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Writing a Cover Letter

Cover letters are meant to compliment your resume and tell a prospective employer how your experience benefits them. Because of this, they must be tailored for each position to which you apply. To help make the process less time consuming, here are some general guidelines you can use to make your cover letter stand out amongst the competition.

Keep the overall theme employer-oriented.
If the story you are trying to tell doesn’t relate to the open position or the company’s needs, do not include it. Also, avoid using the word “I” as much as possible.

Start off strong.
Your first paragraph should be a value-packed statement showcasing what you offer and how it relates to the position you are applying. To prevent your cover letter just being skimmed by the Hiring Manager, emphasize the job title to catch their eye. Save space for valuable information by avoiding stating the obvious like your name (which should be in the contact header) or “I am writing…”.

Show that you would be an asset for the company.
A good way to style the body of your cover letter is by bulleting your skills and/or qualifications in no more than three to five bullets. The benefit to this approach is that it provides quick and easy readability for the Hiring Manager. Look at the job posting and emphasize your experience with their job requirements towards the top of the list, since these are the most important to them. Use specific examples and numbers to support your claims and show a clear image of your skills.

End with an action statement.
Rather than say you hope to hear from them soon, state that you would appreciate the opportunity to meet for an interview to further explain how your qualifications meet their needs. Be sure to tell them how and when you will follow up to schedule a meeting. If the job posting requests no calls to the company, then simply repeat your contact information for easy reference.

Beginning your job search can be a tedious process, and we are here to help and make it as easy as possible. Call us at 361.833.3535 or contact us online to learn how we can help!

Job Hunting During the Holidays

As we approach the end of November, it’s beginning to feel more and more like the holiday season, which is great news for all you job-seekers out there! In order to meet the increased demand of customers coming in to buy gifts for the holiday seasons, tons of companies are looking to hire part-time holiday help. And even if you’re not looking to work in the world of retail, it may be advantageous to begin your employment search now. Don’t really know where to start looking for a job this season? Here are our favorite holiday job hunt tips from Bloomberg.

Utilize Social Media
Even executives and hiring managers have to take days off for the holidays. As they sit around after consuming turkey, you can bet they’ll be on their computers and smartphones, clicking around social media. Put yourself out there, and you may be pleasantly surprised.

Party Professionally
Holiday parties are great networking opportunities. However, be warned: go easy on the drinks, dress conservatively, and make appropriate conversation. You never know when you might run into someone who could be looking to fill your dream job. Also, carry around your business card if you have one.

Pick Up Your Phone
There’s a better chance of getting an answer to a phone call during the holiday months as business slows down. Get your voice out there, and you might make an impact.

Be Patient
Make sure to follow up on any and all leads that you may pursue, but also remember to be patient. If you don’t hear anything before the holidays, don’t despair. A lot of the hiring process extends past the holiday season, so you may hear something after the new year.

Ready to take advantage of a holiday job hunt? Start by taking a look at our job opportunities.

Looking for a New Career? Consider Oil & Gas

If you have found yourself unemployed and struggling to find work, the oil & gas industry may be the place to go. Did you know that between 2007 and 2012, jobs in the industry grew by 40%, compared to an overall growth of 1% in the private sector? Estimates say that jobs in the oil & gas industry may reach 3.9 million by 2025. Needless to say, this industry offers a level of job security that’s hard to find.

The oil & gas industry has three main areas of employment: drilling, extraction, and support. Each area accounts for thousands of jobs. Support, which includes exploration, excavation, well surveying, casing work, and well construction, is the largest category. All three categories have seen an increase of at least 6,000 jobs since 2007 and are still continuously growing!

In a state like Texas, where the population growth rate is 3.27% (an average higher than the national growth rate), the energy industry is booming and many cities have continuously landed high spots in “Best Places to Live” and similar lists.

For more information on these statistics and the growth potential of the oil & gas industry, check out this article.

If you’re interested in finding a position in the oil & gas industry, take a look at our job opportunity listings.

Make a Good First Impression

In the job market, a first impression can be the biggest factor standing between you and that dream job. Be mindful of how you come across to potential employers, because their view of you may be the tiny make-it-or-break-it factor that gets you the job – or doesn’t. Here are a few things to consider when preparing yourself to jump into the job search, feet first.

1. Your Resume and Cover Letter

99.99% of the time, your resume and cover letter will be your potential employer’s first impression of you. Even though they are simply written documents on paper, you need to make them count! Make sure both are formatted properly, flow well, have no grammatical or spelling errors, are specifically tailored to the company of interest, and display your best achievements and most relevant experience. Check out our other blogs for a more in-depth look at resume do’s and dont’s.

