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How to Write a Resume and Get a Job
How to Write a Resume and Get a Job
How to Write a Resume and Get a Job
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How to Write a Resume and Get a Job

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How To Write A Résumé And Get A Job

Finding a job can be nerve-racking. It's hard to know even where to begin: Where are jobs listed? What skills do you need? How can you make your résumé stand out? A job hunt involves many unspoken rules that can't be broken, and it's easy to unknowingly hurt your chances.

In How to Write a Résumé and Get a Job, the Reverend Luis Cortés Jr. supplies you with the necessary information for securing a promising job. He will lead you through every step, from searching and applying to negotiating for a better salary, asking for benefits, and enjoying your success. A job isn't everything, but it is your key to a better future. Following Cortés's guidance ensures that your search will be a successful one.
LanguageEnglish
PublisherAtria Books
Release dateMay 14, 2007
ISBN9780743298797
How to Write a Resume and Get a Job
Author

Luis Cortes

The Reverend Luis Cortés Jr. is the president and CEO of Esperanza USA, the largest Hispanic faith-based community-development corporation in the country. In January 2005, he was featured as one of Time magazine's "25 Most Influential Evangelicals."

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How to Write a Resume and Get a Job - Luis Cortes

halftitle

Other Books in the Esperanza Series

(also available in Spanish)

How to Buy a House

There Is an Answer: How to Prevent and

Understand HIV/AIDS

A Simple Guide to U.S. Immigration and Citizenship

How to Fix Your Credit

A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

1230 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10020

Copyright © 2007 by Luis Cortés Jr.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

For information address Atria Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

ATRIABOOKS and colophon are trademarks

of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cortés, Luis, Reverend.

How to write a résumé and get a job / Luis Cortés, Jr. with Karin Price Mueller.

p. cm.

1. Résumés (Employment).

I. Mueller, Karin Price, 1970– . II. Title.

HF5383.C657 2007

650.14’2—dc22       200706050

ISBN-10: 0-7432-9879-9

ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-9879-7

Visit us on the World Wide Web:

http://www.SimonSays.com

Acknowledgments

As always, there are many to thank. First, Karin Price Mueller, who has become a great partner on this project. To Arlene Cruz-Larsen for her administrative assistance, and Priscilla Rodriquez, Tanya Bird, and Nelidia Sepulveda, who are practitioners at Esperanza and have assisted many people find their first or next job. My family, as usual, steps aside and lets me do my thing; thank you all. To the good people at Atria who are always patient with my product, thank you. Special thanks to Johanna Castillo and Amy Tannenbaum for their assistance and encouragement.

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1

What a Job Can Do for You

Establish Your Job Goals

What Am I Willing to Do for a Job?

Chapter 2

Know Your Market

Today’s Job Market

Where to Start Looking

The Internet

Classified Ads

Employment Agencies

Temp Agencies

School Career Centers

Career One-Stop

Job Fairs

Help Wanted Signs

Networking

The Yellow Pages

What Employers Want

What Does this Job Mean?

What Skills do I Need?

Good Qualities for Any Job

Do Some Research

Chapter 3

Know Your Skills

Your Skills

Your Strengths and Weaknesses

Your Likes and Dislikes

You Have More Skills Than You Think

Language

Getting Additional Training/Education

College

Trade School/Vocational School

Community Education

Internships

The Next Step

Chapter 4

Prepare Your Résumé

Choose Your Résumé Format

Chronological Résumés

Functional Résumés

Combination Résumés

Tips Before You Begin

Writing Your Résumé

Contact Information

Objective

Career Summaries and Qualifications Summaries

Work History

Work History Concerns

Key Skills

Education/Training

Other Résumé Additions to Consider

A Word About Credit Reports

Chapter 5

The Cover Letter, Recommendation Letters,

and Phone Calls

Cover Letters

What a Cover Letter Can do for You

Cover Letter Dos

Cover Letter Don’ts

What Cover Letters Should Look Like

References

Letters of Recommendation

Following Up with Phone Calls

Keep a Log

Chapter 6

Prepare for the Interview

The Basics

Be On Time

Don’t Get Lost

Make Contingency Plans

Dress the Part

The Nose Knows

Mentally Prepare

Research

Practice Interview Questions

Legal and Illegal Interview Questions

Be Calm

What to Bring

A Good First Impression

Interview Tests

Follow Up with a Note

Chapter 7

Securing Your Victory

Questions to Ask

The Salary

A Dollar Figure

How Much do You Want to be Paid?

