Less Is More: 5 Things to Remove from Your Cover Letter

By Jenny Treanor

Here’s a rule that the LiveCareer team likes to stress over and over again: cover letters don’t need to be long.

But no matter how often we emphasize this point, there are plenty of other advice websites, life experiences, and gut instincts that push job seekers in the opposite direction. Even though we counsel applicants to keep it short, they still feel driven by the urge to go long.

And length isn’t the only concern—there are several popular moves that aren’t really required by modern cover letter standards. And in some cases, these extra flourishes and explanations can actually hold job seekers back. Before you submit your cover letter, look over this list and see if you can streamline your message by giving these items a trim.

1. A chatty, friendly, flowery introduction.

You’re applying for a job, not hawking miracle cures at the state fair. Yes, it’s a good idea to gain trust before you launch into a sales pitch, but in this particular format, a long introductory song and dance won’t be necessary. 

Instead of polite pleasantries, compliments for the company, and apologies for wasting your reader’s time, just state your case. Name the position you’re applying for. Share how you found out about it. Then move on. 

2. Lengthy personal background

You have a passion for this kind of work, and your strong feelings took hold at a very young age. So as you draft your letter, you have two choices:

1. You can stop after this sentence.
2. You can take your reader back in time to the moment you went to visit your grandfather in his office at the bank and you saw the giant doors on the vaults and you felt a glow of pride and fascination with this institution and you knew that you had a future in accounting and finance. 

We recommend stopping after the first sentence. Like all effective writing, a great cover letter tells a story…but it’s a short story. Wrap it up fast so you can get to the good part: how you plan to help your employers run a successful business.

3. Qualitative remarks

When you need to register an opinion, stay positive. Never criticize, complain, vent, or offer excuses in a cover letter.

But even better, limit your opinions altogether. Opinions are like machines with lots of moving parts—the more gears and circuits they entail, the greater the chance of something going wrong. You don’t know your audience well enough to share your opinions and judgments as facts. So avoid making qualitative statements about this company, its competitors, or your former employers. 

4. Adverbs

If you see any word that modifies a verb and ends in “ly,” take a closer look. Is this word contributing something vital to the meaning of your sentence? If it isn’t, take it out. And it probably isn’t. 

5. Repetition

Mediocre cover letters almost always involve two or three repetitive phrases. If you see the same sentence repeated twice in a row using different words, reach for the delete key.

Tighten Your Letter & Get More Attention

Schedule more interviews by getting directly to the point and making your case within three to four short paragraphs. For help with the cover letter editing and streamlining process, access the writing tools and templates available on LiveCareer.   

What Managers Actually Think While Reading Resumes

By Barbara Mason

What do managers think about as they open a file and read through a truly exceptional, job scoring resume? Even if they skim through 20 documents in an hour, most managers agree that the best resumes are easy to recognize and hard to forget. Here’s what goes on in their minds as they read a resume section by section.

1. Assessing the task

“Okay, I have to read through 20 resumes before my lunch meeting, which means I have to start now and I can’t spend more than 10 minutes skimming through each one. But I want to give each resume a fair shot, so here’s what I’ll do: I’ll read each one, but I won’t do any final eliminations. I’ll just set the best ones aside in this labeled folder.” 

2. Starting the process

“This resume looks nice. It’s neat, professionally formatted, and lovely. This took some thought and time, and this candidate has a strong sense of design and an eye for presentation. Before I even read a single word, I’m already picturing this person in my mind. She seems trustworthy, friendly, and sharp. I like her attitude.”

3. Reading the summary

“This summary suggests a candidate who knows her way around an office and understands our industry. This is especially refreshing because she’s so young…most new graduates in this age group seem a little clueless and lost. But even though she doesn’t have much industry experience, she still seems to have plenty of social savvy, leadership instincts, and life experience. I’m impressed. Oh…and it says here that she worked for six months with a company that seems similar to ours. Nice.”  

4. Reading the education section

“She has the degrees and certifications we require. Great. Her course of study doesn’t perfectly align with what we asked for, but that’s fine. A diverse and interesting background usually suggests a candidate who takes risks and isn’t afraid of change.”

