The Shimmering Careers Blog

For special situations, such as gaps in your career or frequent moves from one job to another, your resume and cover letter have to work overtime. You have to handle your resume in the right way, and you have to make especially good use of your cover letter. If you do that, you’ll keep your application in the running, and that’s your goal: Just get one step further down the road to an offer. Employment History Gaps There are gaps—and there are gaps. Not every period of unempl

Consider a Hybrid Most resumes follow a reverse-chronological format. This is a great way to showcase steady experience in the same field. For people reentering the workforce or changing fields, this structure may not be perfect. An alternative is a functional resume that highlights skills and achievements first. However, there’s a problem with the functional resume that you need to understand: Rightly or wrongly, some hiring managers view it with suspicion. They like the id

Do cover letters really matter? It’s a common refrain from job seekers nowadays. One small-business owner has this to say: “As the owner-manager of a small professional firm, I always read cover letters before reviewing the accompanying resume. “If I liked the cover letter, I’d look to the resume to confirm the skills and experience we were looking for.” The takeaway for applicants is that there’s no reason not to write a cover letter and there’s every reason to make it as go