2. Your Correspondence

If a potential employer takes the time to reach out to you for any reason (be it to thank you for the submission of your resume or to request an interview), be sure to respond in a timely manner! Even a short email with a “Thank you” will suffice and show the potential employer that you can be counted on.

3. Your Appearance

If you make it far enough to be invited in for an interview, make sure you dress the part! Though dress codes can vary dramatically nowadays based on company culture, it is always better to show up overdressed than underdressed. A good pair of slacks and a collared shirt (for men) or a conservative blouse (for women) are great choices to consider. Likewise, make sure that your personal hygiene is in check – clean hair and nails, and trimmed or shaved facial hair for men – and consider skipping the excessive perfume before an interview. Some overpowering scents can have an aversive effect on people, and it’s better to skip the fragrance than to risk giving your interviewer a headache.

4. Your Timeliness

Your physical appearance is not the only factor that you should consider before an interview. Timeliness is also incredibly pivotal – especially in our culture, where “time is money.” Most hiring managers will meet with multiple job prospects in a day – you don’t want to be that one person that throws off their entire schedule because you are late. In fact, a good rule-of-thumb to follow when showing up for interviews is to get to the site fifteen minutes early. Spend the extra time rehearsing your “self-pitch” in your head, or use it to catch up on world news in the paper. Do not however, take that time to check your phone and text your best friends. Some employers – particularly if they have a secretary that sits in the lobby with you while you wait to be called in – make note of the behavior of their prospective employees before interviews.

Remember, first impressions make a big impact. Next time you apply for a job, wow your prospective employer with how incredible you are – right off the bat!

Common Resume Mistakes

When applying for a job, your resume can truly make or break your chances at a job. There are a lot of mistakes that can occur when you’re speedily sending out your resume to multiple prospects, so be careful and don’t fall victim to these common resume mistakes!

1. Not personalizing your resume to the job you’re applying for

Make sure that your resume is a little bit different for each prospect that you apply for. There’s nothing more embarrassing than sending out a resume that boasts your proudest professional accomplishments… But has an objective tailored to a completely different company and/or a completely different position.

2. Typos and grammatical errors

Before sending your resume to a prospective employer, proofread it. Then, hand it to someone else to look over. Then, proofread it again. One more time. Get the gist? Proofreading your resume is crucial – there is nothing that can turn employers off more than poor grammar or bad spelling. It sends the message that you can’t write, or – even worse – that you don’t care.

3. Making it too lengthy

While multi-page resumes may sometimes be necessary to present all your experience and skills, keep them as concise as possible! Hiring managers do not want to spend hours poring over your novel of a resume. Make sure that you cut down the length by including the experience that is both most recent and most relevant to the job you’re applying for.

4. Leaving off dates

Don’t forget to include the dates next to your previous experience! This helps the hiring manager get a timeline of your employment stability as well as a general idea of your most recent ventures. Leaving dates off raises questions in the hiring manager’s mind and may cause some hesitance.

5. Including unprofessional emails in your contact information

While the “sexygurl666@yahoo.com” email address may have seemed like a good idea at the time, leave it off your resume. Hiring managers want to see simple, professional emails (a good general format to follow is your first initial and your last name) that don’t call to mind any awkward imagery or may look strange in their corporate outbox.

If you’d like help writing or going over your resume, we are here for you! We are happy to help you find the right position for your career. Visit our homepage for more information!

Take Advantage of LinkedIn

The old days of searching want ads and going door-to-door looking for new career opportunities are over. Now, networking is the key to landing that coveted position. One of the easiest ways to enhance your networking potential and build your personal brand is through LinkedIn. LinkedIn is an online professional network that allows you to stay in contact with colleagues and classmates, opening up a world of potential opportunities. To begin creating and utilizing your profile, use the following three tips.

1. The first step is creating a profile on LinkedIn, and selecting your profile picture. Ideally the picture should be a professional headshot, but if you do not have one you can use a professional picture that contains only you. Your profile should read like your resume, with the focus being career and education history, not personal interests. Be sure your summary consists of only a short description of your professional experience and skills.