5. Reading the work history section

“Now I’m learning more about the six month position she mentioned in the summary. In just two lines, she makes it clear that this position is, in fact, relevant to what we do here. And her other experiences also seem relevant. I can see that she completed an internship with the Red Cross…I’ll ask her about it during the interview. Based on the rest of the resume, I’ll bet this internship taught her plenty of things about teamwork, leadership and responsibility.”

6. Reading the skills section

“She lists all of the skills we requested in the job post. She knows how to use basic software tools, and she has experience with a document management system that I recognize. She also knows CRP and she can speak Spanish. We have two clients in Barcelona—she can help us connect with them.”

7. The final decision

“I still have several more resumes to read through, but I’m putting this one in the “yes” folder, and I’ll send this candidate an interview invitation as soon as my meeting is over. I feel one step closer to staffing this position and completing this task, and I’m glad I found this candidate today.”

Is Your Cover Letter Actually Hurting Your Job Hunt?

By Eddie Beverage

You’re applying for jobs that are inside your wheelhouse and well within your reach, but no matter how well the odds line up in your favor, you just can’t seem to get great results. Your background is impressive, your resume is neat, clear, concise, and well organized, and your targeted jobs are perfect for you in every way. So what gives? Why aren’t you racking up the interviews you expected? You’ve been searching for months and so far, very few managers have reached out to you after receiving your application materials.

Could your cover letter be lying at the heart of your frustrations? If any of the following situations seem close to hme, it may be time to put your resume aside for a while and focus your full attention on editing your letter.

1. Your cover letter is getting negative or no feedback from readers, family, and friends.

This is the easiest way to tell if your letter needs work. If your friends and supporters are covering your letter with red ink or responding to a read-through with vague suggestions for improvement rather than enthusiastic encouragement, take this as a strong sign that it’s time to get real help. Turn to a professional editor or job search pro who can tell you exactly what’s wrong with your message and how to fix it.

2. Your resume gets better results when flying solo.

You meet a hiring manager at a networking event and she asks to see your resume, so you send it over ASAP. Your resume shows up without the accompaniment of a cover letter, and it finally gets a positive response. If your resume seems to do better on its own, something’s wrong. Your cover letter should support your resume, not undermine it or cast a shadow over its claims.

3. Phone interviews involve questions your letter should be answering.

If employers call you for phone interviews and ask practical, logistical questions that should be addressed in your letter, it’s time to edit your message and make this information clear. Examples might include:

• “What kind of job are you looking for?”
• “We asked applicants to provide a salary range, but we didn’t see one in your letter—can I ask you about that while I have you on the phone?”
• “How did you find out about our this open position?”
• “Your resume says you have a background in healthcare, but this is a financial firm. Are you changing careers?”

4. Your interviews are spent clarifying confusing bits about your past.

If you sit down with an interviewer and he proceeds to ask a series of confused questions similar to the ones above, revise your letter after the session and you may save yourself (and your future interviewers) some time, hassle, and false hope. For example:

• “In your last position, you had no direct reports. But this is a management role. Are you interested in managing others?”
• “Have you ever done this work before?”
• “I don’t understand why this job appeals to you—it’s nothing like your previous position.” 

Fix Your Cover Letter & Elevate Your Chances

A few tweaks to your cover letter can have a dramatic impact on your results. Land more interview invitations by visiting LiveCareer and giving your cover letter a little extra polish.  

Your Resume Is Too Long: 5 Quick Fixes

By Barbara Mason

Most employers and job search experts generally advise applicants to keep their resumes under the length of two full pages. Longer resumes and CVs may be useful for specific professions in education and academia, but for most industries, one to two pages will suffice. 

But no matter how often this tip is passed along, job seekers often respond in a similar way: “that’s well and good, but my resume is three pages long and I have no idea what to remove. Every word is essential, and every detail will help employers understand what I have to offer. I shouldn’t trim my accomplishments, right?”

There are several ways around this thorny, classic job-search problem. These simple moves will help you trim down your resume so it’s readable and presents you in the best possible light.

1. Start over.

Head back to the top of the page and start the process from scratch. Instead of picking at your text, removing one word, and editing one sentence at a time, just open a new document.

