Slept last night all night first time in a long time. So ready to face the world this morning. But I nee your help. There is a terrific job I am going to apply for. It is a public event coordinator for a city zoo. I would really love to have it but first step is to send my resume and a cover letter. I have to get them, based on this information, to want to interview me. The only suggest I have gotten from someone was to Fed x it that would get some notice. I am going to copy the cover letter here so I welcome any and all suggestion to make it stand out. Please help. You all are so great Thanks<BR>THe your requirements and my qualification are in table format couldn't get that to copy here. but you get the idea. remember this is is a rough draft.<BR>Dear Sir or Madam:<BR>I would like to apply for the position of public event coordinator. I feel that with 10 years of experience in the field of education and coordinating a variety of events I am qualified for this position.<P>YOUR REQUIREMENTS Organizational skills: College degree: Event planning experience<BR>MY QUALIFICATIONS<BR>Organizational Skills: Primary strengths include high organizational and planning skills. Organized and planned various events. <BR>College degree: BA from UCO<BR>Event Planning Experience: Organized, planned and supervised personnel for a veariety of events.<P>As you know, a resume alone can not express all of one’s experiences, skills, and abilities. Therefore, I look forward to an opportunity to appear for a personal interview in order to more specifically address how this career opportunity will be mutually beneficial.<P>Sincerely<P>Okay aany and all ideas will be appreciated. Suggestion to what kind of paper. Do I need to jazz this up. I want this job or at least a chance to be interviewed for it. Again thanks or you can email me suggestions at diseiler@hotmail.com I would like to get this in the mail by Monday at the latest. Thanks again<P><P>------------------<BR>di<P>

Okay,<P>First let me recommend you get the book "Knock 'em Dead" by Martin Yates. This is a great book on resumes, cover letters, interview skills, etc. He has more than one book out on job search skills. Look at your local library to see if they have any of these books and read as much as you can.<P>Next, make a few phone calls to the zoo to see if you can get the name of a person to send your resume to, and then address it to that person. This may be someone in human resources, but ideally it would be who your boss would be in the new position or whoever is making the decision on who to interview and hire.<P>Showing their requirements and your qualifications in table form can work well.<P>Make your qualifications as specific as possible. Say something specific like organized elementary school fund raiser that generated $5,000 for the upgrade of playground equipment vs. Organized and planned various events. <P>Make it as custom tailored to what they are looking for as you can - never send a "standard" resume.<P>Open the letter with something like: Mr. (name), I am an experineced event organizer and planner and think that these skills would make me and excellent public events coordinator....<P>Close letter with something like: I am eager to meet with you to further discuss this position and how I can benefit your organization. I will call you on Friday (date) to see if we can schedule a time to meet with each other.<P>This gives you control of the next step, rather than just waiting by the phone. Also sets you apart from all the other people who send in a generic resume and cover letter.<P>Make sure the phone number you give them will allow them to reach you. If you are not working now, you may want to give them a cell phone number that way if you are out running errands during the day they can still contact you. If you do get the call - run and hide in a closet or something so there will be no screaming kids in the background and you can stay focused on the phone call.<P>Never say " I feel..." They don't care what you feel - tell them what you can do based on what you have done in the past.<P>Don't say "apply" for the job. You fill out applications for jobs flipping burgers or pumping gas. Something at this level is more than filling out an application.<P>I am currently helping my wife find a job so she can move out and leave me. Oh well I guess that would be considere Plan A.<P>Good Luck to you in your job search.

Di, <BR>I used to be an HR recruiter for an employment agency. One suggestion would be to change <BR>___________________________________________<BR>"I feel that with 10 years of experience in the field of education and coordinating a variety of events I am qualified for this position." ___________________________________________<P>to something along the tune of...<P>"my experience and qualifications are well suited for the position that you currently advertise."<P>Also, with the<P>__________________________________________<BR>Organizational Skills: Primary strengths include high organizational and planning skills. Organized and planned various events. <BR>__________________________________________<BR>You may want to take out the last line. You repeat it 2 lines down and is not a skill but rather an outline of your experience. Expand on the skills themselves. What sets YOU apart - ability to meet deadlines efficiently, ability to coordinate the activities of a group of people with enthusiasm and positive results, your ability to adapt to a fast paced environment, thrive under pressure, etc, etc, etc.<P>The "as you know, a resume....." is a negative. Your resume and cover letter is what recruiters will use to weed out those who they request to interview and may not want an applicant to remind them of this. Keep the second part - "I look forward to....." <P>I am now in marketing. The position you are applying for requires someone with "flair" - someone who can make the fun experience of going to a zoo - MORE FUN! I would suspect that a love and/or knowledge of animals would be helpful. Can you add something about these things to your cover letter?<P>Remember that with resumes and cover letters, everybody does things differently. You will always have a variety of oppinions to sift through. In the end, you need to apply that which you are comfortable with. <P>****NO spelling mistakes! (Obvious but would you believe that 60-75% come in with at least one?????) <P>****Use a quality stock.<P>****Again, this is a fun, flair-y kind of a thing. I know of someone who once applied for an event planning at McDonald's<BR>by enclosing their cover letter and resume in an empty Happy Meal box with a helium balloon attached - they got the job. (I don't suspect that this would not work for a more staunchy High tech analyst position )<P>Good Luck!<BR>Lisa

Do keep us updated, sounds like you are perfect for the job!!!<P>

SDS,<P>LisaM's suggestions sound great. I e-mail you a few of my own. I'll check in later to see how you are.

Hey SDS,<P>good luck.<P>What everyone has said is great, can I print this off for when I start applying for jobs too. (I always like to ask first)<P>It has been a while since I've sent a resume, so I have nothing to offer in terms of advice, but,<P>GOOD GOOD GOOD LUCK, and lots of good karma to you.<P>I'll check in when I get back late Sunday night.<P>love and hugs<P>Jo

I want to thank all of you for your help I have printed the comments so that I can keep them in front of me while I work on the cover letter. I will keep you informed if I have time I will try to print the final draft before I mail it. Agains Thanks. <BR>Jo sure you can use it but put in your qualifications LOL. Say some prayers that this works out.<P>------------------<BR>di<P>