7 Secrets of a Highly-Effective Resume Cover Letter

by: Jimmy Sweeney

Just like the late, great Rodney Dangerfield, the "humble" cover letter gets no respect.

Job-seekers spend so much time and energy on their resumes they've got nothing left to offer their poor, neglected cover letters.

Big, BIG mistake!

It is the well-written cover letter not the resume that can single-handedly land you more job interviews. The cover letter is your one chance to really "market" yourself to an employer using proven marketing strategies rarely found in the typical cover letter.

Conversely, there's only so much you can do with the traditional CV or resume. I believe the carefully crafted cover letter is more important to your job search success than any other written document, including the resume.

As a direct marketing professional for over 20 years, I bring to you my 7 secrets of a highly-effective resume cover letter:

1. ADDRESS your cover letter to a specific person. Do your best to find out "To Whom" you should address your cover letter. "Dear Manager" is lifeless.

2. OPEN with an attention-grabbing first sentence to really grip the reader. This will almost guarantee your cover letter and resume get a closer look.

3. REMEMBER less is more. The best cover letters have plenty of white space. Cover letters that are clear, focused, short and sweet land more job interviews period.

4. FOCUS on what you can do for the employer. How can you benefit the company specifically? Do a little research and relate this simply and clearly in your letter.

5. CHOOSE WORDS that show enthusiasm and passion for the position you seek... (big, big secret!) Then, carry this passion into the interview with you.

6. REQUEST ONE ACTION you want the employer to take: "I would really like the opportunity for a personal interview this week." (You never know until you ASK.)

7. END your cover letter with something enthusiastic and telling like, "I look forward to being interviewed at your earliest convenience. Thank you so much for this opportunity." Sincerely, Jane Jobseeker. (Notice how Jane assumes she'll land the interview? This is clever, smart, and it works like a charm).

Think of your cover letter as a sales letter. The only purpose of your resume cover letter is to land you more job interviews. That's the bottom line. By using the proven marketing strategies I've outlined above you will land more quality job interviews than your competition.

You must find a way to get your "foot in the company door" to have any chance of landing the job. With the right cover letter you can blow the doors of opportunity wide open. And remember, more job interviews translate to (drum roll please)... more job offers.

Finally, the most important advice I can offer you is this: FOLLOW-UP every job lead, contact, and communication. Following up is the "golden key" to getting hired for the job of your dreams. Use follow-up cover letters, thank you letters, even follow-up phone calls. Following-up can literally double your chance for success. It is also the one secret ingredient missing from 99% of every job-seeker's playbook.

Good news for you!

About The Author:
Jimmy Sweeney is the president of CareerJimmy and author of the new, "Amazing Cover Letter Creator." Jimmy has written several career-related books and his unique, "think-outside-the-job-search-box" approach, make his articles a job-seeker favorite. Jimmy is regularly published on some of the Internet’s largest career web sites. Who else wants their phone ringing off the hook with more quality job interviews? Visit Jimmy on the web right now at http://www.Amazing-Cover-Letters.com for your 'instant' cover letter today.

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7 Reasons to Pay Yourself First

by: Diann Cannon

Last month I was referred to a young fellow who wants to open his own business. He was pleasant, energetic, knew his stuff too; all good qualities to have, especially if you're self-employed.

We started out well enough. We talked about his long-range goals as well as his current circumstances, exploring how they might influence each other. When I learned that he had no real savings, I recommended that he begin putting away at least 10% of his income. Well, that's when things took a left turn. He became quite irritated and told me that there was absolutely no way he could do that; every penny he and his wife brought in was already allocated and they just couldn't afford to hold on to any of it. Everything he said thereafter just demonstrated all the more that he really NEEDED to have some savings cushion: his wife's position was not secure; the business she worked for may be folding, they had just had a baby. Despite my best efforts, he was not willing to consider putting his family's security on the front burner. Instead, he decided not to hire me as his coach, because he said, "I wasn't the 'right kind.'" Hmmmm.

