Alexander Kharlamov has a great piece on his personal experience with searching for a job after college. He has some good and not so good advice for college graduates about job searching.

He covers everything from job searching 101, to resume advice, cover letter advice, and a few pieces of practical advice that everyone can learn something from.

The one major point that he makes is around learning the industry you are looking to work in. He for example was considering a career in video game design, but after looking into it further he realized that most video game designers worked 80-90 hours per week with no overtime, little pay, and according to him they were generally unhappy. He eventually took a job as a programmer in the financial industry.

Take a trip over to Alexander’s blog for a full read.

In the world of email and electronic job boards do we really need to be as concerned with cover letters as we once did?

 

Another question might be; is anyone actually reading your cover letter?

 

How long does a recruiter spend reading your cover letter if they actually do read it at all?

 

Will your cover letter make or break the hiring decision for you?

 

I have never been a fan of cover letters but as far as most recruiters go they say it is still a must have document. One thing to keep in mind about a cover letter is that if you are going to do it you better do it well. A poorly written cover letter can be quick turn off for a recruiter who has hundreds of resumes to look through in a given day. A cover letter must be error free.

 

I wanted to share a resource CollegeRecruiters.com has put together on “The 10 Things To Avoid In Your Cover Letter.” I think it summarizes all of the things you need to know about how to write a cover letter. As I said in beginning of this post a cover letter isn’t as prevalent as it once was because of trend toward electronic job postings. However, if you do need to create a cover letter you may as well know how to do it well. This article you help you do that.