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Table of Contents
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond the Book
Where to Go from Here
Your Treasure Hunt Begins
Part I: New Tools for New Times
Chapter 1: Best Messages: Land Jobsand Leap Ahead
A Brief Kaleidoscope of Letter Types
Digital Is Destiny
Memorable Job Search Letters
Executive position letter
Alumni career fair letter
Networking letter
Why Job Letters Are the Future
Chapter 2: Mobile Meets Job Search
The FAQs of Mobile Job Search
Who Mobile Benefits Most
What Mobile Offers Everyone
Say Hello to Job Search Apps
Greet Mobile Company Job Pages
Consider These Message Tips
Check Out Sample Mobile Messages
Leading with references
Replying to job posts
Mobile message closers
Mobile Job Search in the Digital Age
Chapter 3: Newcomer Letters that Persuade
13 Messages to Outrun Rivals
Accomplishment statements
Checklist comparisons
Resume addendums
Specialty profiles
First 90-day forecasts
Introduction letters
Professional education statements
QR-coded letters
Job skills checklists
Resume letters
Job offer responses
Rejection follow-ups
Job return agreements
More Cool Job Letters Ahead
Part II: Essential Job Search Letters
Chapter 4: Job Ad Reply Letters and Notes
Watching for Smooth Moves
Magic connectors
P.S. winners
Fast starters
Praise gold
Design arts
Graph gems
Attention grabbers
Memorable storytellers
Blue standard bearers
Main points
Making Contact with Cover Notes
Getting good writing tips
Using cover notes for a fast start
Feasting Your Eyes
Chapter 5: Getting Help: Networking Letters
Zooming In on Purposeful Networking
Advance scouting
Selective aim
Finding the Best Places to Network
Networking Letters to Note
Door openers
Event connections
Self-starters
Digital circuits
Help on the Way — Samples Ahead
Chapter 6: Prospecting Letters
Pitch with Immediate Promise
Send Digital Mail or Postal Mail?
Techniques to Tap
Eye catchers
Class acts
Rave reviews
Important words
High flyers
Storylines
Business boosters
Durable styles
On with the Letters!
Chapter 7: After-Interview Letters
Great Reasons to Write After Interview
Tackling the Mechanics of Your Letter
Letters to Lift You Above the Crowd
Extra helpings
People pleasers
Crossover sellers
Matching sets
See Samples That Jell the Sell!
Part III: Creative Fresh Messages
Chapter 8: Social Media Messages
Social Media Is a Tool You Can Learn
Meet Three Big Social Players
LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
More sizzling social sites
Suggestions for Social Searching
Conducting a LinkedIn search
Incorporating your e-mail address book
Becoming a critic and an admirer
Sharing with Facebook friends
Including people outside your industry
Short and Sweet Social Messages
“If You Don’t Ask, You Don’t Get”
Chapter 9: Branding Statements, Bios, Profiles, and Speeches
Differing Points of View
Buttoning Down Your Brand
Ingredients for a branding message
Where to place your message
What branding statements look like
See more branding statements
Creating a Marvelous Bio
Four more bio tips
What bios look like
Aiming High with a Bio Flyer
What bio flyers look like
Perfecting an Online Profile
Online profiles vs. resumes
Ten tips to improve your profile
What professional profiles look like
Going Up in an Elevator Speech
Eight tips to enjoy the ride
What elevator speeches look like
Common Threads for Your Search
Chapter 10: Interview Leave-Behind Docs
A Leave-Behind Brings You to Mind
Reinforce your strengths
Distinguish yourself from the competition
Jumpstart your follow-up
15 Leave-Behind Topics to Remember
Writing Effective Leave-Behinds
Review Samples of Leave-Behinds
Chapter 11: References and Recommendations
Reference ABCs You Don’t Want to Miss
With the Right References, You Rock!