I've seen businesses come and go and those who cannot handle the money at home typically take the same habits into their business and before they know it, they become a failure statistic. So, regardless of how you are employed (employee vs. self-employed), saving money is smart for some obvious and some not-so-obvious reasons:

Working becomes more FUN! If your entire paycheck is spent on basic survival needs, going to work every day can be very depressing.

Saving a portion of your hard-earned dollars is empowering because the decision is made not only by you, but also for your benefit.

There is an excitement that comes from watching the savings account grow. And when we see our dollars grow, we become more conscientious in our spending habits.

Taking care of self brings about a sense of freedom. If you find yourself in a difficult situation where you feel your values are challenged, you are more likely to say so if you have been taking care of your self in other ways. Regardless of the degree of difficulty, or who the person across from you happens to be (like your boss?), you will be truer to yourself and more direct with others. The act of self-care and financial responsibility promotes personal freedom.

Many financial experts recommend investing at least 10% of our gross income into something that can actually make money. That means finding an investment opportunity that will earn money for you on your behalf. Some people choose real estate, some the stock market; if that's just way too risky for you, then consider bonds or some other safe investment. I recommend George Clason's book entitled "The Richest Man in Babylon" for a no-nonsense approach to financial planning and personal prosperity. For information on how to purchase Clason's book, click here: The Richest Man in Babylon

Practicality and reality rule! When we are truly fiscally responsible, we do not do things that can jeopardize our financial health. More to the point, we will not forego saving or buy things we cannot afford because we are fully knowledgeable of our financial circumstances and responsive to our best interests. We live within our means.

One secret to success is modeling what other successful people do. Most every successful person I've ever met saves at least 10% of their income and invests it. Create your own success story.

I cannot tell you how many times people have looked at me, given me an impish grin and said, "I wish I could do that, but I barely make my bills as it is." The truth of the matter is that you will never miss $1.00 out of $10.00 or $10.00 out of $100.00. So my suggestion is no matter how much or how little money you make, do it!

ACTIONBegin now by first opening an extra bank account. Take 10% from you next paycheck and put it in this account. Continue to do this with every paycheck you get. You are going to be so pleased this time next year when you see the reserve of money you have set aside. Talk about peace of mind!

About the Author

Diann Cannon, founder of Signals Personal and Business
Coaching, works with individuals facing major life transitions, such as
divorce, unemployment or career change. She helps them identify their
strengths and confront limiting beliefs and behaviors. Ultimately, she
helps people achieve success and balance in their business and personal
lives. Contact Diann and sign up for her newsletter at
http://www.signalscoach.com.

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7 Effective Tips For Get a New Job FAST

by: Damian Papworth

In the last four articles in this series, we covered the
four basic steps to finding employment. Defining,
prospecting, applying and interviewing. In this final
article, we giving you 7 quality tips which will help
you cut valuable time off each step and therefore the
entire job hunt process.

1. Don't wait till you start looking for a job, before you
start looking.

Be up to date with your industry and the conditions
of your employment environment all the time. Make
this part of your job description in every job you hold.
It could save you weeks when it comes time to find a
job.

2. Keep your resume up to date

Find a template or layout that you are comfortable with
and maintain it. Update it twice a year at least. It will save
you the mad scramble to put it together and possibly a lost
opportunity because you were unprepared.

3. Network Network Network.

Keep in touch with all your contacts in the industry. This
includes workmates, employers, contacts at employment
agencies, contacts in similar companies etc. You never know
what other people will be doing tomorrow, or what opportunities
they may have for you.

4. Accept interviews even if you are not interested in the
opportunity, or not looking for a job.

Interviewing is a very specific skill. Keep that skill honed.
Keep practising the skill. You don't want to lose "perfect"
opportunies because it is your first interview in 5 years and
you need to get your answers back up to scratch. Remember
you do not have to accept the job.

5. Keep a diary of your experiences.

Note what you did well with each job opportunity. What worked,
what didn't, improvements you could make, elements you can
get rid of. Then, when you next go through an employment
opportunity situation, revisit your notes, duplicate the good
things and improve the bad things. Recognise the process
as having a learning curve, and learn.

6. If you do not have a job and need one, make job hunting
your full time job.

Get out of bed at the same time you would if you were working
in your given field. This will put your time clock in sync with your
interviewers. Spend the same hours working on your job hunt
as you would in the job. Be disciplined.

