Many people seek the advice of others when trying to get more job interviews. It’s little things employers look at on a resume, that can make or break a job interview. Tweaking your resume or cover letter enables anyone to greater their chances of not only passing job interviews, but, stand out from other job candidates, of hopefully becoming a new employee of the company.




What Employers Quietly Look at on Cover Letters



On many occasions, employers glanced briefly at a resume and cover letter, and potentially judge job candidates, before interviewing. Employers look for certain formats on employment resumes, and certain keywords with in the body of the resume, when interviewing job candidates. Employers look at the wording of cover letters, which also plays a quiet role in the judgment process of an employer possibly hiring the job candidate, sometimes right on the spot. How your resume is formatted says much about your past work experience.


A helpful hint for improving your cover letter would be to use a bulleted format, instead of a standard letter throughout paragraphs. Believe it or not, when an employer looks at a cover letter with bulleted paragraphs, employers are more likely to find that attractive, versus a traditionally written cover letter regular paragraphs. Employers look at job applicants in a different light who take the time to uniquely format their resumes and cover letters, over others who just [patch or resume and cover letter together], and looking for the next employment gig. Taking the time to format a cover letter in bulleted format with the right words may intentionally get job applicants a call back from the interviewing employer, sooner than hoped for.


Following Instructions for Cover Letter Format Success



In life, everyone has to following instructions, rich, middle-class or poor. A properly formatted cover letter has a specific type of work experience, with each bullet point. Highlighting work experience within each bullet point tells the hiring manager specifically how you work experience matches the job interviewed for. Below is a quick example of how to highlight work experience in a bulleted format on a cover letter:


* 3 + years experience with internet publishing


* 12 years experience in customer service


* Six months experience using Worldspan airline travel program


* Increased sales for the company in comparison to performance of other sales representatives


* Increased customer winbacks and exceeded daily productivity goals


* Volunteered for all special company projects


Hopefully, the above example will give you a quick synopsis of how to highlight certain experiences on a cover letter, when coming up with creative ideas of how to make your cover letter stand out from other job candidates. When using a bulleted list on a cover letter, it allows you to shine the spotlight on yourself. Of course, in a humble way. Using a bulleted list in your cover letter puts you three steps ahead of other job candidates competing for the same position.


Additional Cover Letter Tweaks



Using boldface fonts on a cover letter betters chances of turning the job interview into new employment. By using boldface fonts in a cover letter, it allows the employer to emphasize points you want them to specifically read. Anything bold on an employment resume or cover letter sticks out in the mind and eyes of the hiring manager. An employment resume and cover letter are nothing more than an advertisement printed on regular 8.5 x 11 paper, or, printed on resume parchment paper. Bold face not only catches the eye more when using it on resumes and cover letters, but is also a common practice printing businesses use, when printing certain advertising copy, or documents.


Last and Important Step



Carefully wording the final paragraph of the cover letter will help you get past the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper is the person who takes the calls for the hiring manager, and the person a majority of job seekers tend to bypass, in trying to directly speak with the employer. As your resume and 90% of your cover letter is officially tweaked, the last an important step in putting the final touches on your cover letter, is letting them know at the last sentence of your cover letter “you will call the employer a certain day during the following week”, to show continued interest in the job you hope to be hired for. Doing this plants a seed in the hiring manager’s mind, to be on the lookout for your phone call, or, a visit in person to meet them. This also tells the employer a lot about your character, as well as being punctual for a follow-up, in potentially getting hired for the job. If you also let the gatekeeper [the person who takes phone calls for the hiring manager] know you’ve relayed this information already to the hiring manager, chances are, they will connect you directly through to the hiring manager, if doing a follow-up by telephone the following week. Telling the employer in the cover letter you’ll follow up with them at a certain day the following week also tells them to “hold you to your word.”



Staying Faithful After Interviewing

It’s small and useful tips like these that help job applicants accomplish getting the job hoped for. Not every employer who looks at carefully worded and formatted resumes and cover letters will offer you a job immediately. As employers weigh work experience, length of time on jobs, and an array of other things, don’t be discouraged if you don’t get the job. It does not mean your resume, cover letter or work experience is not satisfactory. It simply saying not every job is for everyone. If this happens, dust yourself off, get up and try again. No matter how many times rejection happens for potential gain of employment happens after interviewing for a job, never give up!