If I had a dime every time I hear the question “should I create a cover letter”, I would be a happy person with a great passive income (a very specific example, I know.) In my personal experience, I have not done a cover letter in the last 3 years and I have definitely managed to get not only interviews but job offers. However, this has been my personal experience, and a part of me still wonders if I simply got lucky. So, I consulted with a talent acquisition professional who is an industry expert experienced in evaluating talent and extending interviews…

I present you Virginia Lloyd and her perspectives on whether or not we should still do a cover letter in 2018.

Skip the Cover Letter

Applying for jobs has become increasingly easy, in most scenarios involving a single click to submit your resume. Although this makes the job applicant’s life much easier, it makes the recruiters’ jobs much harder. Countless hours are spent scanning through resumes with very little return on the investment. For this reason, recruiters spend more and more time actively looking for and engaging with passive talent rather than sitting in an applicant tracking system waiting for the right person to apply.

We all have incredibly short attention spans nowadays, and recruiters are no exception. Recruiters usually don’t spend more than 10 seconds skimming through a resume. When applying for a job, the application’s first and most important function is to catch the recruiter’s attention. So, focus on your resume and forget the cover letter. Cover letters tend to be a distraction or in most cases are not even looked at. They’re too often obviously templatized & mass produced (e.g. Dear Hiring Manager or To Whom It May Concern) or have clearly not been updated with the correct job title or company name or include spelling and grammatical errors. You probably hate creating a cover letter as much as the recruiter dreads reading it. Ultimately, a cover letter is more of a liability than an asset.

A Resume Is Your Most Valuable Real Estate

Rather than spending time on a cover letter, put the extra effort into perfecting your resume. Resumes should convey your elevator pitch at the top and showcase the impact you’ve made. For example, if you work in marketing, describe the value you added in different roles. Perhaps you created a plan that increased the company’s web traffic by X number of unique visits. Or you developed a campaign that improved inbound sales numbers by X amount. These are important data points that tie into the company’s bottom line and give a better indication of the value you will add to your next role.

Putting an objective at the top of your resume with what you are looking for is almost as bad as including a cover letter. It tells the recruiter nothing about your experience and what you have to offer. Consider instead adding an impact summary. List relevant projects and the business impact you’ve made in past positions. Ultimately, driving impact is what matters.

Listing side projects can also be valuable to include. They demonstrate passion and allude to the fact that you enjoy learning and take ownership of your own growth. These points can greatly increase the chances that you’ll grab the attention of the recruiter and they’ll continue reading into the details of your resume. Even if they decide you’re not the right fit for the role, the odds are better that they will spend time reviewing your qualifications & background.

Network, Network, Network

To really set yourself apart, take the time to find a recruiter or hiring manager on LinkedIn and send them a connection request with a personalized message. Personalized and intentional networking offers the highest chances of getting a response to your job application. Once you’re connected, send a quick note and express how excited you are about the role and company and let them know you’ve applied. This approach will greatly increase the chances that someone will review your resume.

As recruiters focus more time on hunting for talent, they spend less and less time on reviewing applications. Unfortunately, it’s common for resumes to sit in an applicant tracking system and never be looked at. This is especially true for large companies with high volumes of applicants. More often than not, the right candidates come through employee referrals, networking events, company-hosted events, and customized outreach. In other words, you have to set yourself apart as a job applicant. Any good recruiter will respond to a candidate and personally sends them a message expressing interest. If they don’t respond within a week, consider sending a follow-up message to reiterate how interested you are in the role, or try contacting someone else at the company instead. Although it can get frustrating when you don’t hear back, try not to be discouraged. This approach takes more time, but your success rate and the odds of talking to a hiring manager are much higher.

So, if you are actively job searching, forego the cover letter unless the job application specifically asks for it! Let me know what your experience is in trying this method if you decide to adopt it today. Or, if you’ve gotten interviews without cover letters, let us know too!

