How to write a job application?

Finding a new job is a common, though not the most pleasant event in the life of every person, regardless of their professional qualifications. The workplace is changed more or less often by both experienced professionals and novice specialists.

Each time this process is accompanied by a whole chain of actions, including the search for information (from open sources and with the help of friends), consideration of proposed vacancies, correlation of pros and cons, the final choice and decision to change jobs or even positions.

And, if high-class professionals more often choose vacancies that promise a promotion, increase profits or other improvements in working and living conditions in general, then applicants without work experience (students, graduates, novice craftsmen) are faced with the task of at least attracting the attention of the employer and convince him of his professional suitability.

And for this it is not enough to find a good offer, you need to be able to write a response to a published vacancy, which will distinguish you from competitors and help you get the desired position.

Job search and answer

A vacancy, or an employer's announcement about the search for a new employee in the company, can be obtained from a variety of sources. Today, the most popular of these are specialized Internet sites used by both employers and job seekers.

This is an accessible and fairly extensive channel of communication between two parties to the labor market that are interested in each other. But far from the only one. And in order to find a truly successful job, you need to provide yourself with the maximum amount of information about existing opportunities. Therefore, pay attention and listen to several sources at once:

Job search sites are crowded and full of resources, which are both their pros and cons. On the one hand, there is really a lot of information here; many employers, including large companies, place advertisements for personnel search on such sites.

On the other hand, there is a lot of useless information here, among which it can be difficult to isolate what is needed. And the competition is rather big - after all, all applicants, even those for whom this is not the only source of information, try to post their resume.

Friends and relatives are the oldest, proven and, not surprisingly, the surest path to a new job. First of all, really interesting offers are not distributed among strangers in the first place - employers are people too, and they want to help non-strangers.

Secondly, they are interested in a really smart employee taking the place, and for this you need to be confident in his qualifications and in moral and ethical qualities.
Finally, some companies have adopted an unspoken system of so-called succession or even "clannishness", and it is almost impossible to get into them without a corresponding recommendation. Thus, managers try to protect themselves from possible risks and create a strong team, united not only by an employment contract.

Almost every company, especially a serious one, has a corporate website . Often information about current vacancies is posted in their special sections. This data source is suitable for those job seekers who want to work for a specific company and are looking for an opportunity to be part of its team. But, as a rule, this method is not very efficient.

Therefore, if you are employed, but want to improve your position in the future and / or get a job of your dreams, regularly visit the page of the company you need: suddenly, an employee of your qualifications has become in demand.

Newspaper ads are a slightly outdated but still working communication channel. It can be both general advertising publications, and specifically periodicals about job search and employees. Like advertisements on billboards, most often they contain invitations for blue-collar professionals and offers of temporary work. But for those who are looking for just a fickle part-time job, this is a good chance to find what you need.

Whichever source of information is most productive in your particular case, the next step is to signal the employer that you are interested. The best way to demonstrate your interest in a job is to immediately compose and submit a response. What's the best way to do this? There are several sequential steps and their variations, the choice of which depends on the specifics of the vacancy and your capabilities:

1. Even being in joyful excitement from the received offer, keep a sober head and once again carefully re-read the text of the ad, especially in the part that concerns the employer's requirements for the applicant. This will save you from unnecessary actions and unnecessary stress, which are fraught with applying for a job that does not match your qualifications. Do not try to outsmart the receiving party: you will not be able to perform those functions that you do not understand. On the other hand, if you are confident that you will quickly learn new skills, do not hesitate to state it.
2. Compare the job requirements with your own resume. It may have to be somewhat reformatted in order to build the optimal procedure for presenting information about you: to rearrange the data on your experience and skills, which are primarily needed by the employer, ahead of the secondary qualities in this case.
3. Depending on how you found out about the job, send your response to the employer. If the ad was found on the job site, you can use the special contact form located right there. It allows you to attach a document with your resume, provides a field for a small comment, and sends your email to the company's HR department. Do not neglect the opportunity to write in this field at least a few symbolic words: greeting, expressions of interest and duplicate contact information.
4. Some employing companies restrict contact with applicants with a feedback form, but most directly indicate their contact details: both email address and phone number. If so, send a copy of your resume directly to ensure it gets to the right place and to show your interest. It would not hurt to call the specified phone number and meet in person, inform about sending your resume and ask when you can expect a response from the HR department and / or an invitation for an interview.
5. Personally taking your resume to the reception or HR department of the employer is the best option to declare yourself as an interested, determined candidate for the position. And this is much easier than it seems: you know the name of the company in which you would like to work, which means that finding out the address of its office is not difficult. Additional bonuses of such a bold step can be a personal meeting with a potential leader and an invitation for an interview immediately on the spot, without delays or waiting.

