In 99% of any given application process, the online contact will be step 1 – may it be via email, social media or as a response to a job ad.

What are the absolute MUST criteria to make it to the first interview?

Careerbuilder asked me to write a posting on this topic and it looks like an easy one. When I did my research, all posts say more or less the same. I have a slightly different point of view, structured my posting in “The Art and The Science”. Guess what: the new stuff is rather under “The Art” than in “The Science”…

The Science:

• Email address: make it professional and traditional. I think there are few alternatives to “firstname.name@provider.com”. You know that you should not use “WannaHaveFun@hotpartiesinvegas.com” and neither your professional email address. Also, do not change the orthography of your name: this week I met a candidate who is called “Francois” yet his email address reads “Fancois”. I am sure that 8 out of 10 people will get it wrong…
• Mastering Outlook: The cover letter should be in the email body and not in a Word attachment. I also recurringly see people who put a date and address line on top of the email address which would be the correct place in a letter (in an email, the end is the right place for it). If you are nor sure on how to write an email, google it
• Size: Don’t send emails that are bigger than 3 MB
• Typos are not acceptalbe and there is no exuse for them. Alwais dubble check

The Art:

• Make it short: The cover letter should be short and concise. If your text is longer than one screen shot, it is too long. I read many many many applications and resumes per day and take less than 1 minute for each. Another unbelievable story: one of my fellow recruiters who has been working in this industry for years recently gave an interview in an important newspaper and said “The cover letter is of utmost importance”. I asked him if he really thinks so and he answered “No, of course not. I don’t read it most of the times” (key learning: don’t believe everything that is written – unless it is on www.MyJobThoughts.com)
• Make it general: Beware of personalized phrases such as “to work for you, Mr. Stegemann, would be…”, “a role at MyJobThoughts would be” or “I have been passionate about working in the morgue industry since I was a kid”. They do not really sound so personalized and 1 out of 10 applications like this I get, give wrong names or industries…
• Make it specific: I once read that a good subject line should be a summary of the email. And I agree. Do not use “Stegemann CV” or “As discussed” but “Application for the job posting as XYZ, reference 123″. If you do not apply on a specific job, outline your Unique Selling Points like “Sales Manager, 10 years international experience in B2B, fluent in English and Hungarian”. This can also go into the email body. Preparing your elevator pitch can help you to put into one sentence what makes you special
• Make it interactive: we talked about the signature under “The Science”. Why not add links to your LinkedInand (if you have) Twitter account? We are not there yet but I guess one day we will not send resumes anymore and have all online. Your LinkedIn profile is most likely a shortened version of your resume which shows how you sell yourself and how you manage priorities. If you use Twitter on the job, this is a showcase on your communication skills and priority management.

Conclusion:

I think the science part is not where you should prove creativity and the points I mentioned are in my opinion non-negotiable. Be, however, different in the second part and we will be curious to get to know you