7. Keep focused

Know what you are looking for and have a clear plan for
achieving your goal. Do not accept roles that are different
to your goals at the start of your job hunt. This could cost
you years in your career.

This is the final part of a 5 part special report on reducing
the time it takes to get a job. Its not fun running around
trying to win that job, this report is full of tips and tricks
which will help you reduce your job hunt time to a
minimum.

The rest of this report is delivered in incremental articles which
you can get by subscribing for the FREE newsletter at
http://www.employedforever.com The entire series of articles
will be sent automatically to you email address. Other
topics covered include: Prospecting for Job Leads; The Job
Application and The Interview Process. So to get your copy of this,
entire report, by signing up for this free newsletter at
http://www.employedforever.com or by sending a blank email to
mailto:employedforever@pushbuttonresponder.com

Till then, good luck with your hunt

Damian

Finally, a dedicated and systematic approach to ensuring
you're earning an income forever. Find out how, in four
logical steps, you will never have money problems again.
http://www.EmployedForever.com

About the Author:
Damian Papworth has been a Senior Manager in one of the Fortune 500 to close on a decade. In that time he has employed countless new people to work for him. He knows what employers look for

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6 Tips To Create Your Own Fortune With "How To" eBooks

by: Jeff Smith

6 Tips To Making Your Own Fortune Creating and Marketing

Info products!

It's one of the biggest challenges to getting your business started.

Finding products to sell online that you enjoy working at and that attract an ongoing stream of "hungry" buyers is THE most important success factor to doing business - period!

For those of you that want to create their own infoproducts, it's even more important since you will be investing time, energy and your emotions into your products.

Thousands of subscribers to my "Online Marketing Success Secrets Revealed" (http://www.infoproductcreator.com/ezine1.html) Newsletter, experts and aspiring infoproduct creators struggle with the same 6 questions...

Do these questions keep you awake at night?

1. What do I like doing enough that I would spend a few weeks developing a product, and years marketing and supporting them?

2. How do I know if ENOUGH people will purchase my product to achieve my goals?

3. Will people pay for my knowledge - even if I'm not an expert?

4. How do I test for demand BEFORE I spend weeks or months developing my products?

5. Do I have to write a 150-page book to make money?

6. What topics sell - it seems like only "Making Money" type products are selling.

Listen - you are NOT the first to wonder about these questions.

In fact, your success depends on getting PAST these doubts - so let's take each one and work through them - OK?

1. DO I HAVE TO REALLY LOVE MY TOPIC?

Two answers to this question - you CAN develop a winning product about a subject that you are not completely passionate about.

Professional writers do it all the time.

Here's the catch.

A great deal of your success marketing infoproducts online will depend on MORE than just selling 1 product. It will depend on...

a) Your ability to market additional products - yours and others.

b) Your ability to create great publicity campaigns, partnerships, follow up sales campaigns, loyalty with your readers

c) Your ability to support and ADD-VALUE to your prospective and existing customers

d) Your ability to gain MOMENTUM in your business by tapping into your customer base and continuing to provide them high-value, back-end products

Are you seeing it?

Yes, you can develop an article, book, booklet, eBook or whatever infoproduct you favor about a topic you are less than thrilled about - BUT...

You MUST be willing to live with that market for years to come!

For that reason alone, it's worth finding a market and subject that both interests you AND has great potential.

Here's a real-world example.

Just over 1.5 years ago I developed my own eBook aimed at empowering product developers with proven ways to tap into a flood of market demand, test their ideas and quickly generate products that sell like wildfire.

The original ebook - "The Ultimate Information Entrepreneur's Success Package" at:

http://www.infoproductcreator.com

took me 4 weeks to develop - start to finish.

Not bad.

It's because I knew my topic so well that I was able to produce a 110 page eBook and accompanying interviews within weeks.

Since that time I have written well over 60 articles, published a regular ezine, updated my product 3 times, written several special reports, created hard-hitting websites, press releases, ads and added hundreds of pages of content to my websites.