Negotiate for Benefits

Not Accepting a Job

Health and Dental Insurance

Retirement Benefits

Paid Personal Days, Sick Days, Vacation Days, and Holidays

Day Care Assistance

Performance Reviews and Raises

How Often Will I be Paid?

What are All Your Benefits Worth?

Your First Day on the Job

Tax Paperwork

Working in the United States

Direct Deposit

Life Insurance Benefits

Health Insurance Benefits

Retirement Benefits

Enjoy Your Success

Appendix A: List of Common Action Words to Use in Résumés and Cover Letters

Appendix B: W-4 Form

Appendix C: Employment Eligibility Forms

Appendix D: Direct Deposit Form

Introduction

You’re ready! You’re ready to search for a new job. It’s taken some energy and some courage to decide to pick up this book and start taking steps to find the employment you need.

The process of finding a job does not have to be complicated, but it demands two things from you from start to finish: consistency and perseverance. Consistency involves making sure you’re as prepared as you can be to give 100 percent to the effort of finding a job. Perseverance requires you to understand that there is a job out there for you, but that you may not find it right away. You may have to exhaust yourself to find the right job, but it’s well worth it. If you apply consistency and perseverance to your search, you will increase your chances of finding or bettering your employment.

Reading this book is a smart start to your job search, and no matter how difficult the task ahead, this book is intended to help you every step of the way. After following the steps in this book, you will be in a better position to find employment than when you began.

I want you to consider, however, that while employment is one of the most important things that you can do with your time, it should not define you. Who we are is more important than what we do. We must understand that we are all created in the image of God. We are beings with the ability to create, to change, and to enhance not only ourselves but the environment around us. Genesis, the first book of the Bible, states that God created the world in six days, and on the seventh, he rested. To be created in the image of God is to understand that we, too, are called to create with our labor, and that we are then to rest and remember who created us.

We all have a vocation, a mission at which God wants us to excel. You should understand that your job may not be your vocation. Our job may be what we do for subsistence, to earn money, but not what we do for our mission or creativity. For example, Jesus Christ was a carpenter, yet we do not remember him as much for his job as a carpenter as we do for his vocation, which was his mission to minister.

Work gives us fulfillment. God designed our world with the concept that work should allow us to explore and experience life. In Genesis, God tells us that we are to labor for our livelihood: We would eat and survive by the sweat of our brow. Work is a responsibility and we should approach it with confidence, dignity, and the sense that we are reflecting the image of God.

Knowing this, we are required to perform to our highest ability. We should bring honor to God with our performance and show others that we are worthy of the opportunity we have. Often, today’s society makes the mistake of judging people by their financial income. In the Bible, Christ answered the tempter, Man does not live by bread alone. We are not to be measured only in dollars. God measures us by the service we provide to others, whether we are loving our neighbors, feeding the hungry, clothing the sick, visiting the imprisoned or the infirm. It is by our service to our fellow human beings that we are measured, not by our weekly paycheck.

Wealth is a means to serve others, yet we live in a society where this is rarely done. Do not become fixated on making more and more money, accumulating more and more wealth, if it’s at the cost of losing the opportunity to help others. The boundaries of too much wealth and its investment are a question of meditation and study that I believe is a part of your spiritual development. The question of vocation and mission are part of this book’s agenda to show you that your job and vocation can be the same.

When searching for work, it’s important to be in the right frame of mind. I recommend that you begin your job search by meditating on what God would like for you. Is there a particular vocation or calling that is deep in your consciousness?

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