2. Once your profile has been established, you can begin looking for contacts to connect with. Your employment and education history will automatically generate contacts for connections, but you may want to upload your email address book to be sure you did not miss any vital connections. If you send a connection request to someone that you do not know very well, be sure to include a short, personalized message stating how they know you to increase the chances of an accepted request. Connections are important since this is how you network on LinkedIn.They may have information on job opportunities in their companies or have valuable contacts in their network they can introduce you to. Connections can also vouch for skills you have listed on your profile by endorsing them. The more endorsements you have on a particular skill, the more strength you are perceived to have in that skill. Recommendations are also a valuable tool connections can leave on your profile, since they are the LinkedIn version of referrals. Be sure to reciprocate any endorsements and referrals.

3. Be sure to join groups that are relevant to your business and target markets. Try to only join three to five groups. To effectively increase your LinkedIn visibility, you should strive to review and participate in group discussions at least once per week. In addition, share relevant, resourceful, and rich content with each group that can help other members, post comments, and answer questions.

These tips will help get you started in the right direction with your LinkedIn profile, but be sure to Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more tips and information!

Jobs in South Texas: Are You Asking The Right Questions?

Texas now accounts for 48 percent of U.S. oil and gas rigs and nearly a quarter of the world’s rigs with 848 open working rigs in the state. With the job boom from the oil and gas industry, many jobs are opening up. We have found that about 1,500 jobs were added from June to July in the Corpus Christi area, alone. This increase dropped the unemployment rate to 6.3 percent. This is much lower than the national unemployment rate of 7.4 percent. Last year the unemployment rate was 7.0 percent for the Corpus Christi area July 2012.

With all of these new jobs opening up in the South Texas area, being informed in your job search is more important than ever. Since so many jobs are becoming available in the area, you will need to be vigilant in finding a career that will fit your skills and ambitions. You should come to your interview armed with the right questions to ask your potential employer.

What do you expect me to accomplish in the first 2 or 3 months I work here?
This question shows the employer you are ready to work and gives you a good look at what the employer will expect from you. It is important to know what skills you will be expected to have when you first start your job to see if that position is best suited for your level of experience.

What are some key traits you expect someone in this position to have?
This question will tell your employer that you are in this job long-term; that you hope to be a good employee and make this position the best that it can be. The answer the employer gives will tell you more about the job. If the employer says you will need to be “creative” or “independent” you will probably be on your own. If they say you need to be “patient” or a “leader” it could mean the opposite.

Do you like working here? What made you choose to work here?
The answers or lack of an answer to these questions will tell you quite a bit about the company. Though you might love the company as an outsider, the interviewer can give you an insiders perspective. The interviewer will also like to reflect on their own opinions to answer this question. If they like their job, this should be easy.

What improvements or changes would you like a new person to bring into this position?
This question can fill the potential employer with optimism. It will help them to think about how this position can help their company to grow. The answers will tell you how the employer wants the business to grow and how you will be utilized.

How do you plan to deal with…?
There will always be challenges in any field. This challenge may have to do with new technology or shifting economic trends. If this is a job created in the South Texas boom, you may want to ask what will happen when the boom ends and how your employer will deal with that challenge. This will show your employer that you care about the company for the long run. The answers will tell you how the employer deals with change, how stable your job is in the future, and what the employer’s long term plans are for the company.

We hope this advice helps you with your job search. Be sure to Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more tips and information!

Keep Yourself Marketable

Many of us have gone through an unemployment slump. Whether we were laid off or in hopes of a new opportunity, many people have found themselves without a job. During this time, it is important to maintain and continue to grow yours skills. Often times, employers will look past your period of unemployment and appreciate your continued efforts to grow as a worker. Here are some things you can do to boost your resume and hireability while looking for a new job.

1. Temporary/Contract Jobs
Temp jobs or contract jobs are great way to keep your skills sharp and continue to build your portfolio. Even though the job will only last for a short time, you can still let your abilities shine through your work. Showing that you can do great work for a job that has an expiration date is an indicator to employers that you have strong work ethic and integrity.

2. Volunteer
In our socially and environmentally aware society, volunteer work can go a long way when applying for jobs. It allows employers to catch a glimpse of your character and shows that money isn’t number one.

3. Seminars/Webinars
There are many great resources out there for people of all industries and skills. Attending a seminar on your industry or participating in a webinar shows employers that you want to grow as an employee. Having employees who are willing to learn and know that there is always room for improvement are invaluable.

4. Take Classes
It’s time to go back and hit the books! A great way to further your career and impress employers is to take classes while you’re unemployed. Many community colleges offer individual classes as well as online classes. It never hurts to learn more about your field or learn a new industry. You may find you will qualify for a variety of positions by taking classes that focus on different aspects of your industry.