One exception (edited 3/14/18): 

Wisely noted by my good friend Sergio Sanchez, PhD (see his comment by scrolling to the bottom of the blog post):

Networking is the way to differentiate yourself and get ahead of the bot because the hiring manager knows s/he wants you before they even post the job. A cover letter (or a modified, less formal version of one) is a helpful way to introduce yourself to individuals that don’t yet know you but you want to network with. Whether it is a cold contact or an introduction through a mutual acquaintance, folks at the receiving end of networking requests want to know a little bit about you before they decide to share 20-30 mins of their busy time with you. They are going to have to stop doing something to talk to you! So that brings us back to the original question … Are cover letter still required? For the one-click applications … definitely not. For networking and introducing yourself … I think the answer is yes. Funny thing is, this is exactly why cover letters were first created: to introduce yourself to a PERSON and create demand for you as a candidate. It all comes back to the beginning, doesn’t it! : )

Virginia specializes in talent acquisition ranging from hands-on recruiting to building out best practices and processes, as well as leading small teams at high tech companies. She is an alumnus of Google, SONOS, Red Hat, and Spotify, and is currently the Director of Talent at White Ops, an NYC-based cybersecurity startup.

The post To Cover Letter or Not Cover Letter, That Is The Question || Are Cover Letters Still Relevant? appeared first on Cubicle Chic.

Arbitrary or not, most would agree that the six-figure salary is a significant milestone. For many white-collar professionals, a 6-figure salary is something to strive for amongst getting a C suite title, having a corner office, managing a big team, etc.  In fact, in 2017, the average annual income of 25-to-34-year-old Americans was $40K, and the average 35-44 year-olds made $50K (CNBC Money). What is somewhat depressing is that after this age bracket, annual income basically stays the same until the retirement age of 65 and it plummets to $47K. So, the average group of Americans don’t ever make a 6-figure salary in their lifetime.

My Humble Beginning

When I began my marketing career back in late 2000’s, I had an annual salary in the $50K range. On average, that is a decent starting salary. But being in California, having just gotten my MBA and seeing where my classmates had landed salary-wise, it did not feel like a high salary in any way. Over the next few years, with a couple of job change and promotions, my salary slowly increased to the 60K range. Then the 70K range. And then it plateaued here for a few years.

And Then It Happened

I was OVER THE MOON when I received the job offer back in September 2016 that finally brought my salary into the 6-figure range. Imposter syndrome, self-doubt, and overall disbelief all aside, it was a yuuuuuge (lol) confidence boost. Additionally, my fiancé and I were planning a wedding at the time, so we knew the increase in my salary was going to be a big help. Yet amongst all things, I was really surprised at the thoughts that receiving this offer and having this $6000+ (after tax) a month salary trigged in me.  I never thought these were the things that would surface when I got a 6-figure salary offer.

The first thought that followed “I got the job” was “what am I going to buy myself as the reward?”

Old (bad) habits die hard. This is how I’ve equated any success in my adult life to – the materialistic reward that I’d allow myself to indulge in afterward. It almost makes sense on some levels: “I make more now, I can buy more.” Right? It’s so scary that this was how my brain had been wired for years. When I have the financial means, the first place my thoughts went to was how I could spend my money on materialistic things, and not pay off debt, not increase retirement savings, not increase investments. In hindsight, after I’ve taken the journey to become a more financially responsible person, it’s frightening to face my old habits up close and personal.

I was actually able to shorten the pay-back plan of my car loan.

When I was in debt, I’d stare at my Mint account with the amount of debt I had and silently wish to myself “If only I win the lottery tomorrow or have some kind of windfall of money. That would wipe this all off and I can start anew!” This job offer with the 6-figure salary was exactly that. My car payment at the time was $680 a month. I can’t help but CRINGE at that figure now that car payments are out of my life for good. With the increase in salary, I was done with my car payment within 5 months. This 6-figure salary actually helped me pay off my car loan sooner than I’d thought!

It gave me the confidence I needed to progress in my career  

I generally don’t like talking about things like “imposter syndrome” because I think people (women) have the tendency to use it to legitimize or give more voice to their inner demons. But, there is a reason why this term is so popular these days and there’s some truth in its popularity. Having a nice 6-figure salary is one of the best weapons to battle imposter syndrome, at least in my experience. Nothing says “you are worth it” than your negotiation resulting in the salary you asked for. It’s empowering, validating, and a defining milestone. It also gave me more assurance when I negotiated other job offers & compensation packages later in life.

I was still the same person I was, with the same challenges, flaws, hard decisions to make in life.

This was the most sobering fact that dawned on me a few months after I started this job. Having the 6-figure salary I wanted was not some silver bullet. Getting paid this much didn’t change who I was or the problems I had. It boosted my confidence, sure, but it didn’t give me confidence that I didn’t have. I still had to commute to work, felt anxious before a presentation, had co-workers that were so annoying I wish I didn’t have to deal with them… my work life did not magically transform into something else better. And as naïve as that sounds, I used to hold on to the thought of “if only my salary was much higher” and then things would magically improve. This definitely didn’t happen.  

