How to Apply for a Job

If you've already found jobs that you're interested in, the next step is to apply, or let the employer know that you would like to be considered to fill a position. There are several ways to apply for a job, and it all depends on what kind of job it is.

Steps

1. Write a resume. Even if the kind of job you're looking for has an application process where a resume isn't necessary, the process of writing a resume can help sort your thoughts and prepare you for an interview. Having a written record of your work history makes filling out an application much easier, too. Tailor the resume to the type of job for which you are applying, emphasizing related skills and coursework.
   
2. Call the employer. Ask about the application process: "Good morning. My name is John Doe. I was wondering if you had any positions open and, if so, how I could apply?" You will usually have your call routed to the hiring or human resources manager. If they have any openings, they'll either ask you to come in and fill out an application, or they'll ask you to send a resume and cover letter by mail or e-mail, in which case you should inquire "To whom should the letter be addressed?" They will give you their full name - write it down and ask them to spell it out if necessary.
   
3. Write a cover letter if it's a part of the application process. Make sure it is specific to the job, with the company name and address and, if possible, the name of the person who will be receiving it.
   
4. Ask two or three friends or family members to read over your resume and cover letter for typos. It's often difficult to see our own mistakes.
   
5. Apply.
   
   • Visit the employer to fill out your application form. It's usually best to go in the mid-morning, when they're not too busy, but before the day has worn them out. Ask to speak to the hiring manager and try to hand the form to them personally: "Hi, we spoke on the phone yesterday about the (job title) position. Here's my application. Let me know if you need anything else!" This will give the employer a chance to see you (so present yourself well) and put a face to a name.
     
   • Send your cover letter and resume as instructed.
     
   
   
6. Follow up.
   
   • If you filled out an application but the hiring manager wasn't there at the time, call three days later, ask to speak to the manager, and confirm that the application was received: "Hello, this is (your name). I filled out an application on (day you came in) and I just wanted to confirm that it was received."
     
   • If you sent a cover letter and resume by mail, call a week later to confirm their receipt. If you sent them by e-mail, call the day after.
     
   
   

Tips

• Always thank the employer for their time and consideration
  
• Thank you letter after the interview
  
• Follow up with a phone call
  

Warnings

• If you try to be someone who you are not, most likely, they will decline.
  
• If you have not been accepted for the job then you might as well start the application process again, if they will allow you, or consider trying to obtain another job with a different employer.
  

How to Build Wealth

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Hi, here are some tips to build your wealth, along with improving personal success.

Steps

1. Learn to earn- If you find that your skills limit your earning potential consider going back to school. Trade School and Community Colleges have so much more to offer for your dollar. For example; if your interest lies in the computer industry, many community colleges offer computer certification tests.
   
   • The tuition and fees are usually less expensive and the training consumes less time than traditional degrees because you don't have to take basic courses like math, English and history to get a technology or skills degree! As a bonus you can take many course for a two year degree on your own time in your home.
     
   • Also, it's worth noting you shouldn't underestimate the power of an associates degree. After all many employers just want to see that you can finish your program and be self-motivated to improve yourself, while others just want "the paper."
     
   
   
2. Get a job- continue to network with peers in the industry. Don't be afraid of office politics- “scratching” someone else's back an in order to have yours “scratched” could be a very good thing.
   
3. Pay yourself first- This one of the most difficult and easiest things to do, set aside 10% of your earnings in a savings account. And leave it.
   
4. Move -- into a good socio-economic area or system.
   
5. Work to improve your home for profitable resale when you are ready to move up and out to a better home.
   
6. Expect and support community cooperation such as the local chamber of commerce, and the Small Business Association. Spend time volunteering, give back to your community, you never know how you might impact a life.
   
7. Live within your means -- if you can't afford that vacation don't go.
   
8. Invest -- whether you can afford it or not! A fancy car is not an investment, it depreciates as soon as you drive it off the lot and continues to depreciate in value thereafter.
   
9. Find a service or product to offer -- that people need or want, and that can be a especially profitable way of building a craft, selling products, serving other business or industrial enterprises.
   

Tips

• Learn to invest... profitably.
  
• If your company offers a 401k plan then contribute. The company almost always matches your contribution up to a certain percentage. That's FREE MONEY!- you didn't have to do anything to get that extra money except give yourself money. It can't be any easier than that.
  
• Read- yes, read. Read everything, know what's going on in your industry (trends, new concepts, learn what's going on in the World. This is a global economy and likely whatever is happening in the world is affecting your industry.
  

Warnings

• Don't work for minimum wage- after all they (the business) would pay you less, if it were legal.
  
• Investing advice: Don't eat the seed (no crop) or eat all of your chicken's fertile eggs (no baby chicks).
  
  • All your hens will get old and leave no income!
    
  
  
• If you currently invest in a 401k or similar program, whatever you do- DON'T BORROW AGAINST IT, there are heavy consequences.
  

How to Analyze Your Skills and Job Options

Want to be an astronaut or a baker or a carpenter? Perhaps you'd prefer to be a chef or a pilot or a successful entrepreneur? Choosing your options is never going to be that easy; what you need is to collate the things you are good at with the things you enjoy doing and then see where that leads you. Analyze your skills first, think about what you want to use, then choose your job options. Think about your life, and your future, and like a tree, see where the branches lead to from what you have done, and what you still want to do with your life.

Steps

1. Analyze your skills by listing your top ten achievements or career events that you are most proud of. You should do this by looking at your achievements, which are your richest source of information providing concrete and tangible evidence of what you have done so far. Use an active verb at the beginning of the phrase, and you’ll hear how much more powerful it sounds.
   