We’ve all had the experience of painting a “happy birthday” banner and realizing that we haven’t reached the first “P” and we’re already halfway across the page. Avoid this problem by backing up, thinking for a moment, getting out a fresh blank banner, and drawing a much smaller “H.”

2. Focus on the summary.

What can you do? Plenty of things. What do you WANT to do? A complete answer might take hours. But try this—instead of using your resume summary to list every single talent you bring your potential employer, choose the top three. Then make sure your three talents align perfectly with what this company needs and what the position requires. Let the other ones go, and turn your summary into a quick, hard-hitting, three-part message.  

3. Rearrange your work history.

Instead of comprehensive, chronological work history that documents every position you’ve ever held, starting with the most recent, try this: list three positions. Just three. Focus on the jobs and employers that bear the most relevance to this company’s needs and business model. 

In order to take this step, you’ll need to complete a little research. Start by carefully examining the job post and then visiting the company website to glean what you can about the culture, the mission, and way this job fits into the bigger picture. 

4. Focus on accomplishments, not responsibilities.

Your potential employers may not know exactly what you did every day when you held a job as an “associate solutions provider” or “an accounts designation expert.” But you don’t need to use precious resume space to answer this question. Instead, provide one line (if you feel it’s absolutely necessary), and then create three to four bullet points listing your greatest accomplishments while you held this job. Daily tasks aren’t that interesting—employers would rather find out how you went above and beyond the minimum.

5. Get aggressive resume editing help.

Sometimes the best way to  delete your “darlings”—those precious words, phrases, and claims you just can’t part with—is to hand your resume over to someone else. Choose a person with cold eyes and a steady hand who will cut without hesitation.

If your friends aren’t up to the task or they don’t have the language skills you need, use the editing and streamlining tools on LiveCareer and take that bulky resume down to size.

5 Resume Pet Peeves that Hiring Managers Hate

By Gabrielle Nicolet

Hiring trends may come and go, and while managers may love social media reviews and group interviews right now, these preferences may become a thing of the past within just a few years. But there’s one aspect of the application process that seems to stay consistent year after year and generation after generation: the resume. No matter how resumes reach the hands of hiring managers (via electronic submissions, digital apps, or old fashioned paper copies sent by mail), these simple documents still provide a wealth of valuable information that managers request—and require—in almost every industry. 

And while the things they love about resumes tend to stay the same (neatness, clarity and proper formatting), the things they dislike tend to stay the same as well. Throughout the years, we’ve listened to managers describe the pet peeves on the list below, and no matter how the hiring process changes, these turn-offs always seem to top the list. 

1. Messiness.

Managers don’t like resumes that seem tossed-off and unedited. If your resume looks and feels like a document that was written and sent within twenty minutes, it won’t make a very strong impression. The answer: Don’t send a resume written and edited within twenty minutes. Spend some time with your application, visit the company website, tailor your claims to the needs of the position, and get serious editing help before you click send. 

2. A delivery that sounds wooden and entitled.

A wooden tone is a problem, and a sense of entitlement will also be a problem for most hiring managers. But when these two issues happen at the same time, eyes roll and resumes land in the trash. Watch out for sentences like these: “I am an excellent accounts manager. I have considerable experience. I will accept a salary of 50,000 per year. I will not work with outdated accounts management software systems.”

3. Edginess.

Any hint of bitterness, anger, or hostility will severely undermine the credibility of your resume, no matter how skilled or experienced you may be. Keep your tone warm, relaxed and friendly, and if you have to say something negative in order to make your point, skip that point and save it for the interview. If you left your last job because you didn’t get along with your boss, don’t try to explain that situation or tell your side of the story in your resume summary or cover letter. 

4. Confusing claims.

Don’t throw smoke. Stating a claim in way that can lead to two possible interpretations may seem very clever in the moment, but it isn’t. And if you make this move, there’s a strong chance that your readers will skip Interpretation A and Interpretation B and move directly to Interpretation C: You’re an unclear communicator and a potentially unreliable employee. 

5. Clutter.

It’s okay to skip a few details from your professional past in order to shine a spotlight on the details that carry the most weight. Learn to summarize and don’t worry about missing a few points in the interest of keep your message smooth and succinct.