The satisfaction wears off fast. The mind latches onto new goals, and the hustle starts all over again.

It’s human nature. We set a goal, achieve it, feel overcome by a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction…then it fades. And we move onto the next thing we slave away to accomplish. This is a big concept in positive psychology called the hedonic adaptation. It describes the fact that “happiness doesn’t last”; you buy a new car, get a big promotion, win the lottery, etc. But after a while, the excitement and euphoria wear off and you’re back to your baseline of emotions. And you feel like you’re back at square one, with new goals to tackle in order to find that “high” again. On this front, I highly recommend three books to read on finding ways to create meaning and measure happiness in life: How Will You Measure Your Life by Clayton Christenson, The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor, and Designing Your Life by Bill Burnette and Dave Evans.

What’s your salary story? How does your current salary make you feel and why?

The post I landed a 6-figure salary job by age 30. This is how my life changed. appeared first on Cubicle Chic.

Whether you are currently looking for a job (like I have been) or thinking about making your next career move, you need all the free job search tools hat will help you level the playing field as a job seeker.

I remember when I was looking for internship opportunities as a new college graduate in 2007/2008. Craigslist, my university’s job board, and monster.com were the only resources that were available.

Fast forward to 2017, everything is now online which also means your personal network is more connected than ever. Someone who may give us a reference or pass our resume into the hiring manager’s hands is a click away in today’s world. Additionally, the way we look for potential opportunities, the way we present our professional profile and portfolio, the way we stay connected with our network has all been turned on its head. In 2017’s workforce and career advancement, it’s more important than ever to stay visible, understand what your competitive strengths are, know how to leverage them, and lastly, put yourself out there and stay connected to the right network.

Here are 5 tools that you may not know about that will help you do these things more efficiently:

1. Glever: AI-based Resume Generator

This is the job-search part of the internet’s best-kept secret- you can literally create a resume from scratch in minutes! The way it works is that you enter in the title of the position(s) you’ve held (for example, social media specialist, marketing communications manager, etc) and the system will generate all the related responsibilities related to this function. You can then pick and choose from a seemingly never-ending list of job function descriptions, to describe your experience and role. Then, this is a very important step – you want to modify them so you are not plagiarizing others’ work. Also, you want these descriptions to be a 100% reflection of your actual experience. Try it out, let me know what you think!

2.     Glassdoor Know Your Worth: Gain Leverage in Salary Negotiation

It’s one thing to research what the average salary is. It’s another to calculate your worth based on the specifics in your job history. The things your salary worth depends on years of experiences, your location, and the positions/titles you’ve held. Glassdoor helps you figure out what you are worth based on your career history. Get this free piece of information today and so you can negotiate like a pro!

3.     Levo: Present Your Career Like a Story

Think of it as a more dynamic, lively, and flexible version of LinkedIn. Levo is great for those that feels like their employment history doesn’t represent their career holistically, or that they have a side hustle or amazing life experiences that make them an attractive job candidate. Levo is a great platform to use to tell your career story, one “card” (the building blogs of your Levo profile) at a time.

I have only very recently discovered Levo (see my profile here!), so you know of more ways to utilize it, let me know!

4.     Good & Co: Find Out Your Workplace Personality

If you ever struggle with figuring out what your professional strengths and inclinations are, take one of these work personality tests. Additionally, do you ever wonder how you come across to others at work, what your approach is in getting work done, or what kind of co-worker you are to others? These are all things you can take this simple 18-question quiz to find out!

Knowing the answers will help you steer your job search in the right direction. You will also have more idea about how to answer the dreaded interview question “what are your strengths and weaknesses”.

5.     Jobscan’s Resume Keyword Scanner: Tailor Your CV/Resume For The Job

If you’ve ever felt like your resumes go into a black hole online, you’re not alone. At some point, you should check out whether it’s even passing the screening algorithms. Larger companies tend to use resume scanning bots as their first line of the filter. Your resume needs to have the right keywords!

It’s quite simple – Jobscan takes your resume, and your desired position’s online description, and compare them side-by-side to spits out a percentage of keyword overlap. It will even give you a list of keywords to use. Put the keywords to use and increase the likelihood of your resume showing up on the company’s radar!