5. Join Professional Organizations
Professional organizations not only provide a plethora of resources in speakers and industry materials, but also in networking. By attending events put on by these organizations, you can widen your network with people within your industry as well as add connections from other industries. By making these connections, your chances of getting a job increase through recommendations and a potential inside track to companies for which you are applying.

Unemployment doesn’t mean you spend your days on job sites in your PJs. It is essential to continue developing your skills and stay connected with those in your industry. If you need help in your job search, visit our homepage to set up an appointment with one of our recruiters. We are here to help!

8 Things You Should Know About Millennials in the Job Market

You may be hearing more and more about of the term “Millennials” when discussing job searching these days. That is because this group of individuals is are currently taking over the work force. Millennials include everyone born from 1982 to 2000, which is roughly 70 million Americans. Though you might not think it is wise to hire a twenty-something right out of college with less experience, you should give it another look. Before discounting all of these Generation Y’ers as “kids”, here are 8 things you should know about them.

1. They like flexible work spaces. Millennials are constantly connected, whether it be to a laptop, tablet or smartphone. Last month, oDesk reported that about 90 percent of Millennials are interested in flexible work arrangements. Being connected all the time leaves room for millennials to leave the office and work from home or the local coffee shop.

2. They’re technologically inclined. The most definitive feature of millennials is their knowledge and immersion in technology. Millennials have a knowledge of computers and social media far beyond that of older generations because this technology is already part of their lives. It might even save money on tech support if you hire employees that cannot remember life without internet.

3. They may be cost efficient. People that graduate during a recession are much more likely to settle on a starting salary. This gives applicants with less experience a lower price tag than those that are more qualified. Depending on the position, a lower price tag with a little extra training might be exactly what you need.

4. They’re adaptive. With the economy as it is today, there is no telling what the future will bring. Millennials thrive on this mindset. They welcome change and can adapt to fit the needs of the job. Millennials are also more willing to learn new about technology, and are constantly up to date from internet news sources.

5. They’re team players and love to collaborate. They share ideas through all kinds of social media sites and internet databases. This skill makes millennials ideal candidates for group work, large projects and collaboration.

6. They are ambitious. According to an article in The Atlantic, productivity has significantly increased since 1995, while wages have stayed about the same. This means millennials are working much harder for the same pay. Millennials also value career progression and personal growth above all other factors in their current job.

7. They’re impatient. Millenials want answers right now. Most of this is due to the accessibility to the internet, but if millennials want an answer to a question they find it immediately. This makes them virtual bloodhounds on the researching front. However, this aversion to ambiguity also causes impatience for questions to be answered by others in the workplace.

8. They like helping the community. Millennials love green initiatives. According to the Rapid Learning Institute, 50% of millennials have done some sort of community service in the past year. Include an environmental effort or charitable cause and millennials find a sense of pride in their work and feel that sense of meaning. They have a need for a meaningful job and prioritize meaningful work over pay or achievement.

Individuals in the “millennial” category are different from any other demographic in the workplace. Whether you find this good or bad, it is a reality. Millennials are here to stay and adjusting your workplace or hiring a millennial might be just what you need.

What do you think of millennials? Let us know! Also, be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for even more updates!

Professional Networking

Networking is often a tool that goes unused during a job search. Yes, it may be intimidating reaching out to others. However with the market now flooded with plenty of candidates, employers are finding more value in applicants with trusted, mutual connections. By properly utilizing connections, your chances of receiving a job offer are increased. So how do you network?

Use LinkedIn…correctly!

First, understand that LinkedIn is not just another social media platform. Use your account professionally. Join networks that are relevant to your field and previous experience. Start discussions that are professional and thought provoking. Also, use an appropriate picture. Be sure your profile picture is not pixelated or grainy. Make the investment to have a nice professional photo taken by a friend or photographer in good lighting. Make sure the picture is appropriate for your industry, and that you are presenting yourself the way you would like to be seen by your potential employer. Your picture should be memorable, not boring.

Maintain your connections

Don’t overwhelm your contacts, but also don’t underutilize them. There should be a healthy balance of communication with the people in your network. Avoid constantly emailing or calling a particular person, but communicate with them often enough so they remember who you are.

Get involved

Join professional organizations around your area that relate to your field. Not only is this a resume booster, but you will get to know other professionals around the area. Also, see if your alma mater has an alumni association in town that meets regularly. Who knows, maybe one of your former college classmates could be the key to finding your dream position.

Networking is great both during a job search and after one. Even after you have a job, maintaining your network can be a great way to know other professionals and industries. You never know when you may need to utilize those connections again!

We hope this advice helps you in your job search and through your professional career. Also, be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for even more updates!