All of that is not including more than 40 interviews, reviews, publicity events and other projects I've been involved in - ALL ON THE SAME TOPIC.

Add to that hundreds of hours of email and phone conversations with joint venture and affiliate partners who sell my product for me each and every week.

Now - all of this activity has put tens of thousands into my hands, from this one single book, not to mention other products I sell.

POINT IS: Marketing The Product YOu Create Will Mean Living With Your Product Each and Every Day As You BUild Your Business. You Can Make A Fortune, But It Takes Some Effort Each and Every Day. You MUST Be Passionate Enough About Your Topic To Stay Motivated and Focused - That's the Secret To Building Your Own Infoproduct Empire Online.

2. HOW DO YOU ESTIMATE DEMAND FOR YOUR INFOPRODUCT IDEA

Now we're into the details that will skyrocket you into the top 5% of infoproduct developers online - that will set you aside from 95% of others who do NOT consider demand for their topic.

Just for sake of argument - I'm going to use an example of a hobby that some of you may have, model airplanes. You know, those little scale airplanes that get so many hobbyists out of bed at ungodly times of the morning - addicting to the smell of Naptha gas.

Here's a few ways you can can estimate demand for your proposed market...

a) Use online tools to seek out demand. The three best tools (and they are completely free) to use are:

- Overture keyword search tool: http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

A search for model airplanes brings up some interesting information

- Over 55,000 searches on this topic in less than 1-month (Not Bad!)

- Second most searched topic RELATED to model airplanes is Model Airplane News - OK, so people want information.

- Several search categories include searches done on various products, evidence that this market is willing to spend money.

b) Now if you had a tool such as Adword Analyzer

http://www.infoproductcreator.com/part/adwanalyze

Then you would see that the supply of websites that come up when searching for model airplanes is quite small - relative to other keyword searches.

In addition, with this incredible tool, you would see that there are very few current Google Adwords or Overture.com campaigns being purchased. What's that mean?

It means that you can use one or both of these tools to generate almost INSTANT high-quality traffic to your site for a fraction of what most other high-demand keywords would cost.

All good signs that point to a strong market demand for your hobby and area of product interest.

c)A third method you can use is to seek out what is already selling. A great way to do that is to look at http://www.amazon.com and http://www.zdnet.com top movers op sellers in various market niches.

This will tell you ALLOT about what people are spending money on right now!

3. WHAT WILL PEOPLE PAY ME FOR?

Now that you have picked a niche market and an area of focus, you need to find out what people want BADLY within that niche.

Here are a few ways to find out...

a) Search google for "model airplane discussion forums". You are looking for active and reasonably good quality forums to TAP INTO ongoig discussions - this will offer you a goldmine of information on what people are looking for.

In a 5-minute search, here's what I found --

http://www.indiarc.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi

http://www.rcorlando.com/modules.php?name=Forums

http://www.flightlines.com/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro&BypassCookie=true

You will find TONS of active discussions that will lead to product ideas, allowing you to tap into what this market wants.

b) Get involved in Chat's - many of the sites above also run live chat sessions periodically, another great way to find out pockets of demand

c) Check offline - read RC Modeller magazines and books, find out consistent topics, gaps in information or ideas that you could expand into a different medium.

For example, a common topic is flying techniques or flight patterns.

Why not travel to your local model flying club and video tape both flight paths and techniques used by flyers, converting them into digital files and selling them on CD-ROM?

You get the idea.

d) Listen to your fellow model airplane buffs - find out what their frustrations are, what their spending patterns are and what else they are looking for, but can't find.

4. TESTING FOR DEMAND

Here are 3 quick methods of testing for demand - BEFORE you spend days, weeks or months on creating your infoproduct.

a) Surveys - using a free trial from http://www.surveymonkey.com you can find out whether your target market seems as passionate about your idea as you are. NOTE: Be sure to ask them IF and HOW MUCH they would be willing to cough up to get answers to their questions.

b) Special Report - Use this often overlooked technique to put together a few pages (from 5-20 pages) that you can either give away or sell for a low price to test the popularity of your idea. You WILL need to market this report, so it will take some time BUT, it's a great way to setup your marketing channels ahead of time, preparing them for your full product which comes later.