Reference lists
Reference commentaries
Job search letter quotes
Letters of recommendation
Personal character references
Social media references
Handle Reference Problems Skillfully
Fighting back in reference trouble spots
Tiptoeing under the radar screen
Put Time on Your Side
Chapter 12: Online Portfolios, Prezis, and Videos
Best Prospects for Telling Your Story
Rewards of Online Presentations
Attract Interest with a Work Portfolio
Electrify Employers with a Prezi
Prezi fundamentals
Prezi job seeker samples
Video: Hiring Tool or Turnoff?
Virtual Job Search is Racing Ahead
Chapter 13: Getting Ahead in the Job You Have
Messages That Grow Your Career
Asking for a pay raise
Requesting a promotion
Applying for an internal job vacancy
Asking for a lateral move
Cover Your Bases with Workplace Docs
Part IV: Best Writing Elements
Chapter 14: Writing Your Way to a Job
Zooming In on the Basics
Advantages of Stand Out Letters
Disadvantages of Stand Out Letters
Unfreezing Writer’s Block
Ugly Typos, Sloppy Letters, Few Offers
Overcoming What-If Worries
The Anatomy of a Job Search Letter
Contact information
Date line and inside address
Salutation
Introduction
Body
Conclusion
Closing, signature, and enclosure line
Get Ready to Write
Chapter 15: Language That Snap-Crackle-Pops
Refreshing Your Language
So why are you writing?
So what? How does it matter?
Technical versus nontechnical language
Concise but thorough
Active versus passive voice
Past versus present tense
Tune Up Grammar and Punctuation
Sentence fragments
Run-on sentences
Dangling participles
Misplaced modifiers
Semicolons
Punctuation in parenthetical expressions
Hyphens
Abbreviations
Numbers
Commas
Capitalization
Getting Your Grammar Guide On
Organizing Your Information
Reading for Smoothness
Chapter 16: Great Lines for Success
Great Starts for Your Letter
Dropping names
Defining your wants
Telling a story
A Sampling of Grand Openers
Leadoff Losers
Salutation Snoozers
Power Phrases to Use Anywhere
An Action Close to Keep Control
Action close
Action close plus
No-action close
Examples of the Action Closes
P.S. A Final Important Point
Great Lines to Woo Reluctant Readers
Chapter 17: Job Seeker’s Skills Finder
Decoding the Skills Lineup
Foundation skills
Where there’s a skill, there’s a way
Speaking Out about Your Skills
Foundation skills checklist
Crossover skills checklist
Showcasing Popular Skills that Employers Want
Identifying Personal Qualities That Employers Want
Giving Serious Thought to Certifications
Crash course on certification
What’s certification worth?
Good Luck on the Great Skills Search
Part V: The Part of Tens
Chapter 18: Remember Ten Social Forget-Me-Not Tips
Going Social on the Job Front
Spread job search news with caution
Establish yourself as an expert
Find role models and mirror them
Send thank-you notes to new connections
Sleuth for useful company research
Regularly check your social sites
Tweet for quality, not quantity
Use common sense to avoid rejection
Match social media to your type of job
Don’t assume that social is all you need
What’s Next in Social Search
Chapter 19: Top Ten Google Tips forJackpot Job Search
Welcome to the Wide World of Google
Learn Google ground rules
Search for bingo! answers
Search many faces of job titles
Monitor your good name
Uncover hidden jobs
Pinpoint recruiters and hiring managers
Think like a detective for interview prep
Avoid layoffs and sidestep bad jobs
Use alerts to stay alert
Explore the Google universe
New Game: “Hide and Seek and Find”
Appendix: Directory of Job Letter Writers
Getting to know you
Getting to your writer
Industry awareness
Out-the-door price
Delivery dates
About the Author
Cheat Sheet
Introduction
Right now, you hold in your hands a key to today’s successful job search. Hint: Your challenge isn’t like it was even five years ago.
Communications and technology are two gigantic change factors that are rapidly transforming both the materials and the methods of finding and nailing down a job. The two factors are connected.
