Equal Employment Opportunity Office (EEOO)

What you need to know about the Interview - Great Tips

Equal Employment Opportunity Office (EEOO)

The U.S. Office of Justice Programs (OJP) is committed to providing Equal Employment Opportunity for all employees and job applicants on the basis of their merit and without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability.

The goal and objectives are to promote full realization of equal employment opportunity through a continuing affirmative employment program that aims to eliminate discrimination based on factors irrelevant to specific job performance.

Within the agency, every effort will be made to ensure that all employment decisions and personnel actions, including recruitment, selection, training, promotion, transfer, and benefits are administered in conformance with Federal statutes and regulations governing equal employment and personnel management.

Advice on Resume, Cover Letter & Hiring Process from EEOO Organization

The resume is a very misunderstood document. Too often people assume that once they put together the "perfect" resume, then jobs will open for them. Alas, it's not that simple . . .

Let's begin with misconceptions about resumes, get those out of the way, then move on to getting a resume to work for you.

Common Misconceptions of the Resume

You can put together the perfect job resume which describes you, your background and experience.

A sole job resume you dust-off and send in for most every job, no matter how "good," works even less than a pair of pants labeled "one size fits all." You need to customize your employment resume for the specific organization and job position.

The way to land a job is to blanket the earth with your resume. Eventually, the resume will stick and spark a job offer.

The keyword is "eventually." This is one of the least productive methods to find a job. Sure, if you send enough resumes and wait long enough, you may get a job offers and opportunities this way. But few people want to take those kinds of chances and wait that long.

Resumes need to stand out to be noticed if you really want to announce with impact to the prospective employer please hire-me because I would do a good job for you! Use nice looking fonts, boxes, spacing and good layout.

One of the new wrinkles that has entered with the Information Age is that many organizations are now scanning the resumes they receive and placing them in a computer databank. All the above elements would cause your resume to be illegible and you might as well have thrown your resume in a trash can.

Basics of Resume Writing

If you've made it this far and are reading this page, you must be at some point in a career transition. It may be that you are only considering new directions toward career development or career management. Or you may need to find a job as soon as possible. Either way, you need to write a resume.

You already know that one resume does not fit all positions. However, writing the first resume or your basic resume will take the most amount of time. After it is completed, you can use it to build resumes for specific positions.

The University of Minnesota has an excellent, resume writing course, called Resumania On-Line, created by Eric Schnell. It's so good that it won the 1997 Gutenberg Award for the Best HTML Career Publication. Completing Resumania will give you your basic resume and you'll learn a lot in the process!

If you get stuck for a word while describing your accomplishments while writing your resume, check our list of action verbs.

Federal Job Applications

In applying for Federal employment, you now have a choice between using:

A job resume
The Federal government's Optional Form 612 (Optional Application for Federal Employment) or
The Federal government's Standard Form 171 (Application for Federal Employment)

The key, however, to the Federal job application process, however, is the vacancy announcement. A vacancy announcement is issued for every position opened in the government. Read the vacancy announcement carefully. A federal resume may differ from the resume you would use in the private sector. The federal resume may ask for information which must be included.

An online source for information on the Federal Resume Writing for Federal Government Job Applications is by the Resume Place.(Please note that this is not endorsement of their projects or workshops.)

You can also complete an online federal job application on the Office of Personnel Management site, USAJOBS, where you will also find vacancy announcements. Note that you will need the six digit vacancy announcement number to access the online application.

Online Resumes

There are dozens of sites on the Internet where you can post your resume. Depending upon your field, mobility factor and how urgent your need to find immediate employment, this might be one of the few avenues you use or just one of many.

Just as there are tips and rules for writing your basic resume, there are valuable pointers for constructing an online-resume. Doug Kimball, a Career Development Specialist at the Illinois Wesleyan University Career Center, has put put together an excellent resource in his Web-able Resumes site. Before posting an online resume, check out his suggestions.

Scannable Resumes

It's difficult to think of anything more disappointing than to work hard on creating a fantastic resume for an position that you want very badly and are eminently qualified for ... only to have your resume tossed in the waste basket unread because it was unscannable.