6.     Career Blogs: Personalized, Tailored Advice

This is one of my favorite free job search tools online: career bloggers. One of the most common traits of bloggers is that they are passionate and empathetic. If they started a blog, chances are they have a lot of advice to offer and want to help. And if they write about career advice, you bet they’d help you out!

The two bloggers below have both helped me in my job search in the last 3 months, and I have enjoyed pretty much every single post they have written!

a.     Tori Dunlap // Digital Marketing Guru

• 5 (Fail-Proof) Ways to Negotiate a Raise
• 10 Tricks to Deal With Work Stress

b.     Emily Liou // Career Coach

• What’s Your Career Mind Map?
• 3 Crucial Steps to Killing an Interview

Which one of these free job search tools have you used, and what’s your experience like with them?

The post 6 Free Job Search Tools You Did Not Know About appeared first on Cubicle Chic.

As I look out the window and hear the morning rush hour, it struck me. That was my life for 6 years: waking up earlier than I want to, rushing to get out the door, and fighting traffic to get to work. I never thought I would say this, but I miss that life.

I’ve been job searching for the last month or so. While I’ve kept myself busy with working on Cubicle Chic, taking care of some important personal business (changing my last name has NOT been fun), reading profusely, and taking a lot of online courses, there are times when I catch myself feeling frustrated with how long it’s taken me to get back into Corporate America.

 This romper is $48 from ShopTheMint and I wear a size small!

I talk to friends and family about it, and they re-assure me that with my credential and experience, it’s only a matter of time and that I should be more patient.

But when it’s 10:30AM, and I’m staring at LinkedIn, Glassdoor.com, and even Craiglist and all the job applications I’ve sent out, it’s hard not to wonder “Now what? What else do I do?” Inevitably, frustration sets in because I feel like I have done everything I could, and I’m still not where I need to be.

To distract myself from this type of negative thinking and the world of despair it often downward spirals into, I started to engage myself in activities that take my mind off things but still feel productive.

1) Create a career mind map (Thank you Cultivitae)!

Are you on the right track with your career? A break from employment might just be the perfect time to figure out whether you are maximizing your potential, or if you have all the skills required to find your dream job. It’s an exercise that helps you look in the mirror at your professional self, find clarity, and identify areas for opportunities.

 This romper is $48 from ShopTheMint and I wear a size small!

2) Connect with more like-minded professionals/individuals.

• Hop on Career Contessa, where career advice, mentorship opportunities, and industry professionals that will help make you more hire-able in your job search.
• Find groups like Professional Networking & Career Advice Group
• If you’re a creative, check out events like Creative Mornings

3) READ.

Any reading, if it relaxes you and helps take your mind from the job search process, is highly encouraged. Plus, it gives you material to talk about when you go networking! For me, I like to read books where I find inspiration and learn things. Here are 3 books that I’ve read recently that helped keep my spirits up:

Rachel Cruze’s “Love Your Life, Not Theirs” [see a great review here]

This is a book about how to clean up your financial life. Rachel is personal finance Guru Dave Ramsey’s daughter. In this book, she teaches you 7 money habits to win with money.

When you are unemployed, the last thing you need to do is to be loose with money. I have been relatively comfortable in my situation because I am debt free, and my husband is happy to support me (for now at least, lol!).

This book also offers great advice on how to be content with what you have, and not be swayed by what we see in social media.

J. Kelly Hoey’s “Build Your Dream Network” [I’m going to try to review this book next week]

One of the best career-related books I’ve read recently. No humble bragging, and with Hoey’s credential and accomplishment, it’s amazing how modest of a voice she writes with. She transformed what I understand “networking” to be, to mean, and how to go about it. It’s a must-read for those of us who know we need to get better at networking but dread the idea of having to do it!

Marina Keegan’s “The Opposite of Loneliness” [see a great review here]

As a writer, I mean I cringe as I call myself a writer after reading this book, but I was deeply inspired by the 9 short stories and Marina’s personal story. Like a shooting star, this Yale graduate’s death was untimely and premature, but she behind her splendid work that the rest of us will admire for eternity.

It’s a must-read if you’re looking for short but brilliantly written essays about life, relationship, and everything in between.

4) Take an online course. For free!

Develop or hone in on skills that you always wanted to work on but never had the time to. Take an online class like what I’ve been doing: Udemy’s Writing with Impact: Writing that Persuades. I’m half way through this course now, I must say it’s transforming the way I write already.

A few other ones that I am intrigued to take: The Strategy of Content Marketing, U.S. History (I know, random, but I love learning things I think I know a lot about but most likely don’t!), Hamlet’s Ghost (offered by Harvard University) … to name a few!

