Some recruiters are so pushed for time that they won’t even get to your resume. Some will scan your cover letter (or the text of the introductory email in which you include your resume) to see if you’re worthy of an interview. That’s why it’s important to make sure your cover letter is presenting you in the best possible way. Here are some tips:

Determine what the employer is looking for and meet that need. Read the job description carefully and address all the requirements of the job in your application. This is why it’s important to customize a cover letter for each job you’re applying for. If a job description says the ideal candidate will have experience in programming web pages, then it’s really not necessary, nor applicable, to mention your two years as a support pro.

Keep your cover letter short and to the point. It really is good that you have a world of experience over a number of years. But you know what it comes down to? The recruiter’s time and attention span. He or she is looking only to fill a need and the easier the information can be discerned, the better.

Don’t repeat the contents of your resume. Think of the cover letter/introductory email as a synopsis of your work history and a brief introduction to you as a person. Leave out the specifics of work dates and software versions.

Try to remain positive. It’s okay to briefly mention that you were downsized at your last company. But don’t get maudlin or negative about it: “After 24 years with this company I was unceremoniously let go.” It may be true, but the recruiter is not interested in being a therapist. A positive tone also indicates professionalism.

Write in clear and accessible terms. Again, time is of the essence for a recruiter. The easier it is for the recruiter to understand what you’re trying to say, the better your chances.

Write your cover letter, let it sit for a few hours, and then reread it. You’ll be surprised at what a fresh look will show you. If you have someone else who can read it as well, that is a good idea.

Proofread. I’ve heard from a lot of recruiters who say they will toss a cover letter and resume in the trash if there is a typo.

By Toni Bowers

I do not like to exercise for exercise’s sake. In fact, the only exercise I am likely to get would be in fleeing from someone who’s trying to get me to exercise. However, I don’t mind exercise if it goes hand in hand with a productive activity.

In other words, the only way I can exercise is if I’m accomplishing something else at the same time. For example, I don’t mind walking if I can cut the grass at the same time. I will use an exercise bike but only if I can read a book at the same time. It’s more a matter of a low threshold for boredom than it is laziness. (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.)

So imagine my happy surprise when I read Jason Hiner’s blog called, “Can desk treadmills save the health of knowledge workers?” Exercise while I work? Sign me up!

What attracts me most about this idea is not really the physical fitness but more of the mental boost it gives you. On the occasion when I do walk merely for exercise I find myself coming up with pretty good ideas about how to solve issues at work or at home. (But then I usually just go home and collapse into a wheezing ball of post-exercise resentment.)

So what could I achieve if I got to exercise and work? There’s been a lot of interest lately in what some scientists call the Default Mode Network of the brain. DMN activity is highest during passive activity like daydreaming. Some scientists believe that the degradation in the DMN is a potential marker of diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Autism.

Now the deal is that when a healthy brain is focused on a specific activity requiring focus (like much of the knowledge worker’s day-to-day activity), DMN diminishes rapidly.

A study was done wherein FMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) was used to investigate the effects of walking on the DMN in two groups of subjects. Taking benchmark tests at 6 months and 12 months, researchers found DMN connectivity significantly enhanced in a group of walkers as opposed to the control group, workers who just did toning and stretching exercises.

The walkers also exhibited increased connectivity in another area of brain circuitry called the Fronto-Executive Network (FEN) that is known to aid in the ability to perform complex tasks like planning, scheduling, and multi-tasking.

I thought this was pretty interesting and could make a good case for desk treadmills, at least until cost and liability issues gets them laughed out of the boardroom.

By Toni Bowers

I received an email from a TechRepublic member who is seeking advice about switching focuses in his IT career:

I have been working in Telecom as a software developer for six years now. At the beginning of my career I did work in embedded for about two years. Now I find my self wanting to switch back to embedded/device drivers. Is it advisable to make such a switch after quite a few years of experience in the IT industry? Would it in any way hamper my career with such a move?

In order to answer this question, I began by asking Justin James, who writes for our Programming and Development blog, his opinion.

He said, “Would I call it ‘advisable’? Not really. Unless your current specialty is on the decline, there is no need to make the switch. Unless you see otherwise, the pay rates are probably going to be the same. Up front y0u might have to take a pay cut due to lack of experience in the new field. In the long run, it may pay off to have a broader scope of experience, but that’s long-term thinking and it’s too hard to predict these things more than a year or two out. At the same time, other than having to start in a new industry and learn some new things, it may be worth a bit of a pay cut just to do something new and different. There should not be a substantial negative affect on his career other than the short term pay cut and the loss of seniority in your current job.”