The best resource I've come across on writing Income-Generating Special Reports is "The Special Report Bible" - you will be amazed at what you can put together in a matter of hours or days.

ANOTHER IDEA is to run an interview or teleseminar on your topic with a topic expert. Judge the popularity of the call can mean you will roll out new products later.

An example of this strategy is Yanik Silver's recent Public Domain Riches teleseminar (http://www.infoproductcreator.com/part/pdomain) which turned out to be such a hit that he quickly put together a $1,000+personal coaching course on the same topic.

c) Articles - Write articles on your topic directly addressing the same desire you hope to fill with your full product. Submit your article to the various article directories on Yahoo and many others out there. Request a courtesy notification from publishers who publish your article so that you get a feel for how popular the article proves to be. Of course, you should also have a link to either a website or autoresponder email address at the end of your article. Clicks on your link following the article will also give you a sense of how popular the topic is.

What should you expect?

You don't need to have HUGE numbers, a few publications and approx a 1% clickthrough on any published articles tells you there is enough response to continue - or at least do additional testing.

5. eBOOKS AND WHAT ELSE?

If you haven't asked the question - WHAT ELSE and you are considering writing a typical book or eBook then you may be missing out on product opportunities that will both make you more money AND take far less time to create.

Here are just a few formats that many successful infoproduct developers use today...

- Audio files (telseminars, interviews, commentary)
- Special Reports (5-20 page treatments)
- Videos (It's easier than you think)
- Software (Software applications or scripts can be developed by starving professionals on Elance.com or Scriptlance.com for far less than you might imagine.
- Physical booklets or courses/binders
- Bundled products

6. THE INTERNET MARKETING MARKET FALLACY

It has to be the biggest un-truth floating around the internet.

Contrary to what most people say, developing products targeted only at the internet marketing crowd is NOT the only OR the most lucrative market out there.

It IS the most competitive - so that's why you tend to see products everywhere, leading most people to believe those are the only products selling.

In fact, there are products selling in many niches including...

- health and wellness
- hobbies (models, crafts, collectors, music, sports, etc...)
- relationships
- parenting
- career and business
- business opportunities (ie. home business)
- technology
- pets
- and many, many others

Each week I continue to be AMAZED at the incredible opportunities out there in niche markets - our society is more information hungry than ever.

Don't make the common mistake of ignoring a market you are interested in because you don't THINK products will sell. Instead, test and find out what products will sell to a given market.

With those obstacles out of your way - NOTHING stands in the way of you creating that lifestyle you've always wanted by creating and marketing information products.

About the Author:
Jeff Smith is the author of the top-selling "Ultimate Information Entrepreneur's Success Package" helping thousands package their knowledge into profitable eBooks, special reports, ezines and audios. Visit his site here: http://www.highertrustmarketing.com

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6 Proven Steps To Internet Marketing Success

by: Mal Keenan

There is a misconception that you can come online set up a web business and be making $1000s within days. Let be put that myth to rest right away. This has not been my experience nor the experience of anyone I have come in contact with through my online endeavours.

You need to give yourself at least a year to make an online business work and budget your money accordingly. Too many times I see people ploughing a wad of cash into their businesses and again, expecting instant riches.

New marketers also make the mistake of thinking that one marketing strategy will do. Of course some avenues will produce more than others but I have found the best way is to adapt a broad based approach to your online marketing. That means spreading your time and resources over several different methods.

I will attempt to outline in this text everything I feel you need to be doing consistently to make a success of your online business.

Again I MUST point out that you need to persist is this strategy and spend your money wisely. It amazes me the amount of people who drop out after the first month or two. What do they expect, miracles? You wouldn't ditch an offline business after a month so why would you expect an online enterprise to be any different?

If you fail to plan then you plan to fail.

Bottom line is, targeted visitors = sales. This is definitely a numbers game and obviously the more targeted visitors you send to your website the more money you make. The concept is simple but you need to maintain a healthy focus to ensure that you stick this out for as long as it takes to make a profit, and progress to financial freedom online.

