Career Advice, Workplace Tips & Job Search by JobDig

In most normal cases, you should not include your salary expectation in cover letters unless you have very good reason for doing so. This may be when a recruiter contacts you after seeing your resume somewhere, such as an online job board. In this particular case, then it is okay to reveal your salary expectations early, in order to avoid wasting your time and theirs. However, barring this one difference, you should just write the cover letter as you normally would.

Do you know what is appropriate to wear to a job interview? What to say or do to impress and not turn off an employer? Interview etiquette is an often overlooked but important part of job search success.

It's been said that you only get one chance to make a good first impression. People meeting you for the first time will make some type of judgment based upon your appearance, the circumstances of meeting and more. Just as this saying is true for a face to face meeting, it also goes for your resume as well. Potential employers will make a judgment about your skills and abilities based upon the first impression - which is more than likely your professional resume.

You've been working your way up to positions of increased responsibility over the past 15 years, you are widely known within your industry, and you have even been quoted in trade and business publications on changes in the economic markets and consumer trends. So why do you need a resume?

If you've been looking for a job for any length of time, you'll notice there are many out there beyond your level of expertise. Why is that? Is it because of your education? Your lack of experience? If you want to move ahead in your career, sometimes you need to make yourself more marketable. How exactly can you do that?

The motto "Be prepared," isn't just great advice for Boy Scouts; it's also great career advice. You never know when the perfect career opportunity will present itself. If a recruiter called you today with your dream job, would you be prepared to send out an up-to-date resume right away?

One of the most overlooked ways in using a resume to sell yourself is failing to identify the companies for which you have worked.

If you haven't interviewed for a job in awhile, you may be surprised when you are asked to do a phone interview first. Most companies are using a phone interview to speed up the hiring cycle.

"Networking" was the biggest buzz word of the 90's. To get a job or grow a business - all you had to do was network. Bill Gates' initial deal with IBM, in which they bought and added the MS DOS operating system to all their PC's, was a result of networking . Bill's mother worked on a Board of Directors with IBM's president, and that contact started Microsoft's incredible rise to the top. Likewise, savvy job hunters knew that developing contacts lead to discovering many great jobs that were never...more

It happens. You get all pumped up to look for a new job, get your resume and cover letter all spruced up and then... nothing. How do you put the excitement back in your job search?