In today’s increasingly tough job market there are some small things that you can do to stand out from the crowd and increase your chances of getting an interview. These are beyond the basics, so you should already have a resume in hand and be prepared to interview.

Set Your Focus

Goal number one is to get the interview! To increase your chances of getting the interview do what you can to stand out. This doesn’t mean dress in carnival style clothing or wear a big hat, just think of what the other prospective employees may not be doing.

Take Advantage Of The Cover Letter

A lot of people prefer not to have a cover letter. For me, it is annoying to write, but this is a free chance to tell the employer that you are different. For maximum effectiveness try and locate the manager of hiring and address it to that person. Start the letter with something eye-catching such as: "Immediately Available: Experienced Sales Manager That Gets Results!" This is not something that has to be written formally so go ahead and do what you feel gets the most attention. For instance, you could center and bold it at the top of the page before your formal letter.

Don’t forget the postscript! Statistics show that the P.S. is the most read part of letters. Even if someone skims a letter they are likely to read the postscript. It is almost like a secret message that our eyes are drawn to. You could say in your P.S. that the company you are applying to work for is at the top of your list and invite them to call you at their earliest convenience.

Buy The Good Paper

Find some very nice, heavyweight paper for printing resumes on and spend the extra cash on it. Many people are lazy and will just use regular paper. Since we are doing what we can to stand out premium paper is a must. If you are going the distance on your resume make sure it is a clean copy. In other words, don’t print it at home if you have a printer that misses lines or drags ink across the page. Instead, save a copy and take it up to the print shop or local office supply store to be printed on your newly acquired resume paper. It costs only pennies per copy for a perfect print when you have your own paper.

The Digital Problem

Many companies allow for you to send a digital copy of your resume. This is very convenient but also causes some problems in translation between software. Try and use the most up to date version of word processing programs you can find and, if you want to be absolutely sure your resume is formatted like you meant for it to be, convert your file into an Adobe Acrobat PDF document. Newer versions of Microsoft Office allow for this, or you could use Open Office for an alternative.

Get A Good Pen

Last, but not least, get a good ink pen for those times when you are forced to apply in person. Spend a buck or two on a good black or blue gel pen that stands out. I have reviewed applications written in pencil and a neat application written in easy-to-read handwriting and ink is a good first impression that many applicants will overlook.

Jason Wyatt is a computer technician that enjoys writing and learning.

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