1. Addressing the cover letter using a generic greeting, or misspelling the name of the personal contact or the company. The address line is the most prominent part of the cover letter; it should be included even if the cover letter is sent via email. Generic greetings are not favored; they make it seem like you have a template for your cover letter and you simply send it to all employers you are interested in working for. Do the research and find out who the appropriate contact is for the cover letter. However, make sure that they name and the company name is spelled correctly. If your address line contains errors, your cover letter is likely to never make it to the hiring manager.
2. Telling the company what they can do for your career. Simply stated, employers care about your qualifications and what you can do for the company. Do not spend your time telling the company how working for them can be great for your career. While that could be true, it certainly is not what the employers want to hear. Your potential employers want to hear how you can benefit their team; they want to know what you can bring to the table that is innovative, and focused on results. Make sure that your resume lets your employer know just why you are the best candidate for the job.
3. You re-state your resume. Do not go over the information that is in your resume in your cover letter. Your cover letter is meant to entice, and provoke the employer to review your resume in great detail. Re-stating the information in your resume doesn’t address what the employers want to know, which concerns reasons why you are the best candidate for the job. Highlight certain areas of your resume but do so in the context of your career goals and how such qualifications benefit the company.
4. Starting every sentence with “I”. While your cover letter is about you, starting each sentence this way will make your employer believe that your communication skills are not up to the level of your professional background. Discuss your qualifications, your goals and what you bring to the table in terms of the company, and your professional attributes.
5. Asking the employer to call you at their convenience. The most generic closing statements in cover letters ask the employer to contact you at their convenience. If you are truly excited about the opportunity with the employer, you won’t want to wait for them to call you back whenever they feel like it. What you should do instead is let them know when you want to follow up, and then do follow up. Close your cover letter by letting your potential employer know that you will contact them, as well as the manner in which you will do so. This shows your interest, and your take-charge attitude.

1. Not addressing the letter to a person. This is a big mistake in the world of cover letters. Generic greetings, such as “To whom it may concern” or “Dear Human Resources Team,” are not favorable. If the job description or posting does not include the contact person, you will need to do some research to find out who the appropriate contact is for the job you are applying for. Additionally, avoid addressing the letter to a job title. Call the organization and find out who is the hiring manager or the recruiter for the job, and address the letter directly to them. In case it is impossible to find out who the appropriate contact is, it is often recommended that you leave off any generic greetings and simply begin the cover letter.
2. Misspelling the name of the organization. Even if you are addressing your cover letter to a specific person, you will still need to include the name of the company and their address. Always make sure that the company name is spelled correctly. Hiring managers and recruiters know from experience that misspelling the company name is a common mistake, but it’s the easiest one to avoid. Triple-check the company name on your cover letter. If your potential employer receives the letter with the incorrect company name, your letter will never make it past the first person who receives it.
3. Your first sentence doesn’t explain why you are contacting the company. This is a common mistake as many people assume that stating that you are contacting the company regarding employment, as you are including your resume, is unnecessary. However, this is not the case. Let your potential employer exactly why you are contacting them; state the title of the job you are interested in, and how your qualifications make you an ideal candidate for the job. Your first statement needs to be straight forward, energetic, and positive, and it should invite the employer to read through the rest of the cover letter. Bland and generic opening statements will result in disinterest on the part of your employer, and your resume will not get pass the first review.

- List your exact title under professional experience. Many professionals have titles that are company specific and may not make sense outside of the organization where they work. Always list your exact title, but feel free to add a few words that explain what you do in the realm of the industry. This way, when your potential employer calls your employer for a reference check, they will confirm your exact title but also know the scope of your position as it applies outside of that specific organization.
- When in doubt, don’t guess. For example, if you are unsure when you started or ended a job because it has been a long time since you worked for that company, simply call the company and ask about your employment dates. Do not make assumptions about dates, titles of your references or their contact information, certification dates, etc. Always take time to verify the information you are unsure about before including it on your resume.
- Don’t cover up your employment gaps. It is ok to have gaps in your employment; most professionals have gaps in their experience for various reasons. Do not try to hide this from your potential employers. Address the gaps in your work history in your cover letter, and be honest regarding the reasons you were not working during a specific time.
- Be honest about your accomplishments. Rather than worrying about the qualifications you may not have, be confident and highlight your work experience and achievement in a truthful manner. Do not exaggerate skills, professional roles, or stretch the employment dates. Work on presenting yourself and your qualifications in the best possible light; take the time to quantify your accomplishments, and compose a positive professional summary for your resume.