Many organizations are now scanning resumes into a computerized database using an optical scanner. The scanner "reads" the resume and stores it as a computer file. Two potential problems can arise for the person who submits a resume that ends up being scanned into a database.

The optical scanner may not be able to read your resume due to the type font, layout and format you use. The computer will retrieve resumes from the database based on key words. If you neglect to use the key words, your resume won't be selected.

Job Fairs

Whether you call them job fairs, career planning expos, or hiring events...they're all the same. And they are a good opportunity to meet with a lot of companies, including firms engaged in corporate communications, who are are hiring...and to do so in a concentrated hiring session. Usually free for job applicants, job fairs are held in a convention center, college campus, hotel ballroom or other large facility. You'll find large cities hosting several job fairs per year.

Some Job Fair tips:

Check the companies who will be represented at the job fair and select one that has companies looking for people with your skills.

Take copies of your updated resume with you.

Dress as for a job interview; you'll be meeting with company hiring representatives!

Even if you are not in the market to change jobs in the immediate future, some career development experts advise attending a job fair occasionally. This will give you the opportunity to practice interviewing without any pressure and will keep you current with opportunities in your field.

Check the web sites of job fair sponsors to see if an event is scheduled for your city in the near future:

CareerFairs.com - General.
CFG, Inc. - General.
Kaplan Career Center - High-tech job fairs in Canadian cities.
JobsAmerica - Varies, so check schedule; some diversity events.
American Recruitment Conferences - You will have the chance to interview for various Sales, Retail and Management Positions in each company's private interviewing area.
NAACP High-Tech & Diversity Job Fairs - Specializes in job fairs for high-tech positions for minorities.
Personnel Strategies - Technical and diversity job fairs.

ONLINE JOB FAIRS

Online or virtual job fairs are very similar, except you can skip dressing for an interview! Check a few of these out.

Career Mosaic - There were some big name employers scheduled.
Career Shop - Local online job fairs in 40 cities. See if your city is listed.

What is a cover letter?

The importance of the job resume cover letter Whenever a resume is sent by mail, a cover letter must accompany it. The cover letter is your opportunity to make an immediate good impression of yourself, much as you would if you walked into the room for an interview nicely dressed, confident, and poised. It is a chance to set yourself apart from the other applicants -- it's your first opportunity to sell yourself.

What goes into a cover letter?

The basic content of a cover letter includes the same basics as any business letter, plus other specifics such as:

Your name and address (unless it is already in your personal letterhead)
The date
The name, company and address to whom you are sending your resume
A salutation
An opening paragraph explaining why you are writing
A middle paragraph(s) highlighting why you are an outstanding applicant
A closing paragraph requesting an interview
A closing, such as "Sincerely" or "Yours Truly," with your signature

It sounds easy, but there's got to be some tricks ...

Not tricks, but there certainly are some tips. Here are a few basic ones and links to lots more:

Cover letters should be individualized and written for the specific organization and/or position. Do not write one cover letter and send it to everyone.

Cover letters should highlight your special qualifications and talents. Don't copy an example you find in an-ebook for instance, or online on a web-site, instead use those examples to give you some thoughts and ideas for your jobresume cover letter.

It should go without saying, resume cover letters should be perfect! No more than you would walk into an interview with a run in your stockings or a gravy stain on your tie; should you send a cover letter (or your resume, for that matter) with spelling errors, typos or poor grammar. Do not count solely on your computer's spell check. Carefully proof read it and then have someone you trust proof read it.

Be clear and concise in your writing. Watch out for those clunky, "governmentese" phrases. Government doesn't use them any more and no one else should either. Avoid phrases such as:

"I am writing at this time ..." What other time is there to write?
"I am anxiously awaiting your reply." Anxiously means nervously; don't you really mean eagerly?
"Owing to the fact ..." Since is cleaner, clearer and more concise.
"This is the subject which ..." Try using this subject.
"There is no doubt but that ..." Instead write doubtless or no doubt.

Keep your cover letter to one-page.

Put yourself in your reader's place. What will make them sit up and take notice. Are you a problem solver? How can you contribute to their organization? What is really special about you that is going to help them?