Communications. Joining resumes as staples of employment tools, an explosion of job search messaging is emerging to benefit job seekers everywhere in any career field or industry.
For brevity, I use the term “job search letters” in this work to mean all messaging that promotes job finding and career health. I identify many categories of job search letters that you can write to get what you want. Key messaging formats include the following:
Letters
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E-mails
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Profiles
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Memos
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Text messages
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Bios
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Multimedia
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Reports
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Prezis
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Video
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Checklists
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Mobile messages
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Technology. An almost unimaginable amount of technological innovation is reshaping how messaging moves in the marketplace of jobs.
Most of it is digital, ranging from social media networking and public profile posting, to mobile job app responses and information intended to automatically match jobs and candidates.
Despite mind-blowing change now and tomorrow, bear in mind that technology does not and cannot replace human interaction at every turn of the employment process. For that reason, a number of the sample job search letters in these pages are intended to be passed by hand, depending on the circumstances.
About This Book
This guide to modern job search communications wouldn’t have been possible without the outstanding collaboration of 42 top-shelf professional career messaging writers who provided the message samples throughout its pages.
The professional writer’s name is credited beneath each sample. Find the writer’s contact information in the Directory of Job Letter Writers, which is printed in the appendix of this book.
Job Search Letters For Dummies replaces three editions of Cover Letters For Dummies.
Foolish Assumptions
I assume that you chose this book because your job search is on your mind, perhaps as a new graduate fresh from college with scant working experience, or as a career changer seeking to make a leap into a different field, or as a seasoned worker wondering how to get ready for the next future challenge.
More specifically, I’m also making these assumptions:
You may feel as though good things never seem to happen in your job world. Have you considered the possibility that you don’t market your abilities robustly enough in a tight economy?
The arsenal of messaging samples in these pages offers new ideas about how to communicate your true worth.
You’re job hunting, but you’ve never written any kind of job search letter that landed you an interview. (Putting recruiters to sleep, are you?)
Now you’re ready to step up your game and learn from samples of how today’s writing pros do it. You sense that this is the right guidebook to help you pick up the know-how to look job perfect to employers stuck in hiring paralysis.
You’re employed but concerned about or dissatisfied with your current work situation. You’re looking for escape routes if push comes to shove — but you need the right message tools to look vibrant in modern times.
You’re ready to move up in rank and money, but all is quiet on the management front. You’ve heard a story about an audacious soul who won a nice promotion by writing a request justifying it, and of another individual who fired up her keyboard to ask for a pay bump, and the money flowed. You’re ready to learn how to write letters like that.
Icons Used in This Book
For Dummies signature icons are the little round pictures you see in the margins of the book. I use them to call your attention to key bits of information. Here’s a list of the icons you find in this book and what they mean.
This icon signals situations in which you may find trouble if you don’t make a good decision.
Some points in these pages are so useful that I hope you’ll keep them in mind as you read. I make a big deal out of these ideas with this icon.
This icon directs your full attention to compelling messages that make you stand out from the crowd.
Here I flag advice and information that can spark a difference in the outcome of your career message.
Beyond the Book
In addition to the goodies contained in this book, Job Search Letters For Dummies comes with some access-anywhere material on the web. Check out the free Cheat Sheet at http://www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/jobsearchletters
for additional helpful letter-writing suggestions.
Where to Go from Here
If you’re in a tight spot and don’t have the time to start with Chapter 1 and read this book cover to cover, please allow me to make a few suggestions to get you off to a good launch.
When you need to dive into specific information, the Table of Contents is your guide to grab the immediate info you need. The Index is another place to cherry-pick the answers you want.
Additionally, here are several targeted call-outs:
When you aren’t up on the framework of mobile search and social media, read Chapters 2 and 8. I’ve tried not to go overboard on the techie talk, but offer only enough to get you onboard today’s job search functions.
When you’ve just spotted an advertised job opening you want, cut to the chase: Immediately read Chapter 4.