Revise your resume until you feel comfortable that all the information included is truthful and will not raise any questions by the employer that you have not addressed in the resume or the cover letter. The rule is, be honest on your resume. Don’t break that rule.

If you have a viable business idea and are looking to start your own business, it is important that you have a very well written, polished, professional resume. You will need to use your resume, along with your business plan, in order to gain investment opportunities for your business and gets started. Your resume should be written as if you are applying to be a business owner of the organization you wish to start. While this may sounds silly, as you would of course be working for yourself, it is important to show your investors that you have professional experience to run the business you are proposing. Your qualifications, career goals, education and prior experience should all be aligned with your business venture.

Once you have started your own business, you will come in contact with vendors, independent contractors, and clients who will want to know what you are about before they decide to do business with you. While you can promote your business through a web site, or other advertising mediums, if you are new to what you do, people will want to know about you. To help assure then in your abilities, you can use a resume to let them know of your qualifications. You can use the same resume for your vendors or clients as you used you’re your investors. Keep in mind that any financial goals pertaining to the business, that may be necessary for your investors, should never appear on the resume or personal letter you send to your clients or business partners. Your professional summary should be changed to show how you would service your clients or your vendors; a statement about client satisfaction would be necessary in a resume you are to share with your clients, for example.

Additionally, as a small business owner, you may have an opportunity to branch out into another business, start a new location of your existing business, partner with another company, or even have an opportunity to go work for a larger company in your field. In each of these scenarios, you may need an up-to-date resume highlighting your professional and entraprenureal experience. It is best to have a prepared resume, and keep updating it or customizing it for specific audiences as necessary. Avoid finding yourself in a position of not having a resume when requested, or having to develop a resume from a blank page in a short period of time. This exposes you to appearing unprofessional, and not representing yourself or your business in a professional and serious light. Thus, you will want to have a well-written and a well-formatted resume even if you own your own business; marketing yourself well, in addition to marketing your business well, will assure your success as a business owner.

1. Proofread the content for grammar and spelling mistakes. This step is the most critical in the resume review process. It is often hard to catch composition errors after you send hours writing and re-writing all parts of your resume. There are two ways to catch these errors: ask someone else to proof your resume, or give yourself time between writing and reviewing your resume. If you ask a friend or a family member for help, make sure that their strengths include spelling and grammar; they should be able to edit your resume for content and consistency in style. Asking others to review your resume, however, should be done with parameters. For example, let your friend know what you are struggling with, so that they can help you address those concerns. Because personal preferences can come into play when you are discussing resumes, make sure that the changes you make are the kind you are comfortable with in terms of content. Another step in proofreading, which should be thought of as a must, is stepping away from your resume for a day or two, and coming back to it for a final review. This gives you some space from the content, and will allow you to review for grammar and spelling errors with fresh eyes.
2. Print our and email your resume so that you know what your potential employer will receive after you submit your resume. Make sure to print your resume from the file that you are emailing to your employer. Make sure that the margins are set properly and are not cutting off any content. Look for spaces, and adjust the text in case of any large gaps on the paper. E-mail your resume to a number of your friends; have them open the file and let you know how it appears on their screen, as well as how it prints out. Addressing any formatting issues before your resume reaches the employer is ideal, so doing a couple of test runs will only assist in developing a winning final resume.
3. Compare your resume to the job requirements, and make sure that all requirements are addressed in either your resume or your cover letter. Essentially, review what the employer is looking for and make sure that your resume addresses all of their needs. When your potential employer receives your resume, they will look for key terms from their job description in order to match your qualifications to their available position. If possible, use some of the same terminology on your resume as the employer used on the job description. This will let the employer know that you are in synch with their needs, and make them more interested in you as the ideal candidate for the job. Ask one of your friends to review the job description and your resume as well, and give you their impression on how well the two match.

Poorly written or formatted resumes let your employer know that you don’t pay any attention to detail. Taking the extra time to do a final review of your resume is the key to getting employer’s attention and getting the job you always wanted.