2. Ask yourself exactly what you did (try: where did I start?) Then think about what happened next (or perhaps - what did I say?).
   
3. Consider what skills you used when you did the thing you achieved (how did I do that? What did I need to do it?) You'll end up with very clear statements of your real capabilities.
   
4. List all of your skills so you can rate them for transferability; most of your skills will transfer to another job quite easily. Think not just "how good am I?" but ask "how much do I enjoy this?" The skills that score most highly on both counts are your most transferable skills and you will be able to use them in many different settings. Write them down (score them out of 10 then add up); the highest skills analysis scores are the ones you can use in your self-marketing statements to best effect.
   
5. Draw yourself a square box. Divide this box into four by drawing a horizontal line across the middle and a vertical line up through the middle. The horizontal line we're going to call "Enjoy Doing" with a scale running from left to right. The vertical line we're going to call "Good At" with the scale running from bottom to top; what we've got now is a 2 x 2 quadrant so admired by MBAs.
   
   • At the top left we've got high "Good At" with low "Enjoy Doing" so this is often where we've developed a high level of skill to deal with a task that's unavoidable but we don't want to do any more than is strictly necessary. Some people who don't manage their careers too well often end up here because their organizations push them to where they're seen to be good. Think about the Finance Assistant who ends up as an unwilling Credit Controller because he had some success getting some bills paid.
     
   • Lower left is where too many people find themselves job wise - doing something they don't enjoy and are not particularly good at. This is where necessity and stress sometimes come head-to-head, causing regular sick-leave. You'd be advised to try and change this if it's you.
     
   • Lower right is where enjoyment is high but skill not necessarily so. The person who enjoys amateur dramatics may be an example or a spare-time painter or the average DIYer.
     
   • The small square at the top right is where the high scales of "Good At" and "Enjoy Doing" end up, and this is where we all want to be. Success usually springs from enjoying and being good at something, but only if you want to repeat it. To choose your options bear this in mind and don't start with a job title. Instead start with the ingredients of a successful role, based on your honest appraisal of what you enjoy and want to do, plus an objective view of what you are good at and can replicate.
     
   
   

Tips

• An achievement is something that you have done which has made a difference to you or to others. You may have done it on your own or with and through others. It is not necessarily momentous or world-shattering, but will be something that you feel good about. It doesn't matter whether it comes from your "official" job or some other activity. If you've achieved something, you have used a level of skill which could be a valuable job skill elsewhere.
  
• For example:
  
  • Convinced colleagues of the need to change working practices
    
  • Launched the new product line in record time
    
  • Reduced supply costs by 15%
    
  • Taught my dad how to use his new computer
    
  • Secured a 10% increase in sales by...
    
  • Raised lots of money for a local charity through a new fund-raising event.
    
  • Completed a two year part-time MBA course while balancing work and family commitments
    
  
  
• These can relate to unpaid as well as to paid work and also to leisure activities. Ask yourself this: do your successes tend to involve just your own work or that of others? In other words, are you most effective when in a team? Are they mostly to do with work or are there some from other parts of your life? Can you detect a theme to your achievements and if so, what is it?
  

Warnings

• If you think you might be lacking in some essential skill area, one other thing you just might want to consider is: should I set out to learn a new skill now?
  

How to Analyze Adverts for Job Applications

The fundamental rule is: if you are going to apply for advertised jobs then only apply for the right ones. Don’t waste time by applying for the ones you’ve no chance of getting; not only is your time lost but your morale will suffer if you keep getting rejections. Analysing adverts thoughtfully saves you more than just time.
Analysing adverts is more art than science but if you approach it honestly you’ll find more time to do other productive things such as networking with the time you’ve saved.
Analysing adverts is made so much easier when you fully know yourself and what you can do. What you must do is analyze your skills first. That's another subject...

Steps

1. Look very carefully at each advert that is of interest and read it several times until you get the feel and an understanding of what’s being described.
   
2. When you have that feel, try to read between the lines to deduce if there is one particular crucial need or if there is anything else you could infer from their words. It’s also useful to read it critically and ask “have they left anything out? that could affect your suitability.
   
3. Now you've worked out what it’s all about, take a highlighter pen and mark every clause or phrase where they state what their actual requirement is.
   
4. Read the advert again carefully to see if these needs are essential or merely desirable.
   
5. You should be able to meet more than 60% of the essential requirements which form the backbone of the job if you are to be seriously considered.
   
6. The desirables are nice-to-haves and the more of these you meet the better, but they are not the main issue.
   
7. When you have done all this analysis and you still see a good match, go ahead and draft your response letter. You should try to follow their style of writing by using similar phrases and words but don’t just regurgitate their advert back to them.
   

Tips

• When you analyze the advert some phrases will stand out:
  
  • “it is essential that you…�? is a bit of a giveaway,
    
  • or “you must have…�?
    
  • or “you will have…�?
    
  
  
• These all shout essential at you so look for similar phrases that you can match yourself against.
  
• Others are not so firm and may say:
  
  • “you should have…�?
    
  • or “some knowledge of…�?
    
  • or “ideally…�?.
    
  
  
• These are all saying ‘desirable’ but not essential.
  

Warnings

• You should look for the crucial need – if there is one and you don’t have it, then don’t proceed, this one is the killer and will knock you straight out.
  
• If you do have it…
  
• Make sure it’s the first thing you mention in your response.
  
• That says “this candidate understands what we need�?.
  
• Please make sure you follow all their instructions i.e. reference number, closing date, enclose CV, give salary details.
  
• If you don’t do this you still might find yourself knocked out just for being careless.