews translate into a wider range of opportunities and…more job offers.

Lastly, you must apply another key principle: Follow up on every job lead, contact and communication. Following up is the “golden key” to getting hired for the job of your dreams. Use follow-up cover letters, thank-you letters and follow-up phone calls. Following up actually doubles your chance for success. It is also the one missing ingredient in nearly 99% of all job seekers’ handbooks. That means good news for you.

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Are you SAD?

March 3rd, 2009

Do the biting cold winter winds get you down? The huge piles of dirty snow? Navigating the icy sidewalks that turn you into a not very graceful skater ?

On winter mornings, do you find it difficult to get out of bed? Wish you could curl up under the blankets and forget all your responsibilities?

Then, you may be struggling with seasonal affective disorder or SAD for short.

What is SAD? It is a form of depression that becomes worse during the darker winter months when you’re exposed to less sunlight and it returns each year at roughly the same time.

Cells in the retina of your eye respond to varying levels of light. A pacemaker-like structure in your brain controls some of the body’s rhythms—one of which is to produce the hormone, melatonin. Melatonin levels rise in the evening, inducing sleep, and fall in response to morning light.

If you have SAD, however, your body clock doesn’t adjust to winter’s later dawns and earlier sunsets. The decreased sunlight affects your melatonin levels, and consequently, your mood and energy during waking hours.

How can you manage SAD?

1. Light Therapy
You can get a special light therapy box with fluorescent lights mounted on a metal reflector. The light box is fitted with a plastic screen to filter out damaging ultra-violet frequencies. Light therapy is uniquely (though not universally) effective in treating SAD.

Light boxes will work best when you sit near them at a prescribed distance and height, keeping your eyes open and looking ahead or slightly downward.

Experts usually recommend about 10,000 lux which is more or less equivalent to early morning sunlight. During the fall, fifteen minutes of 10,000-lux light once a day, right after waking, may suffice. Light exposure can gradually be increased to 30–45 minutes per session. If you struggle with severe SAD, you may need to expose yourself longer to the light, perhaps up to about an hour and a half per day in two sessions. If your symptoms don’t improve in 4–6 weeks, you need to re-evaluate light therapy and consider other measures.

Keep in mind that light therapy may have some side effects: mainly headache, fatigue, irritability and eyestrain. These usually subside when you lower the dose, i.e., shorten your sessions or increase the distance from the light source. If you struggle with bipolar disorder, you may develop mania as a result of light therapy. Anyone with photosensitive skin or a retinal condition, such as macular degeneration or a diabetes-related problem, should not use light therapy.

2. Aromatherapy
Essential oils can stimulate specific areas of your brain to release serotonin. Serotonin has become popularly known as the “feel-good hormone” or the body’s own natural tranquilizer. When your body produces serotonin, you help to alleviate the symptoms of SAD.

Oils most commonly used to relieve SAD include bergamot, frankincense, geranium, chamomile, lavender, marjoram and citrus-derived oils. By inhaling the oils, you most effectively stimulate your brain and limbic system.

3. Exercise and Deep Breathing
Exercise and deep breathing are critical for elevating your mood. Through outdoor exercise, you gain the bonuses of fresh air and sunlight, even on a cold, cloudy day.

4. Omega-3 fatty acids
Omega-3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated fatty acids. A diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids may help lower triglycerides and increase high density lipo-proteins, HDL (also known as good cholesterol). Omega-3 fatty acids work just as well as antidepressants in preventing depression and they do so without the dangerous side effects of antidepressant drugs.

Big pharmaceutical companies hate to hear that omega-3 fatty acids prevent depression. Of course, they just want to sell more antidepressants. They will naturally attempt to discredit the health effects of fish oils through scientists or industries funded by pharmaceutical companies.

Omega-3 fatty acids are found in fish (most abundantly in oily species like salmon and tuna) and cod liver oil. But almost all fish now have dangerously high mercury levels. The risk of mercury to your health, therefore, now outweighs the benefits of omega-3 from fish.

But Carlson’s is one of the few brands that is free of mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), is properly processed and contains a therapeutic dose of vitamin E that prevents the oil from going rancid in your body. Buy Carlson’s fish or cod liver oil from your local health food store.

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