- Indicate how many patients or clients you have taken care of. Whether you are a nurse in a large hospital, or manage financial accounts at the small doctor’s practice, it is important to indicate to your future employer how many people you have dealt with on daily basis, and how you have addressed any concerns that arise from taking care of people in sensitive situations.
- List all of the training that you have acquired, beyond your education that makes you qualified for a specific area in the health care industry. Beyond the training you have completed that is job specific, consider listing any other training in management, communications, ethics, etc. While this type of training may not be required for the job that you are seeking, it does show your employer that you have transferable skills and that you are interested in understanding the broad aspect of the industry.
- Certifications and licenses are a critical aspect of the health care industry. Make sure that you list all your licenses, and their valid dates. Additionally, consider any programs, continuing education courses, or government regulations that you are compliant with; all of these items should be included in your resume. Not only do they highlight your qualifications, but also provide assurance to your potential employer that you meet all the requirements of the city, state and federal agencies in order to be employed in your field.
- Your professional summary must list a clear professional goal. It is important that you demonstrate to your employer that you have a vast knowledge of the health care industry, and that you have a career path in mind. If you are new to health care, use the professional summary to highlight your education and practical work that qualifies you for the position you are seeking.
- Use industry jargon, but exercise caution. Don’t try to replace certain medical terms with common phrases. Feel free to demonstrate your knowledge of the field by using terminology that is specific to health care. However, don’t over use the same terms, or phrases, and don’t use jargon excessively. While you want to give an impression that you know what you are talking about, you don’t want to overuse jargon and turn off the recruiter that may be the initial contact for your resume review.
- Technical skills are necessary, and therefore, you should list them on your resume. Indicate your skills in specific software programs, and don’t be shy about making your computer literacy known to your employer. Health care industry relies heavily on technology and employers actively look for candidates with specific computer skills. Make sure that your resume clearly outlines your technical qualifications.

Any professional certifications and licenses that impact your career and your ability to do your job should be listed on your resume. This concept is straight forward for those professionals who cannot actually perform their jobs without having a license to do so. This is the case for teachers, real estate agents, medical professionals, etc. If you are in a profession that requires specific certifications and/or licenses, your resume should contain a section specific to this information. The heading should state “Professional Certifications” or “Professional Licenses”. You should list, in reverse chronological order, any certifications and licenses that you have acquired in your professional experience.

However, it is a lot harder to consider this information and include it on your resume if your professional field doesn’t require any certifications or licenses. For example, having a certificate from a seminar on managing multiple projects may not be required in order for you to do your job effectively. However, such a certificate can be very helpful in virtually any field, and if included on your resume, it can help you stand out from the crowd of available professionals and catch the employer’s attention.

Consider any courses or training seminars you attended in your professional career. Don’t forget to include any courses you may have taken as part of the training at a current or at a previous job. For example, if you have completed a course on using Microsoft Access Database as part of the training on your current job, and you know that you will be required to work with this program in a new position that you are seeking, make a note of this on your resume.

Treat the list of licenses and certifications as you do your professional experience; make a list, in reverse chronological order, and consider which of the items you listed are relevant to your professional goals. Your resume should have no more than five most recent certifications and licenses. List the date when the certificate or license was obtained; if you took a course over time, for example, indicate the completion date in form of month and year only. The exact name of the certificate or the license should be listed, along with an issuing organization. No additional information is necessary for this area of your resume. Additionally, make sure to highlight any certification and licenses in the cover letter if they promote your qualifications for the job you are seeking.

If the listing of licenses or certifications is lengthy, you can include this information on a separate sheet of paper. You should always list a few most recent items; however if the listing exceeds five items, let the potential employer know that additional information is available upon request. Your resume or your cover letter can point out this information, as well as highlight only those elements that promote you as the best candidate for the job.

Here are some great tips on composing a winning cover letter to accompany your resume:
- Address the letter to the appropriate person. The biggest mistake professionals make is not taking the time to address their cover letter to the appropriate person, such as the recruiter or the hiring manager. Take the time to address your cover letter to the appropriate person; if the job description does not include a person as a contact, take queue from the text and address the letter to the team listed as the contact. Using generic lines, such as “To whom it may concern,” is not acceptable on a cover letter.
- Know what the goal of your cover letter is and express it clearly, and concisely. Sell yourself in the best possible light; make sure that you sound confident professional in your cover letter. Concentrate on the positives, and highlight those qualifications that make you a perfect candidate for the job. Even if you are insecure in your qualifications, or feel that you may be slightly under-qualified for the job, put your best foot forward.
- Customise your cover letter to the position you are applying for. It is very important that your cover letter address why you are the best person for the job you are seeking. This includes indicating the job title in the cover letter. Generic statements, or statements indicating that you are interested in any open position with the company, make you appear unprofessional and unprepared.
- Answer these two questions: why do you want this particular job, and what can you do for the company? These two questions must be addressed in the cover letter in order to let your employer know that you are serious about your interest, that you have considered the opportunity and how it fits with your professional goals, and what you are willing to bring to the table in order to benefit the organization you want to work for.
- Proof your cover letter. Errors and misspellings leave a poor impression on the employer.
- Close the cover letter by indicating to your potential employer when you intent to follow up on your application. Do not end the letter with a statement that leaves it up to the employer to call you at their convenience. Let the employer know that you want to follow up, when and how you will do so. This confirms your interest in the position, and your professional etiquette. Note, you must follow up when and how you indicated on the cover letter.

