Page 36 - Complete Idiot's Guide to The Perfect Resume

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Part 1 ➤ Plan to Succeed

Bonus Check
Be careful how you respond to a job announcement that asks for a salary history. To
comply with the ad’s request and get past the screening process without giving away your
exact salary figures, include a sentence in your cover letter that briefly refers to your
salary. See Chapter 17, “The Cover Letter Connection,” to learn how to address the salary
issue in your letter.

Ready, Set, Network!

When you have your resume in hand, you’re ready to exploit one of
your most powerful job-search tools: your network. The importance of
networking can’t be overestimated.
Case in point: Sarah ran a successful dry cleaning business for six years
before she sold it in order to go back into the corporate world as a
Career Casualty
salesperson. One morning after selling her business, she ran into Rod,
Before going to your interview, one of her former customers. It wasn’t long into their chat when Rod
go through your resume line by suggested that Sarah give him her resume to pass on to his wife, who
line and practice elaborating on was a partner at a nearby electronics firm. Within three weeks, Sarah
the topics and achievements landed a sales job at the wife’s company.
you’ve listed.
As you can see, opportunities pop up in unexpected ways. Be prepared
with a resume (or the networking card mentioned in the following
section), and use it to stimulate networking. Circulate it among your
friends, relatives, and business associates. They may know someone
who knows someone who knows of the perfect job for you!

Beat the Business-Card Strategy

How many times have you returned home from a party, professional
meeting, or other networking event with a pocket full of business cards
Terms of Employment
only to realize that you had no idea which card went with which per-
Your network is like a carefully son? When that happens to me, I throw away all of them except the
crafted web that has you in the one (maybe two) that conjures up an image of the person who gave it
center. Made of invisible threads to me.
that extend from you to all the
If your business card had been in my pocket, it very well could have
people you know, to the people
been tossed, unless you had put something on it to jog my memory.
they know, and so on, your net-
And that’s the idea behind a networking card.
work is a conduit for information
and favors. With a strong net- A networking card is a hybrid between a resume and a business card. It’s
work, you could receive big an ideal marketing tool when a resume is too long and a business card
payoffs! doesn’t say enough. You can design it to fit your special purpose,
whether that’s to find a particular job or to explore career options.

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