Useless Phrases You Should Avoid in Your Cover Letter

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By Jose Sanchez | Business 2 Community – 3 hours ago

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Useless Phrases You Should Avoid in Your Cover LetterA cover letter is as vital as your resume, because it serves as anintroduction. It is important that you create a perfect cover letter that will match your resume. You need to realize that each word and phrase that you include in your letter will make a huge impact and will dictate your future. Using the right words and phrases will make a difference on how you will be perceived. You need to remember that the recruiter will read your letter using his or her own judgment. There are lots of sample cover letters that you can find online that you can use as a pattern, but it does not mean that you need to copy word per word.

“To whom it may concern”

This phrase nowadays will not give you an edge, because internet technology can give you a lot of means to know the person that you need to address in your cover letter. If you will not research for his or her name, you will look lazy and not interested in knowing more about the company. This can become a disadvantage on your part, so as much as possible you need to exert an effort to find out the name of the right person to address. In case you cannot find any name, then that is an excuse.

“References available upon request”

It is important that you include references, because it is already expected. This phrase is meaningless since you will put references on your resume and not in your cover letter. You should not mention it all.

“Give me a chance”

This is not the exact phrase that many applicants used, but many include it in their letter. You need to sound positive, so adding such phrase will only give a negative feeling. This might seem that you lack every opportunity that you need and you are deprive with success. If you are confident that you can do the job, there is no way that the employer cannot give you the chance that you need. Cover letters only need positive phrases, so you can convince the reader that you are the best person for the position.

“Salary amount”

This is the worst thing that you can mention on your cover letter, because you will sound rude as well as presumptuous. As you write your cover letter, it means that you are not asked an interview or offered a job, so mentioning the salary will irritate your recruiter. The amount of salary should be discussed on the job offer and it should not be negotiated using your cover letter.

There are common words used in cover letters such as hope, hone, feel and drawn. It will be helpful if you will avoid using these cliché words, because this will not impress the reader. Hope means that there is a chance that you will be rejected and it is a negative word for a recruiter. You can say “I’m looking forward”. Hone is not a good word to include, it is better if you will use develop. Drawn is not a good word to use as you are not having a romantic relationship to them. The word feel is not the right words to say, because the company is not interested on how you feel.

Honors Career Network

Honors Career Network

February 8, 2013

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Students come meet and greet area employers with a special connection to the Honors College. All of the companies participating in the Honors Career Network employ Honors alum (and UH alum). They know the caliber of student enrolled in the Honors College and they are interested in hiring for part-time and internship positions as well as full time positions for those preparing to graduate. Business attire recommended. This event is also open to UH campus. List of participating companies:  

Ernst and Young

Chase

Shell

PROS

IHS Global Informational Company

Accenture

Exxon/Mobil

Main Street Capital

SRR Financial Advisory Firm 

University of Houston

Teach For America Summer Internship

PAID SUMMER INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITY

<Great for underclassmen>

WHAT? This summer, Teach For America will run eleven institutes across the country to train our teachers and prepare them to assume full-time teaching responsibilities in the fall. Operation Coordinators will play an integral role in the daily operations of our program and are paid hourly. They also have room, board and some travel costs provided.

WHO? We are looking for highly organized, outstanding underclassmen to serve as operations coordinators (OCs) at each of the institutes. This role is specifically geared for sophomores or juniors.

HOW TO APPLY? In order to be considered for this position, you must submit an online application and complete the following three steps by Sunday, January 27, 2013:

1) Open the application

- Go to the institute page and select the city where you live to begin the application process: http://www.teachforamerica.org/join-our-staff/summer-institute-staff-opportunities/application-process-and-deadlines 

- This will take you to the “Current Job Opportunities” page where you will scroll down and click on the “Operations Coordinator” position.

- This will open the job description. Hit “Apply Online” to begin your application.

- NOTE: In the “Attachments” portion of the application remember to attach the items listed below.

2) Upload your resume (maximum length one page).

3) Upload your cover letter (maximum length one page). Your cover letter should include answers to at least three of the following questions:

-Why are you applying to this specific institute position?

-What skills/expertise do you bring to this position?

-Write about a specific project you’ve worked on where you demonstrated leadership qualities.

4) Complete the operations coordinator applicant activity found at the link below, and follow the directions to add it to your application. (You will need to copy and paste the link into your browser):

https://sites.google.com/a/teachforamerica.org/applicant-activities/operations-coordinator 

For more information, please contact institutestaff@teachforamerica.org

Good luck! www.teachforamerica.org

Developing an ePortfolio

ePortfolio

An ePortfolio is an online bio for students to share the highlights of their collegiate career with prospective employers or graduate and professional school selection committees. A fully developed portfolio should offer a broader sense of who you are, what you have accomplished, and what you hope to achieve. The ePortfolio should be designed as a self-narrative, and serve as an invitation for employers and selection committees to get to know you.

Employers and graduate and professional school selection committees are now seeking more than just a traditional résumé from candidates. Interested parties want to know more about who you really are, and will likely search online to find out more about you. So you should ask yourself: what do I want to appear in an online search? By creating an ePortfolio, a prospective employer will learn about your accomplishments as an undergraduate, and why you have chosen your particular career path.

The Honors College has created an ePortfolio program to provide you with the resources needed to successfully showcase your career in Honors. Whether you are headed directly into the workforce, or planning to apply for graduate or professional school, developing an ePortfolio will enable you to distinguish yourself from other candidates.

Job Opportunities/Scholarship Announcement

Job Opportunities/Scholarship Announcement 

Healthcare

Are you looking for a unique job opportunity to gain real-life experience in child development and to be part of an amazing journey of recovery?

