Resume and Cover Letter Tips for HD Fitters
Are you currently looking for HD fitter jobs? Aside from the necessary experience, certifications, and licences, you will also need an excellent cover letter and resume. You might think that a cover letter isn’t necessary for HD fitters and other similar blue-collar jobs, but the opposite is actually true. Career experts say that sending a cover letter can help distinguish your application, no matter the job. It’s your chance to make a good first impression and tell your potential employer why they should hire you instead of the competition.
In addition, a good cover letter should also have an excellent resume to match. It doesn’t matter if you’re applying for a senior- or a junior-level position. Your resume should be recent, easy to read, and look polished. Make sure it’s proofread, too. Remember: hiring managers get hundreds of applications every day. It can get tiring to sift through all of them. If your resume is sloppy and full of spelling errors, they’ll likely won’t look at it twice and send it straight to the bin.
So how do you compose a good cover letter and an attention-grabbing resume? Here are a few tips.
Make Time for a Cover Letter
If a good cover letter gives a good impression, then a bad cover letter might cost you some potential opportunities. Don’t just send a cover letter for the sake of sending one. Doing this will show that you’re doing it simply for the sake of doing it, and your employer might reject your application outright. Instead, take the time to compose a clear and concise letter that highlights the reasons why you’re the ideal candidate. Another good tip? If the application details say don’t send a cover letter, then don’t!
Study the Company and the Job
Before you start writing your cover letter and creating your resume, do your research about the company and the job first. Don’t assume any details. Moreover, avoid using the same cover letter and resume for every potential job opportunity. If you’re looking for a mining job, everything should be specifically written for that job.
Choose a Suitable Resume Format
A resume becomes even more critical if you’re approaching labour hire companies. After all, they need to maintain a quality candidate pool to maintain their good standing with their clients (i.e., the employers). Therefore, your resume should show that you’re a quality candidate. How do you do this? One way is to choose a suitable resume format.
There are two usual formats to choose from: chronological and functional. Chronological is the more common of the two and can be used by any applicant at any level of experience. The chronological resume format is ideal if you want to show a steady progression in your career. It’s also the best one to use if you want to move up the corporate ladder and if you’re applying for a job in a similar field.
Meanwhile, the functional resume format if focused on skills. If you have gaps in your employment history, this is the best one to use. This is also suitable if you have more experience since you already have a few achievements and skills to showcase. You may also use the functional resume format if you want to switch industries.
Be Specific
For cover letters, don’t waste words. Keep it short; three to five paragraphs will do. Make sure that each paragraph talks about your qualifications and how these would be an exact fit for the requirements. Study the job description so that you can easily and clearly make a case why you’d be the best hire for the post.
For resumes, be sure to include only the details that are applicable to the job. If you’re applying for a FIFO mining job, examine your previous roles and write about the skills that are relevant to the FIFO job in Australia. Hiring managers and employers don’t need the details of your personal life. They need to know why they should hire you. Even if you think that all your previous experience are relevant to the job, it will still be wise to include only the most impressive ones. Treat your resume as your highlight reel, not a detailed log of every job you ever had. Your aim is to impress and not bore the reader.
Technology Can Help
If you’re having trouble making your cover letter and resume, don’t be afraid to ask for some help. Specifically, don’t be afraid to use existing online tools. There are plenty of websites that can help you craft an impressive application. Canva is among the popular ones, with its easy-to-use graphic design tools. There are both free and paid options, but the free version is usually enough for making creative resumes.
Another popular site is Zety. It offers a full suite of options, including cover letters, CVs, and resumes. There are only a few templates to choose from, but you can customise them all you want. There are also step-by-step guides available to make things even easier. Other websites for resume-making include Visual CV and Kickresume. Kickresume is particularly helpful since they show samples of resumes made on the site that got people hired.
Experiment
If you’re applying for a competitive position, it’s even more important for your cover letter and resume to stand out. Thus, don’t be afraid to be experimental. You don’t have to stick with the usual white paper to print, for example. If you’re applying for an engineering position, why not make your resume look like a blueprint? Video cover letters and resumes are also a good idea if you want to stand out from hundreds of sheets of paper or card stock. It’s also more environmentally friendly! The hiring manager or employer might also remember you as the applicant that gave them a break from all the reading they had to do.
Finding HD fitter jobs, or any job for that matter, can be challenging. This is especially true when it comes to competitive industries. A good cover letter and resume may not guarantee that you’ll get the job, but they can most certainly help give you an edge. Good luck on your job search!