Here are the methods I use to send daily visitors to my sites:

1)Build Your List

It's true what they say that the money IS in the list. Most successful online marketers have large lists of targeted prospects that they can send their offers to on a regular basis. Anyone new to this business should begin to build this list immediately.

You have to start somewhere and it takes time but it is certainly worth your while to begin now and develop a lasting and trustful relationship with those list members who eventually will feel comfortable in purchasing your recommendations. When trust grows this targeted list will become a virtual money tree and make you cash at will. Some marketers are able to makes $1000s sending an email to their list, which takes little more than a few minutes to write. Can you see the power in this method?

I use a couple of different methods, online forms at all my websites encouraging prospects to add their name and email addresses plus I also purchase many of my addresses from other companies that can send me 1000s of emails for affordable prices. These addresses are spam free and can grow my list a lot quicker than I could ever do from my own websites.

I have set up some tutorials here for companies that will send you targeted visitors:

http://www.pluginprofitstraining.com/listopt.html

http://www.pluginprofitstraining.com/listmedia.html

2)Pay Per Click search engines.

Over the years I have used PPCSEs to send 1000s of visitors to my sites. This is a fast track way to drive traffic to your sites. You can be up and running and getting hits in minutes.

I use http://www.overture.com, http://www.findwhat.com, and http://www.7search.com. These are three of the most popular but there are many others which you can find here:

http://www.payperclicksearchengines.com/

I suggest you use Wordtracker (http://www.workathomebiz.info/wordtracker.html) to accumulate as many TARGETED keywords as you can. The more targeted keywords you collect the more visitors you get.

The idea is to ensure that you are paying less for visitors on a monthly basis than the sales you make.

3)Google Adwords (http://www.google.com/ads/)

Google adwords is similar in principle to PPCSEs in that you pay for your visitors. I suggest you use Wordtracker (http://www.workathomebiz.info/wordtracker.html) to accumlate 1000s of keyword phrases.

4)Article Submissions

Submitting topical articles is one of the most affordable and at the same time effective marketing strategies I know of. For more info and the resources to do this visit here:

http://www.pluginprofitstraining.com/articlesubmissions.html

5)Regular Search Engines

Yahoo, Google, and MSN send me as many visitors per day as any other strategy I use. It is highly recommended that you get started immediately to begin to build the online web presence of your website and thus your search engine rankings.

I have done this mostly through a reciprocal linking campaign which has had a greater effect on my search engine rankings than anything else. I employ the use of Linksmanager (http://www.workathomebiz.info/linksmanager.html) to automate my links campaign for which I pay a monthly fee or you can set up your own links manager at your own site using Kevin Ocasio's excellent Reciprocal Manager (http://www.freeadvertz.com/recipmanager.html).

For affordable search engine submission software try Web Position Gold (http://www.webpositiongolddownloads.com)

Please note: This is a long term strategy, so it will take at least a few months of persistent action to see any results at all.

6)Forum Posting

One of the greatest things that happened to me in my online career was being appointed moderator at one on the most popular online internet marketing forums. This has opened up more avenues and opportunities than any other strategy. I suggest you visit the popular, high traffic online forums daily and make it a point of sharing your experiences and giving your advice as often as possible. Get yourself seen!

The thing about this method too is that you can have a link pointing to your site in the signature of each post you make. Posting at forums will send daily traffic to your site AND the visitors will be highly targeted.

Here are two high traffic forums that I frequent:

http://www.ablake.net/forum/

http://www.howtocorp.com/forum/

This one isn't high traffic yet but I will be there to answer your questions:

http://www.home-business-tips-newsletter.com/forum/

In conclusion:

I have been marketing online since 1998 and have tried 100s of different ways to drive targeted traffic to my websites. The above six strategies work, so I suggest you print them out and make the methods part of your daily marketing plan for the foreseeable future.

If they can work for me then they WILL work for you.

I wish you every success in your efforts.

Copyright 2004 Mal Keenan

Mal Keenan is editor and publisher of Home Business Tips Newsletter: http://www.home-business-tips-newsletter.com/

For A Home Business You Can Believe In, With Benefits, Click Below:

http://www.eliteteamireland.com/

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