Here’s my opinion: Six years may seem like a lot of time but in the grand scheme of things, it’s really not. Some people make complete career changes to other fields entirely with more time than that under their belts. My advice would be to go where your heart is. If you really think that working with embedded/device drivers is something that would be more fulfilling or that you would find more interesting, then that’s the way I would suggest you go. No one would deny the pleasure of a good salary, but if you earn it doing something you aren’t really invested in, then, believe me, it won’t make you happy.

The good news is that you have already had a taste of the specialty you want to move into. If you find it beckoning you again, then something tells me that’s where your heart and interests lie.

By Toni Bowers

When I was learning to drive, the duty of teaching me fell to my dad because, I suppose, he had actually been through a World War and was less likely to crumble under the stress.

For some reason, during one lesson, my older brother tagged along. At one point my dad told me to stop, and by stop he meant press gradually on the brake until the vehicle came to a standstill. But of course, I instead pushed abruptly on the brake which nearly sent us all spiraling through the windshield. In fact, it did cause my brother to slide forward dramatically until his lower legs were temporarily wedged under the seat in front of him. As he yelped dramatically, my dad told him to be quiet and leave me alone.

There were a couple of dynamics going on here. First, my brother was obviously not seriously injured, and my dad was thinking that mangled shins was scant payback for all the little sister noogies my brother had inflicted on me over the years.

Second, my dad knew that if I got upset or nervous at such a pivotal point in the learning process I might lose what little confidence I had and never get my driver’s license. I learned on that day how to brake properly but not because of all the exaggerated drama coming out of my brother but because my dad was calm and let me figure out what I did wrong on my own.

While I recognize that modern workplaces can be too hectic to take this kind of approach to employee training, I really think it is the best way to go. For an employee to truly develop professionally, she has to learn by her own mistakes. And a manager’s hysterical reaction to those mistakes isn’t going to do any good. All that does is make an employee avoid repeating a mistake because she wants to avoid her manager’s wrath. Isn’t it better for an employee to understand a mistake in terms of procedural problems it caused? Through mistakes people learn the answer to the questions “why?” and “why not?” If the answers to those questions are more meaningful than “because your manager wants it that way,” then the learning is internalized and sticks better.

Of course, you can’t afford to let employees make costly mistakes as part of the training process, but if you micromanage them every step of the way they won’t have the knowledge or the confidence to form opinions on their own or the confidence to carry through on them.

By Toni Bowers

We all know about the more common pet peeves recruiters have with resumes — poor grammar, misspellings — but here are a couple more that you may not have thought of. These came from a survey of technical recruiters and hiring managers on about.com.

• Writing the resume or cover letter in the third person. I have actually never even thought anyone would do this, but apparently it’s common enough to become a pet peeve. And it’s also kind of creepy.
• Using tiny fonts. A lot of people just can’t stand the thought of a one- or two-page resume, which is the recommended length, so they employ a microscopic font so they can still mention every technology they’ve ever laid a hand on. If a recruiter has to employ a magnifying glass to read your resume, you’re already losing points.
• Listing references but not professional ones. We know your brother-in-law thinks the world of you, but unless he’s Bill Gates, it really doesn’t carry a lot of weight for a recruiter.
• Attaching a resume with an obscure, significant-only-to-you name. Naming your resume named with the current date is not smart. Give it your name.
• Writing the resume using table formats (columns). Think in terms of what will be most accessible to the recruiter.
• Making the resume too long. Okay, this one isn’t new to readers of this blog, but I thought I’d mention that it came up in the survey just to reinforce my advice. I can’t say it any clearer–a recruiter only needs to see the skills you have that fit the job. He or she is not interested in the evolution of your technical development. You can mention that in the interview.

By Toni Bowers

A couple of weeks ago, I talked about a new app that is on the market that supposedly checks your emails for “tone” problems; that is, anything that might be taken wrong by the recipient. After that piece published, a TechRepublic member sent me the link to an old tongue-in-cheek app called Bullfighter. The website explains how it “works”:

The Bull Composite includes the Bull Index and the Flesch Reading Ease indices. The Bull Index counts the frequency and severity of jargon, while Flesch focuses on sentence length and syllable count. If you want to clean up your score quickly, look for the ‘High’ penalty bull terms when you run Bullfighter. Nasty words like “leverage” hurt your score far more than innocuous but overused words like “global.”

Oh, if only! But think about it: If this app were used, corporate communications would be severely affected. You’d start getting emails like this:

Hello staff,
…
Regards,
Joe Schmo, VP of Employee Relations

That got me thinking about new e-mail add-ons that would make our lives much easier. Here are some I would like to have:

Caps Lock Lock - Apparently there are a good number of people out there who find it physically exhausting to click the Shift key at the beginning of every new sentence. They circumvent this drudgery by pushing the Caps Lock key and then scream-typing their way through an email. The answer? Caps Lock Lock, an email application that short-circuits the Caps Lock key so that a mere touch sends an electric jolt up the length of the arm.