When you need to make a move fairly quickly, but you have no advertised jobs you want to claim, head straight for Chapters 1, 2, 5, 6, and 8 through 12.
Your Treasure Hunt Begins
Within this guide’s pages you’ll find more than 40 valuable new types of documents to send your career soaring. Seek and find samples of these kinds of job search letters:
accomplishment statement, checklist comparison, resume addendum, specialty profile, first 90-day forecast, introduction letter, skills checklist, resume letter, job offer response, rejection follow-up, job return agreement, job ad reply, networking letter, prospecting letter, after-interview letter, social media message, mini-message text, branding statement, bio, bio flyer, professional profile, elevator speech, leadership initiatives summary, occupational highlights, cultural fit statement, industry experience statement, job training snapshot, project plan review, certifications list, performance snapshot, strengths summary, education achievements report, best work portfolio, sales skills index report, qualifications-job ad requirements display, reference list, reference compendium, recommendation letter, online work portfolio, prezi, and videoclip message.
Treasure hunts are great fun but this isn’t a kid’s game. A rewarding career is your grand prize in a changed job market where you need all the clues you can get.
Chapter 1
Best Messages: Land Jobsand Leap Ahead
In This Chapter
Saying hello to a bevy of winning messages in the New Digital Age
Learning the ropes of writing great job search letters from top pro writers
Guarding your new letters’ good looks as they travel online to change your life
A new blast of recruiting technology is blowing the hinges off the way we once pursued a job search when we applied, got a call, went in for an interview, and either got hired or continued looking until we hit pay dirt.
Just as computers and the Internet forever changed the way job seekers find hiring companies, digital technology is forever changing the way job seekers sell hiring companies.
This book, aimed at virtually every job seeker, is rich with sample letters showing you how to sell companies on the benefits of hiring you. You’ll find a wealth of letters to grow your know-how in Chapters 4 through 11.
There’s more. After you’re hired, you’ll want to be rewarded for your valuable work with a boost in money and clout. That’s why Chapter 13 contains more sample letters, to help you accomplish your career progression.
A Brief Kaleidoscope of Letter Types
More specifically, you may be amazed at the number of purposes you can accomplish with solid job search letters. The following thumbnail roster summarizes the kinds of career-growing letters that can speed you on your way and that you’ll find in the chapters ahead:
Getting hired: Job ad reply, online cover note, checklist match of qualifications with job requirements, accomplishments sheet, job fit statement, first 90 days work product goals projection, reference commentary, employee referral memo, contract and job-bidding application, prospecting letter, networking letter, after-interview letter, interview leave-behind supplement, and interest revival letter.
Getting modern: Mobile text message, social media message, branding brief, bio, profile, online work portfolio, prezi, and video interview.
Getting ahead: Internal requests for promotion, raise, company job vacancy, and lateral move within company.
Job search letters may be postal mailed, courier delivered, personally hand delivered, or, far more likely, moved by digital computer technology. Digital technology has become the leading method of delivering job search letters, as the following section observes.
Digital Is Destiny
Digital technology keeps churning out new ways for people to connect and communicate in the job market. Why isn’t innovation slowing down or taking a breather?
Three words sum up the answer: smarter, faster, cheaper. That’s essentially the motivation for recruiters (who pay the bills) and inventors (who sell to recruiters) to continue coming up with new technical twists in the job market.
What’s more, digitally native generations represent a growing proportion of the working population. Young adults — who teethed on the Internet and texted most of their messages — represent an increasingly larger share of the labor market.
Among important contemporary categories of recruiting and job search technology are the following four headliners:
1. Mobile. The use of smartphones and tablets to job-hunt is spreading across the planet like wildfire, even among workers older than 30. Chapter 2 is devoted to the ins and outs of mobile job search.
