4 Ways to Be More Concise in Your Job Search
It's a skill some people possess and others have to work toward, and it's important to be aware of no matter which category you belong to: the ability to be succinct. Some people are stream-of-consciousness talkers and writers, while others are brief -- sometimes too brief, so that the main idea is not conveyed. Some people are a hybrid: clear and concise talkers but long-winded writers, or vice versa.
There are ways to train yourself to get to the point quicker verbally and in writing, which can help you through the job search process and in your career.
Job Search. There is so much immediately accessible information available now that it's hard to cut through the clutter. It's difficult to know which job search resources are worthwhile. Almost no one has the time to sift through all that data and figure out what's useful and what's not. How can you work more efficiently when searching for the right job?
Set up free job alerts on several sites that will email you relevant postings at your specified frequency. You can do this on HotJobAlerts, Monster and CareerBuilder, among many others. HotJobAlerts aggregates jobs from many different sites so that you can catch postings from some of the larger job search sites.
Don't rely exclusively on the Internet for your search. Get out and meet people socially and professionally. There are postings you will never see online and jobs you will never know about until you start meeting people.
Résumé. More is not better. Quality wins over quantity. This applies here as well as in your cover letters. A one-page résumé does not mean you have less worthy experience than someone with two pages. It usually is a positive sign to have fewer pages, because it tells hiring managers you can write concisely and apply what is relevant from your background to the job you're applying to.
Hiring managers will look less favorably at a person with a lengthy résumé that includes unnecessary information. They want to know immediately that you can sift through a massive amount of data to highlight only the important accomplishments and value you bring to the organization. It makes sense: You'll likely be required to do the same in your job, no matter what field you're in.
Of course there are exceptions. In CVs for academic and medical fields, you are expected to include more information about your work as well as your publications. It can also benefit you to include more details of your work history when applying to federal government jobs.
Cover Letter. Brevity does not mean ignoring the cover letter. It is still very important, and it is not a retelling of your résumé. If the hiring manager likes your résumé, he'll read your cover letter. However, this doesn't mean it shouldn't be succinct. Rarely should a cover letter go past one page, unless you're in a more academic field and have the background to warrant it.
A way to instantly attract someone to read your cover letter is to use bullets in part of the letter to showcase the accomplishments and qualities you offer. You should write the letter thinking, "what do they want to know?" Employers want to know how you can solve their potential problems and be a good fit for their team. Based on conversations you've had and the job description, who do you think they want as an employee? Address the value you bring to the company and job.
Interviewing. An interviewer, or even a person you just met at a networking event, is not typically interested in your whole life story. This person wants to know, "how can you help me/our company?" Not every answer you give will be along those lines, but try to remember that during the interview. You'll want to make sure that based on your answers, the interviewer has a good grasp of how you can help the firm.
As you answer questions during an interview, try to use one or two specific examples to demonstrate a personal quality or situation they've asked about. You don't need to include every detail. They're most interested in the task you had, the action you took and the result. And as you speak, try to leave space. Just as your résumé and cover letter should have some white space and reasonably sized margins, so too should your speech. Practice taking pauses at the end of a statement or idea as you prepare for an interview. It gives you a chance to think (and breathe!) and your interviewer a chance to process the information you've shared.
The key in all these aspects of the job search process is to practice. The more you search, the more you write and the more you talk to other professionals, the better you'll get at creating space and being brief. These are skills that extend beyond the job search and will help you tremendously at work as well. The best researchers know how to cull the right data; the best presenters know how to get to the point and pause during speeches; and the best communicators know how to convey a message clearly and concisely in fewer words. It's all in a day's work.
Marcelle Yeager is the president of Career Valet, which delivers personalized career navigation services. Her goal is to enable people to recognize skills and job possibilities they didn't know they had to make a career change or progress in their current career. She worked for more than 10 years as a strategic communications consultant, including four years overseas. Marcelle holds an MBA from the University of Maryland.