In any case, when applying for a vacancy, you must be ready to demonstrate your exclusivity and advantageous advantages over other candidates. And for this, all reasonable ways to show your personal qualities are good.

You can demonstrate your professional competence during an interview and / or a probationary period, but for now you need to draw the employer's attention to yourself. As already mentioned, never leave an empty field for the accompanying text to your resume. Write there just a few polite, intelligible, meaningful phrases that dispose you emotionally.

Remember that “on the other side” your message will be read by a living person and the fate of your resume largely depends on his favor. Do not flatter the employer, praise yourself, or retell the content of the resume in the accompanying text.
Your task is to show courtesy, but maintain your own dignity and give the impression of a confident, sane and competent person. And for this, many psychologically verified tools have been invented, the main one of which, preceding personal communication at an interview, is a cover letter in response to a vacancy.

Cover letter for resume

An application for a job in the form of a cover letter attached to your resume is essentially a simplified version of your self-presentation. Thus, you offer to take yourself to work and reasonably motivate your desire. For successful drawing up on your part and a favorable attitude from the employer, when taking to writing a letter to the HR department, consider the following recommendations:

1. The cover letter should not be too long: try to fit it on one page, whether it is an electronic document, a printed text, or a fax message.
2. Title your message without being shy about the obviousness: "Cover letter", "Information about the candidate", "Letter of the applicant", etc. Human resources staff deal with a large amount of correspondence and documents on a daily basis, so making it easier for them to recognize the purpose of your letter, thereby, will certainly speed up the process of its consideration.
3. Remember to greet your reader in a polite but formal manner. Then go to the point: briefly but succinctly, tell about yourself and the benefits that you can bring to the company by taking a specific position. Unlike a resume, do not limit yourself to dry language of abstracts and submission of the text in the form of a list. In the letter, you must prove yourself not only as a professional, but also as a person who, in the near future, may become part of an established team.
4. Avoid being overly emotional, however, and constantly adhere to boundaries that limit formal communication with strangers. Don't try to press on pity or share intimate details of your personal life. This will not help you get a job, but rather, on the contrary, will generate an unwillingness of the employer to contact a problem employee. But an indication of the key life circumstances that had, to one degree or another, influence on the development of your personality and building a previous career, will help to reveal your character and express individual characteristics.
5. Representatives of creative professions (artists, designers, photographers, journalists, writers, etc.) must clearly demonstrate their abilities and work style. Attach to the letter from two to five samples (preferably diverse and / or directly relevant to the topic of the desired work) of your work. But don't overload your cover letter with a complete portfolio. Just give a link to the resource where it is presented in full, so that the employer, if desired, can familiarize himself with the material.

To ensure that your job application does not go unnoticed among a large number of other papers and similar responses, find ways to make it visible. First of all, the headline contributes to this: avoid lengthy and impersonal names like "Resume" or "Letter".

Just imagine how many letters and resumes the company receives every day! And if it simultaneously opened several vacancies, then a resume without a precise indication of the position risks simply getting lost or ending up in the wrong department. Therefore, do not be lazy to indicate the position, your last name and initials.

If you manage to prove that you are exactly the employee who is able to benefit the company, and at the same time is also an adequate, positive-minded and friendly person, then consider that you wrote the response to the vacancy correctly.