2. Social. The explosion of social media means more information is available about candidates than ever before; it even elbows in on unfavorable data candidates prefer to keep out of public view. There are two sides to the social digital coin:
Social discovery makes it easier for recruiters to find candidates for specific positions.
• Social communication makes it easier for job seekers to find jobs and references in ways never before possible.
The growth in time spent on social media is largely tied to the skyrocketing spread of smartphones. Chapter 8 looks at letters for social media.
3. Search automation. Until two decades or so ago, job applications were filled with candidate-supplied, or internal, information and were kept in filing cabinets. Now they’re kept on computers in applicant tracking systems (ATS). Hiring actions include external information gathered online in social searching.
Contemporary ATS technologies automate a comprehensive review of candidates that includes both internal and external information by using computer formulas called algorithms.
4. Predictive analytics. In making hiring decisions, predictive analytics means sophisticated software used to predict a candidate’s future performance. Statistics in candidate selection add to or complete with human judgment.
When a job change is on your agenda, it’s essential to Google your name once a week to see what recruiters are spotting. This exercise means more than searching for embarrassing personal moments. It means updating your old profiles and revising any other data that can disqualify you for the type of job you’re chasing.
Memorable Job Search Letters
The transforming power of digital technology encourages a strategy of writing your way forward with messages that ask for advice and information, help from professional contacts, assistance from a former business coworker, or consideration from a recruiter.
Digital technology makes it practical for you to take another bite of the apple in pitching a hiring manager after a turn-down, asking for a part-time gig, or helping in researching a potential job.
Your letters have to be worth reading, whether by a recruiter, a hiring manager, or an automated system. Three outstanding job letter examples follow.
Executive position letter
Very well-written job search letters are critical when you’re chasing highly competitive employment positions, such as senior executive, scientist, technologist, upper-level government employee, college professor, attorney, or other upscale occupation.
The following sample letter by Debby Ellis, Phoenix Career Group in Houston, illustrates quality writing that’s always appropriate for an executive position.

Debbie Ellis, MRW, Phoenix Career Group — Houston, Texas
Alumni career fair letter
The main idea: When attending a college career fair, a simple tactic makes you stand out from the fair’s endless flow of visitors: Leave your resume at each booth with a customized cover letter that features a facsimile of your college’s logo.
Cast your eyes on the following sample letter from imaginative Atlanta-based resume writer Sharon M. Bowden.

Sharon M. Bowden, CPRW, CEIP — Atlanta, Ga.
Networking letter
Countless surveys of job seekers rate networking as indispensible. Chapter 5 offers 15 excellent samples, and here’s one more. The following sample, written by resume writer Joellyn Wittenstein Schwerdlin in Worcester, Mass., demonstrates vividly how effective messages can be constructed with brevity and clarity, as well as warmth.

Joellyn Wittenstein Schwerdlin, CCMC, JCTC — Worcester, Mass.
Why Job Letters Are the Future
The word is out about another technological gee-whiz product being tested as this book goes to press: smartglasses. Slipping a pair of smartglasses on your face can alert you to jobs in your area while you’re moving about. Or as someone has observed, “Get ready for eyewear that brings computing to your corneas.” (Personally, I’m holding out for dentistry that brings computing to your wisdom teeth.)
The serious job seeker can’t brush off speed-racing of new digital technologies to automate hiring conclusions drawn from massive amounts of data. Just don’t mistake the technological medium for the marketing message.
The message is how you communicate your value to employers who will pay you for it. The message is how you communicate your job fit to employers who insist on knowing it.
It’s the message that’s important, not the medium that delivers the message.
The strategy of using effective modern job search messages presents a golden opportunity to own the narrative of why you’re a perfect choice for the job you seek. And after you write your way onto a payroll, keep writing your way forward with career-management messages. Please continue reading: You’ll find 188 terrific samples to light your way.
Communications skills most people commonly use today for job finding and job growing aren’t up-to-speed for the emerging world. If you’re in the left-behind category, here’s your chance to catch up and zoom into the future.