Get Some Help from the Pros

If you’re not sure you’re making the right impression with your resume, get some help. LiveCareer’sprofessional resume builder can give you the edge you need to step ahead of your competition. 

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IT Business Analyst - B2B

Andersen Corporation - Oak Park Heights, Minnesota

Posted 26 days ago

Apply on company website

Other Details

About this job

Job description

The Enterprise Application Support team is looking for an Application Specialist specializing in B2B transactions. Responsibilities include the analysis and trouble shooting of B2B transactions and processes related to support and business improvements. Individuals collaborate with internal/external customers and other stakeholders to identify user requirements, assess available technologies, and recommend solution options. 

Responsibilities:

· Process design

· Implement business improvement requests

. Cross functional analysis and design

. Effectively work with our B2B Managed Services business partner

· Standard change management methodology 

. Maintain technical currency

· Assist with developing test scenarios

· Perform thorough unit testing and some functional testing as needed

· Support Andersen's architecture efforts by following and adhering to the standards set forth by the architecture group and devising consistent solutions to maintain the integrity of application architecture

· Proactively maintain an understanding of Andersen enterprise business practices

· Provide innovative ideas and solutions in an ever-changing environment

· Possess solid communication skills and a strong customer focus

· Ability to find and generate cost saving opportunities through continuous process improvements and/or cost reduction initiatives

Technologies:

· Windows/DOS scripting

· Visual Basic

· XML analysis

· EDI map analysis 

• BA/BS in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Engineering, or related field
• 3+ years experience in IT or related field.
• Should have familiarity with the software development life cycle and structured Project Management Methodology.
• EDI experience is preferred.
• Strong Business Analysis and Development skills.
  
  

Desired Skills and Experience

Business Analyst, B2B

Demand Planner EMEA

Timex Group - Twickenham, United Kingdom

Posted 2 days ago

Other Details

About this job

Job description

Timex is seeking a Demand Planner for our EMEA business.  This role will manage the demand forecast for UK key accounts, EMEA distributors and duty free EMEA accounts.

Primary Responsibilities Include (but are not limited to):

               

• Manage forecast demand for UK Key Accounts, EMEA distributors and Duty Free EMEA accounts
  • Use Demantra to analyse and manipulate the forecast at different aggregation levels.
  • Achieve premier customer service and customer intimacy
  • Analyse forecast error to improve forecast accuracy
• Build and Maintain good relationship with UK and EMEA sales teams to update assortment changes, track sales activity (promotions and uplifts) and sales trends in the forecast.
• Conduct Monthly IBP (S&OP) Demand reviews with UK sales and finance team.
• Conduct Monthly IBP (S&OP) Demand reviews with EMEA Distributor market sales team.
• Maintain Demantra data.  Manage customer POS and sell-in data to populate Demantra, uploading and validating data,
• Drive collaborative planning with UK Key accounts
• Work with management and sales teams to maintain an EMEA assortment. 
• Plan and set up New Product Introductions
• Plan End of Life products
• Plan and create unit budgets across all UK and EMEA distributor markets.

Desired Skills and Experience

Experience:

Minimum 3 years supply chain experience, preferably including forecasting, KPIs and analysis

Skills:

Required

• MS Excel to advanced level
• MS Access to advanced level
• Proficient understanding of forecasting tool, preferably Demantra
• Understanding of ERP, preferably Oracle
• Understanding of watch supply chain, manufacturing lead times, turnaround times, freight and import.
• KPI Analysis
• Inventory analysis
• Sales trend analysis
• Pareto analysis
• Product lifecycle management experience

Communication skills

• Ability to communicate to both internal and external customers
• Ability to find, define and fix supply chain deficiencies across worldwide locations
• Ability to arrange and lead demand review meetings

Must be legally entitled to work in the United Kingdom.

About this company

Timex Group designs, manufactures and markets innovative timepieces and jewelry globally. Timex, founded in 1854, has expanded to become Timex Group, a privately-held company, with several operating units and over 5,000 employees worldwide. One of the largest watch makers in the world, Timex Group companies include: the Timex Business Unit (Timex, Timex Ironman, Opex, Nautica); Timex Group Luxury Watches (Salvatore Ferragamo); Sequel (Guess, Gc); and Vertime (Versace, Versus).