Kolby Goodman
Career & Job Search Coach
Education
- BA, Economics, San Diego State University
Favorite Piece of Advice
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Forum Comments (8)
It's not efficient, it's not effective, definitely isn't sustainable. You're gonna burn out and you're gonna say "forget it" and it's not gonna be helpful for you.
What I recommend is writing a templated cover letter from scratch, but do it in a much different way than what we're all used to. With any job application materials, we often default to saying "Let me tell you why I'm qualified. Let me tell you why I can do the job better than anyone". However, that approach can really divert from the purpose of why you're looking for a job, or why your company is looking to hire you in the first place. Think about it this way: you don't want to simply "do" a job. Your next employer doesn't simply want you to do "work". They're hiring you, paying you, and training you to solve problems.
So, with a resume or cover letter, it's your job to convey the problems that you've solved, how you solved them, and the outcomes of your solutions so that any prospective employer fully understands and appreciates the value and the impact that you're gonna bring and the kind of return on investment you're going to deliver. So long story short, trash your current cover letter, write it from scratch, and speak to the kind of problems you've been able to solve and how your next employee can benefit from them. And do little tweaks as you go along.
I recommend taking about five to ten minutes per application to tweaking your master documents, that's both your resume and your cover letter, so that it matches the language and matches the perspective of the job posting. This will help you stand out from the dozens (if not hundreds) of other job applicants, so that you get called for that important first interview.
See what kind of administrative or marketing issues they're having and talk to them about how you could help. This will help you gain some valuable business experience that goes beyond typical food service that a lot of other teens get.
Plus it gives you an opportunity to tackle more interesting and complex problems and deliver more value.
See what kind of administrative or marketing issues they're having and talk to them about how you could help. This will help you gain some valuable business experience that goes beyond typical food service that a lot of other teens get.
Plus it gives you an opportunity to tackle more interesting and complex problems and deliver more value.
It’s your job to make a compelling case about how you've impacted at least one, if not, all parts of the bottom line, including how you've helped the company
make money
save money
save time
limit future risk.
Like any expense the organization has, you as an employee have to showcase that you're going to have a positive return on investment to justify any change in your salary.
So, as you go into this important interview, **don’t simply say that you’ve done more and you’ve worked hard**. **Say how you’ve made a difference. Say how you’ve moved the needle for the business and how you plan on doing it more in the future**, which is why you deserve to be compensated for the value that you've brought.
No matter what you find on any slew of online databases, you are never 100% sure what their going rate currently is. If you say a number first, you've anchored the company into a figure and it is going to be very hard to skew too far from it.
Instead, counter by saying, "I want to make sure that I'm the right person for this role and that I can come in and have an immediate impact by solving the most important problems."
With that said, could you please share what your current upper and lower budget is to bring someone new into this role? This approach helps establish you as someone looking for the right fit versus the highest salary, prompting them to provide their number first.
Then your job throughout the duration of the process is to showcase to the decision-makers how you can bring significant value to the organization so that you deserve the highest number to start.
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