Reply All Stall – There is a time and place for the Reply All button, but I don’t think it was meant to be used as prodigiously as it is by some people. If there is an email announcing a promotion, I don’t need to get copied on 1,700 examples of congratulatory emails for that person. Shouldn’t that kind of thing be kept between the promoted person and the person doing the congratulating? The answer to this dilemma is Reply All Stall, an app that renders the Reply All button useless, unless the user can furnish two good reasons why he or she really needs to use it.

Text for Texters – Have you ever gotten an email that is so full of obscure text-y shortcuts that it actually has the opposite effect and slows your comprehension down (e.g., “4COL R U AAK?”)? If you’re sending an actual email, it is best not to populate it with texting shortcuts that make the recipient feel like he’s deciphering a vanity license plate.  That’s why we need the app Text for Texters that turns the standard qwerty keyboard into something more intuitive. Instead of the “u” key, the word “you” will be spelled out; “r” will become “are;” etc.  (I’m sorry, however, LOL and ROFLMAO won’t even be invited to the party.)

Cool Your Jets. Please explain to me the difference between these two questions:

What time is the meeting?

What time is the meeting?????

Is the second one meant to convey that you really want the answer as opposed to just being conversational? Regardless, the new Cool Your Jets app prevents anyone from using excessive punctuation in their email messages. No more multiple exclamation points unless, of course, you are in need of medical attention because you’ve used the Caps Lock key unadvisedly (see above).

By Toni Bowers

Here’s the content of an email I received recently:

What would you make of supervisor who goes to a amusement park with several subordinates, or who goes to lunch every day with them to the exclusion of other subordinates? Can such a person be trusted to reliably evaluate their performance? When does a manager stop being a manager and cross the line over to best buddy? Seems to me that going to an occasional lunch or happy hour with subordinates is a good thing, but at some point doesn’t too much of a good thing become an unprofessional thing?

Here’s the image that came unbidden to me after reading your email: A manager and two staffers walking in the office laughing, all windblown and carrying huge stuffed animals they won playing Whack-a-Mole, while one lone employee sits at his keyboard tirelessly tweaking code.

I know this is an extreme example, but I use it to illustrate what can happen when you’re dealing with something that is open to human interpretation. Not only do I see that manager subconsciously distancing himself, and vice versa, from the guy who didn’t go on the outing but I also can’t see that manager-even if he is infused with superhuman levels of objectivity-being able to later look one of the two employees who went on the outing in his cotton-candy-stained face and telling him he needs to step up to the plate or he’s going to be fired.

If the outing was a rare reward for a high-performing team but the one guy just didn’t want to go, then that might be fine. But if it happens all the time, in addition to the lunches, with the same people, then there’s a problem.

It’s difficult sometimes for a manager to separate from the team, especially if the manager was promoted from within the ranks. But you really have to distance yourselves to some extent or you’re opening yourself up to all kinds of risk. It’s part of the job.

For one, if you have lunch with the same employee or employees all the time, you’re bound to communicate with them on a different level. The more those employees are around you, the more they indirectly pick up on how you like to see things done, while the other guy may not have the slightest clue.

One guy I knew worked for someone who hired a friend and they continued their friendship after hours-having dinner with each others’ families, meeting for drinks after work. Every time a plum assignment came up, it was the manager’s friend who usually got the opportunity to take it on. The manager didn’t make the choice because of his friendship but because he knew the other guy so well that he knew he would ace the project. The problem with this is that other employees don’t get the chance to prove themselves.

Even if the “outside” employee is legitimately not doing well and you have to mention it to him, do you not think some part of him is going to blame your closeness with the others on your perception of him?
I would recommend a friendly closeness with all team members but you must draw a line.

By Toni Bowers

A lot of older workers are finding themselves in the job market again having gone through layoffs. There is a way to make potential employers aware of the advantages borne of your experience without dwelling on the number of years you’ve been at it.

Embrace professional social networking sites

I’ve cautioned a lot of people about the pitfalls of being too involved in social networking sites, but these days it’s almost essential that, as a job candidate, you have some kind of web presence. If you make it clear that you don’t go for all that “trendy” stuff, then a prospective employer is going to wonder how open you will be to any new technologies that come down the pike in your day-to-day work. I didn’t particularly like the social networking thing myself at first but I’ve grown fond of it. I just try not to post any sepia-toned photographs of myself slamming back beers with Abe Lincoln.