 This romper is $48 from ShopTheMint and I wear a size small!

5) Locate your local library and sign up today!

Why? Because the library is any American citizen’s best treasure! If you’ve paid tax to the city you’ve lived in, you probably have contributed to the maintenance of a library. Take advantage of it! Not to mention that books, magazines, a lot of DVDs/movies, Wi-Fi, and AC are all FREE. I now routinely check out books I want to read from the library first, go through them, and if I love them as much as I thought I would, then and only then I buy them from Amazon.

Carve out 3-5 hours a day to go to the library, and submit all your job application when you are there! This is incredible for those of us during a job search. It helps us stay focused and creates a line between “work” and life.

 This romper is $48 from ShopTheMint and I wear a size small!

6) Go to networking events and make new connections.

For a person who draws energy from her groups and community, spending a lot of time alone never benefits me in the long run. It’s important to schedule time in your day to go out, meet new people who are perhaps also in their job search mode. I take conscious effort to find local events where I can meet with other creative and marketing professionals. The next event I’m trying to go to will be Creative Mornings in San Diego.

Do you know someone who’s currently searching for a new job? Share this post with them. I hope it will help them the same way it’s helped me!

All photography by Natalie Alvarado @ Stylenfuse

The post How To Stay Motivated During A Longer Than Expected Job Search appeared first on Cubicle Chic.

Ever since I went to PoshFest 2015 last year with no entourage and ended up making a bunch of lasting friendships, I feel like I’ve conquered networking, the fear of talking to successful, possibly intimidating, people doesn’t deter me from making connections anymore. So when I saw that Career Contessa was having this “Interview Do’s and Don’ts” net working event, I signed up without thinking twice.

P.S. A side note about Career Contessa in case you didn’t know about them. Think professional career focused Refinery29 customized for professional women, and with insight and guidance like ones seen on Glassdoor.com and Salary.com. The Career Contessa company tagline is ““A career resource for women who want more and are daring enough to get it.” I’ve been a Career Contessa reader since early 2015 and their content has become SO insightful and so in-depth. My recent favorite is a article on salary growth of a VP in Marketing and how he/she went from making 45K to 156K in 10 years.

 Job Search Do’s and Don’ts by Career Contessa and Six Degree Society Photo by Kathrina Sio  Job Search Do’s and Don’ts by Career Contessa and Six Degree Society Photo by Kathrina Sio

Initially, what attracted me to this event was the impressive line-up of panelist: recruiters from Nasty Gal, Hulu, and Glassdoor dishing out insider information on how interviewers can succeed during job searches. What I didn’t know about, was how awesome the “curated networking” which was the work of Six Degree Society, was going to turn out.

I am going into the 8th year of my professional career, and I’ve gone to a lot of networking events. I have not gone to one with such nicely established structure for attendees to engage with each other, without awkward games or artificial conversations. I was paired with Amber and Natalie, who both have digital media experience and ambition to do great things in their content creation journey. (I also met Connie, not through the pairing but just good ole networking). Six Degree Society studied carefully the bio I provided and paired me with people who share similar or complementary experience or skill sets as me. My conversation with Amber and Natalie felt naturally engaging and we all learned so much from one another. In fact, I already know there will be collaborations on the horizon with these #girlbosses soon!

Besides the free drinks, awesome freebies, and all the socializing, I learned a few things that were pretty surprising (to me at least):

1) Treat your recruiter as your best advocate. They want you to succeed almost as much as you do! Be transparent with them, be comfortable with them, and count on them.

2) Don’t show up too early for an interview. Thirty minutes is too early; try arriving there 15-5 minutes beforehand. If you’re early, chill in your car or a coffee shop.

3) Have the salary conversation earlier in the interview process rather than later. Do it in a tactful way. You don’t always have to reveal your current salary level (my personal opinion is that you should never disclose this info), but this is to make sure your desired salary range matches the company’s budget.

4) Men and women have very different negotiation tactics; men tend to be more fact based in their negotiations, and women tend to list more emotionally based reasons. Whether you’re a man or woman, approach this subject with your worth (based on your experience and public data) and not personal reasons or life circumstances.

What are your interview must-do’s and must-not-do’s? If you’re an interviewer, what’s your biggest pet peeve?

The post 4 Secrets I Learned From A Job Search Networking Event appeared first on Cubicle Chic.