 Join our Team - We are creating two miracles!

UH faculty member invites you to be part of her seven-year-old daughter’s and seven-year-old son’s fun and exciting in-home Son-Rise programs.  For kids in the autism spectrum, this approach of play therapy combines a fun, loving, and nonjudgmental attitude with learning through play

 · No experience necessary. We will provide ongoing Son-Rise training

· Compensation: $10/h

· Looking for people to begin immediately

· Flexible schedules

· Pearland area

Qualifications

· Energy, enthusiasm and excitement!

· Reliable and punctual.

· Patient, persistent and open minded.

· Seeking to enrich your life by helping those of two amazing children.

 To find out more, please contact Dusya Vera at dusyavera@yahoo.com

http://www.autismtreatmentcenter.org/contents/other_sections/autism-solutions.php

  

Michigan State University College of Law

King Scholars program will provide full-tuition scholarship assistance (a three-year value of $105,000) to 20 members of the fall 2013 class. A competitive candidate has achieved undergraduate GPA of 3.75 and 162 or higher on LSAT.

The College of Law will also award $28,500 and $17,500 to as many as 60 members of the 2013 incoming class. A competitive candidate has achieved undergraduate GPA of 3.50 or higher and 157 or higher on the LSAT.

For more information visit www.law.msu.edu/admissions/scholarships .html or contact admiss@law.msu, or 517-432-0222.

 Events Internship

Institute of Interfaith Dialog

There are a several projects the intern would work on including annual friendship dinners, art contests for middle and high school students, and international trips for schools of communication at university level. This is not a paid internship.

For more information contact Ali R. Candir, Executive Director

acandir@interfaithdialog.org or call (713) 974-4443

THE NUMBER ONE PURPOSE OF A RESUME
The resume is a tool with one specific purpose: to win an interview. If it does what the fantasy resume did, it works. If it doesn't, it isn't an effective resume. A resume is an advertisement, nothing more, nothing less.
A great resume doesn't just tell them what you have done but makes the same assertion that all good ads do: If you buy this product, you will get these specific, direct benefits. It presents you in the best light. It convinces the employer that you have what it takes to be successful in this new position or career.
It is so pleasing to the eye that the reader is enticed to pick it up and read it. It "whets the appetite," stimulates interest in meeting you and learning more about you. It inspires the prospective employer to pick up the phone and ask you to come in for an interview.

What are the most important things to remember about writing an effective resume? They can be encapsulated in a six-letter acronym, FAKTSA, in which the letters stand for:

Focus
Appearance
Keywords
Transferrable Skills
Accomplishments

Focus

A sharp focus is an extremely important resume element. Given that employers screen resumes for as few as 6 seconds, a resume should show the employer at a glance what you want to do and what you're good at. Studies have shown that employers wanted resumes to show a clear match between the applicant and a particular job's requirements. A "general" resume that is not focused on a specific job's requirements is seen as not competitive. In a study by CareerBuilder.com, 71 percent of hiring managers preferred a resume customized for the open position. Note that objective statements have long been used -- with varying degrees of success -- to sharpen the focus of resumes, but they are currently out of fashion with employers. To sharpen your focus, consider a section such as a "Summary of Qualifications," "Profile," or the like.

Appearance

Your resume needs to catch the readers attention and be simultaneously reader-friendly. Research indicates that employers rank easy readability as the most important resume point in terms of first impressions.
 For a "print" resume -- used for networking, career fairs, taking to the interview, and mailing to the employer -- include some design elements, such as rule lines, to give your resume graphic interest. We also strongly recommend a bulleted style to make your resume more reader-friendly. Most employers prefer bullets and dislike the density of type seen in a paragraph format.
 Some job-seekers damage the appearance of their resumes by trying to squeeze a lot of information onto one page. Don't be afraid to go to a two-page resume.

Keywords

More than 90 percent of resumes are searched for job-specific keywords. Therefore, if you apply for a job with a company that searches databases for keywords, and your resume doesn't have the keywords the company seeks for the person who fills that job, you are pretty much dead in the water. Some career experts recommend a section of industry-specific keywords, labeled with a heading such as Areas of Expertise, Core Competencies, or Key Proficiencies. Other career gurus disdain these keyword sections because they list disembodied words with no context. They would prefer to see the keywords embedded in contextual accomplishments statements

Transferable Skills

One of the most important concepts you will ever encounter in the job-hunting process is that of transferable job skills. The deft use of transferable skills should pervade your job search and be a key factor in your resume, cover letter, and interview strategies. What are transferable skills? Simply put, they are skills you have acquired during any activity in your life -- jobs, classes, projects, parenting, hobbies, sports, virtually anything -- that are transferable and applicable to what you want to do in your next job.

Accomplishments

Many resumes are duties-driven when they should be accomplishments-driven. Job-seekers should, for example, NEVER use expressions like "Duties included," "Responsibilities included," or "Responsible for." That's job-description language, not accomplishments-oriented resume language that sells. Accomplishments are the points that increase reader's interest, stimulate a request for a job interview, and help sell you to an employer -- much more so than everyday job duties. Be sure also that the accomplishments you list support your career goals.


Katharine Hansen, Ph.D., creative director and associate publisher of Quintessential Careers.

UH Internship Career Fair

We recommend that our students complete at least one internship (paid or unpaid, for-credit or not-for-credit) before graduation. The Career Services Center at the University of Houston offers many internship resources. Visit http://www.career.uh.edu/internshipservices/newsletter/ to learn more, and remember the Internship Career Fair will be held on Wednesday, October 3 from 1-4 in the Campus Recreation Center Multipurpose Room. Business Attire.