Choose your adjectives carefully

It’s unfortunate, but to some people looking at your cover letter, the word “seasoned” could imply “world-weary.” (I was going to say “overcooked” but that seemed a little gross.) “Seasoned” might indirectly imply that technology doesn’t excite you and most employers want enthusiasm (at least initially, until they beat it out of you). Instead use words like “versatile” and “adaptable.”

Limit your list of experience

I see a lot of resumes from people who feel the need to list every job they’ve ever had. (Not a good idea, and is precisely why I don’t list that summer internship with Henry Ford.) You might think that a long, varied list of experience shows you’re well-rounded, but really, it might imply an unconscious desire on your part to cling to the past. List only jobs going back about 15 years. Think about it: Technology changes so quickly that your intimate knowledge of the Sinclair ZX80 isn’t going to matter in today’s tech job market. State your most up-to-date skills and remove any mention of obsolete technology.

Get a gmail account

If you want to be thought of as cutting edge, you might want to lose that earthlink url.

Good luck!

Here are some other resume tips for older job seekers.

By Toni Bowers

In this blog, Erik Eckel discusses what the IT certification landscape looks like for 2010.

Back in December 2008, TechRepublic published its 10 Best IT Certifications list. The list generated quite a bit of discussion. Now that it’s time for revisiting that top 10 list and updating it to reflect changes within the economy and IT world, many readers will be checking to confirm if their favorites have slipped off the list or earned their way on.

Many may be disappointed. There’s no sign of NetWare. Sorry. It’s not there. Neither is ITIL. Nor is a Linux accreditation.

Why not? Well, for starters, it’s the 10 Best IT Certifications list, not the everyone’s-list-of-their-favorite-IT-certifications-list. Every accreditation can’t make inclusion. And, with changes in the economy and changes to major players’ certification tracks, there are significant changes to the list.

Further, I’ve clarified that the list is for consultants, support technicians and administrators and engineers servicing SMBs. It’s not fair to developers, programmers or global multinational administrators to try and lump their minority needs (there are, after all, only 500 Fortune 500 companies by definition) with the rest of the IT world’s.

What’s changed?

Quite a bit has changed in the last 18 months. Microsoft’s MCSA is gone (replaced by MCITP), as is the MCSE. Security+ is absent from the new list. The MCPD is missing as well (due to the audience refinement reasons described above). But so, too, is Linux+ missing.

What gives?

The new updated 2010 list is much more tightly focused to the largest contingent of IT professionals: those providing support, administration and management expertise to small and medium sized businesses. As I noted in the new list, I could have included sexy accreditations to make the list politically correct, more inclusive of fringe technologies, or simply more interesting, but I tapped my experience, education and real-world lessons to build the most authentic list I knew how to create. I’m just not seeing the demand for those skills removed from the list. Therefore, it’d be a disservice to readers to include such accreditations.

Microsoft’s technologies run the world. Market share bears that out. As a result, the Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) and Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) accreditations, when earned, possess the widest base of demand.

There’s no substitute for fundamentals, either. So instead of dismissing CompTIA’s Network+ and A+ accreditations, IT professionals should adopt these certs as default accreditations gracing their resumes. While these exams cover fundamentals, these fundamentals are so important to everything else that occurs within an IT environment that there can be no argument against them.

Next comes router, firewall and VPN accreditations. SonicWALL and Cisco own this space, as is evident to most every IT professional in the field every day. Support techs and network engineers need more than passing familiarity with these technologies, though. That’s why SonicWALL’s Certified SonicWALL Security Administrator and Cisco’s Cisco Certified Network Associate certifications earn a spot on the updated list. These are necessary skills IT pros can better demonstrate by earning accreditation.

Who’s responsible for bumping the developer and Linux certifications? Apple. Let the debate begin. But for my money, and the increasing frequency with which my consultancy is supporting Mac OS X (often in favor of Windows technologies), the Apple Certified Technical Coordinator (ACTC) and Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP) certifications help ensure technology professionals possess the Mac OS X server and workstation (respectively) skills clients are demanding. Understand, I don’t have a horse in this race; I simply adopt those technologies that seem to work best and that clients request most.

Rounding out the list are two safe bets: ISC2’s Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and PMI’s Project Management Professional (PMP) certifications. Despite organizations’ desire to run from security and project management tasks, the fact remains that businesses must address both topics. Adding these accreditations to a resume helps one demonstrate mastery of these subjects. While I don’t recommend concentrating one’s expertise only in security or project management, combining these skills with other support or administration skillsets creates a powerful combination hard to dismiss, even in a tight economy.

Which certifications make your top 10 list?

Certainly, there’s going to be some debate, hopefully civilized, as to which IT certifications really belong on the top 10 list. Which accreditations make your list? Post your comments, along with the reasons why you’d make adjustments, by joining the discussion below.

By Erik Eckel