When I am responding to a job posting and a contact name is not given, is it OK to address the letter "To Whom It May Concern"? Or is there a better way to handle this? Answer: "To Whom it May Concern" is a bit outdated, as is "Dear Sir/Madam." You might want to go with "Dear Hiring Manager" when you ...

Question: How can I make my academic and extracurricular responsibilities look more professional? Answer: Be specific in your accomplishments. Use numbers whenever possible. If you were an employer looking at a college student's resume, which of the following entries would impress you more? "Wrote news releases" "Wrote 25 news releases in a three-week period under daily deadlines" Clearly the second statement ...

I review a lot of resumes, and they often land in my mailbox with the exact same titles: resume.doc or resume.pdf. Can you say boring? Try these alternatives to stand out as an interesting candidate: 1. Your Name Resume.doc — This minimum level of personalization ensures your resume will remain attached to your application. 2. Your Name Resume December 2010.doc — ...

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to find a sample resume that matches your background, copy it to your word-processing program, make minor changes and be done with the arduous task of creating a dazzling resume? While that would be ideal, you can shortchange yourself and sabotage your job search if you base your resume on a sample document. The ...

Q: I want to apply for a job online, should I send my resume in an attachment? I want to show off the bold fonts and bullets. What do you think? A: You are right and wrong at the same time. Resumes DO look better when they get sent as attachments, but increasingly employers are asking applicants not to send their ...

Ask Kim Isaacs QUESTION: I am a chemistry major and need help writing a resume for medical research internships. If anyone could direct me to any helpful Web sites or books, I would greatly appreciate it. WHAT THE EXPERT SAYS: A resume for an internship would have the same strategy as a resume for a regular job, except your desire for ...

Imagine you're an employer and you have two resumes in front of you. One is filled wall-to-wall with text and uses four different fonts. It's also peppered with dozens of bolded, italicized and underlined words and phrases. The second resume is much more visually pleasing. It, too, offers a lot of information, but you can quickly scan the document because it ...

You've gone back to school and are in the process of making a career change. Your resume should reflect both your previous experience and your new education. How do you sell your experience? Don't leave out important dates. Many non-traditional job-seekers are reluctant to include dates of employment or graduations for fear that hiring managers are less interested in older ...

Whether you're a Harvard-educated MBA or recently obtained your GED, you can use your resume's education section to outshine your competition. If you are unsure about the best way to present your education, here are some common scenarios and strategies: Where to Place Education? The best placement depends on what you are trying to emphasize. Place experience before education if you ...

With increasing numbers of job seekers competing for the most desirable technical jobs, your resume needs to be better than the rest to get noticed. Technical Summary Effective technical resumes clearly show the candidate's technical skills -- a hiring manager shouldn't have to go fishing for this information. An excellent way to include technical knowledge is to add a Technical Summary ...

You’re probably aware that hiring managers cannot ask discriminatory questions during interviews. But this legal protection isn’t too useful in preventing discrimination before the interview. If your resume contains personal information unrelated to your job target — your race, nationality, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, etc. — you might fall victim to discrimination, even if you’re qualified for the position. Your resume ...

One of the most difficult and daunting tasks after graduating from college is creating your first post-college resume. You may not have the job experience you’d like or, perhaps, you just aren't sure how to get across your experiences all together. Experts agree that most students underestimate how much experience they actually have and often don’t include many valuable aspects on ...

Your cover letter is the first thing employers see when they open your materials. Avoid these 10 mistakes, and make your first impression a good and lasting one. Mistake #1: Don't Overuse "I" Your cover letter is not your autobiography. The focus should be on how you meet an employer's needs, not on your life story. Avoid the perception of being ...

The goal of going through the grueling application and interview processes is to get to the ultimate goal: a job offer. The employment offer comes in and excitement ensues until you suddenly realize that negotiations will soon begin, assuming you intend to accept the offer. If you want to get to a mutually agreed upon contract cordially and quickly, try the ...

Do you feel like you’re constantly job searching without results? Don’t put in time without payoff – there is a better way! Your search shouldn't be consuming all of your time and efforts. With a little organization and effort, you can restore balance into your life. Follow the below guidelines, courtesy of Yahoo! Finance, to take back control of your job ...