While your resume may be well-written and well-formatted, it may not be scannable. This may be the reason why you are not receiving calls from potential employers, even if you have great qualifications for the job. To make your resume scannable, follow these tips:
• Special formatting may cause certain letters in words to touch, and blend into one character. This is especially the case if a word is bolded or italicised. Make sure that you review your resume and revise any parts where letters are joined together, so that the words can be scanned.
• Font type and font sise are very important for both your printed and electronic resume. When the resume is scanned, it is important that the font is recognizable by the software. Stick to the basic fonts, such as Ariel and Times New Roman, and to the basic font sise, such as 10 or 12 points.
• Do not underline words or phrases in your resume. In an electronic format, underlining implies that the text links to another document or a web site. Additionally, do not have any lines in the resume that touch the text, as this will prevent the resume from being scannable.
• All the text in your resume should read from left to right in order for your resume to be scannable. No special formatting, such as tables, or columns, should be contained within your electronic resume.
• Do not use special characters that may not be recognised by scanning software. This includes special formatting of bullets, use of ampersands or percent signs, copyright signs, or any other characters that may not be easily recognizable by scanning software. If you are quantifying information on your resume, make sure to spell out the percentage instead of using “%” as you are indicating increase in sales, for example. Whenever possibly, avoid using signs or special characters in your resume.
• Even if you submit a printed resume, the document may be scanned for key words to match your qualifications with available positions. It is very important that your submission is on plain white paper, in basic font type and sise. If you are submitting multiple pages, make sure that all the pages are numbered, with your name in the top left corner. Do not staple multiple pages. If you do so, only the top page will be scanned.
• The most important element of a scannable resume is the selection of active keywords, or power words. Do your research and make sure that you use the appropriate keywords in your resume that apply toward the position you are seeking. Having appropriate keywords throughout your resume makes it easier for the software to find matches when scanning the document. Helpful tip: review the employer’s job requirements for keywords. What are the required qualifications for the job? Make sure that your resume contains the same terminology as that on the job description, without direct copying of the text, of course. When your resume is scanned, the software will pick up these key words and you can be one step closer to landing your dream job.

• DO create a plain text file of your resume. While you want certain items on your resume to stand out, you should still have a plain text file (.txt file) of your resume. Most employers request a plain text file, because they can run the file through computer software that scans your resume for key words related to the available jobs. When creating a text file, makes sure that you take the time to format the resume; check spacing and adjust any lines of text that seem out of place.
• DO follow instructions of your potential employer. If the employer is asking that you send your resume in the body of the e-mail, do not send them an attachment. Copy and paste the plain text resume you have created into the body of the email; take the time to check for potential formatting changes. Do not try to format the text by making portions of your resume bold, or change the font sise or type. While you may have the email editor which allows for this formatting, your potential employer may only accept plain text messages. Stick to the basics for a successful transmission of your resume.
• DON’T save your resume as a PDF. This file type is typically larger in sise, and is not very common for an electronic resume, that your potential employer may completely discard your email.
• DO test your electronic resume by sending it to a few friends via email. Because they may be using different e-mail providers, or have different software than you, they can let you know how your resume appears to them. This will help you in uncovering and correcting potential formatting problems, to assure that your resume is in great form by the time it reaches potential employers.
• DON’T make an assumption that including a resume in the body of an email is the only information you should include in your message to your potential employer. Even if the resume is copied into the email, you still need to let your employer know a little bit more about yourself via a cover letter. However, since you will include your address at the top of the email, feel free to start your resume with a career objective instead of including the heading with your name and address.