Telecommuting Cover Letters

Question: How do I market myself online?

Answer: With a stellar cover letter and resume.

Okay, so let's get into the meat of this. You know that you need to market yourself, and you can do that with a stellar cover letter and resume. But, why is that so important? Let's think about this. When you apply offline for a job, you are competing with a handful of people (usually) and right there you have a better chance to get called in for an interview. Online jobs you are often competing with hundreds, if not thousands, of other applicants for the very same position.

In the "real world" you apply in person. Therefore, you can dress for success and put your best foot forward. You can impress them with your presence and personality. Online you can't. What's your "best foot forward" online?

That would be your cover letter and resume ? how you present yourself on paper. Your cover letter and resume have to show your skills and your personality; it has to be your presence.

How do you put your best foot forward with your cover letter and resume? A telecommuting employer (one who hires work at home employees) is looking for different things on cover letters and resumes then those offline. Let's talk about cover letters first. If you're not sending a cover letter with your resume then this might be one of the reasons you're not getting hired. The cover letter is your VERY first impression. Take the time to show you're very serious about the job they have open. See if you can find who the head of HR is, and address it to that person. Tailor your cover letter to that specific position.

This is optional, but I always put where I found the position (for example, "The position I'm applying for is Customer Service, which I found at XYZ.com"). I always did that even with offline jobs, but it's not necessary. I think some employers just like to know where you heard about their job. This is especially helpful online because jobs get passed around and around online. It could have started out on a certain website and then ended up on hundreds of others.

Make sure you pay attention to the job ad. Does it say you need DSL? Does it say you will be working with certain software? Whatever the requirements, if you meet them, put that down on the cover letter. The employer will scan over your cover letter, and you want what's on yours to stand out and grab their eye. If you have what they need, you're going to grab their attention ? and that's what you want!

Overall, you want to pay attention to detail, outline why you're the best person for the job (without going on too long about how great you are), and point out that you have what is required for the job.

Nell Taliercio is the owner of a leading work at home mom resource website packed full of unique information for the telecommuter, business owner and virtual assistant.

Visit http://www.mommysplace.net today!

In The News:

Yahoo! News: Top Stories

President-elect Barack Obama listens to a question at a news conference in Chicago, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2008. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)AP - Democrats are growing impatient with President-elect Barack Obama's refusal to inject himself in the major economic crises confronting the country. Obama has sidestepped some policy questions by saying there is only one president at a time. But the dodge is wearing thin. "He's going to have to be more assertive than he's been," House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., told consumer advocates Thursday.



Indian paramilitary soldiers stand guard during heightened security checks at Chennai International airport in Chennai, India, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008. Indian airports were put on high alert after the government received warnings of possible airborne attacks. (AP Photo)AP - A Pakistani militant group apparently used an Indian operative as far back as 2007 to scout targets for the elaborate plot against India's financial capital, authorities said Thursday, a blow to Indian officials who have blamed the deadly attacks entirely on Pakistani extremists.



Auto executives, from left, General Motors Chief Executive Officer Richard Wagoner, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger,  Ford Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally, and Chrysler Chief Executive Officer Robert Nardelli testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008, before a Senate Banking Committee hearing on the auto industry bailout.  (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)AP - Desperate U.S. automakers ran into fresh obstacles from skeptical lawmakers Thursday as they appealed with rising urgency — and a new dose of humility — for a $34 billion bailout. Without help, said one senator, "we're looking at a death sentence."



In this March 31, 2004 file photo, the entrance to the Blackwater Security Consulting Firearms Training Center is seen in Moyock, N.C. Blackwater Worldwide guards involved in the deadly 2007 Baghdad shooting of Iraqi civilians could face mandatory 30-year prison sentences under an aggressive anti-drug law being considered as the Justice Department readies indictments, people close to the case said Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008.  (AP Photo/Yoon S. Byun, File)AP - Blackwater Worldwide guards involved in the deadly 2007 Baghdad shooting of Iraqi civilians could face mandatory 30-year prison sentences under an aggressive anti-drug law being considered as the Justice Department readies indictments, people close to the case said.



In this Monday, Dec. 1, 2008 fiel photo Secretary of State-designate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., speaks during a news conference with President-elect Barack Obama, not pictured, in Chicago. With just over six weeks to go before Obama is sworn in as president, Clinton is scrambling to pay down some $7 million in campaign debt before federal ethics rules prohibit her from taking contributions to do so. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)AP - With just weeks before President-elect Barack Obama is sworn in, his choice for secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton, is scrambling to reduce massive campaign debt before federal ethics rules prohibit her from doing so.



AP - A romantic marriage proposal on the Oregon coast turned deadly for the bride-to-be when a wave swept her out to sea. Scott Napper had taken 22-year-old Leafil Alforque to Proposal Rock near Neskowin Beach to pop the question at a place that got its name from couples ready to marry. Napper and Alforque had been dating since they met on the Internet in 2005.

AP - When you're smiling, the whole world really does smile with you. A paper being published Friday in a British medical journal concludes that happiness is contagious — and that people pass on their good cheer even to total strangers. American researchers who tracked more than 4,700 people in Framingham, Mass., as part of a 20-year heart study also found the transferred happiness is good for up to a year.

In this April 19, 2007 file photo, Erik Estrada poses on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles.  (AP Photo/Nick Ut, file)AP - Erik Estrada has returned to Muncie to take part in overnight police patrols in the city where he starred in the short-lived reality series "Armed & Famous." The former star of the 1970s motorcycle cop drama "CHiPs" is a reserve officer on the Muncie Police Department.



AP - A Vero Beach man faces a domestic violence charge after authorities said he assaulted his girlfriend with a cheeseburger. An Indian River County Sheriff's Office arrest report said a 22-year-old man and his girlfriend got into an argument as they sat in a car in front of their home.

New York Giants' Plaxico Burress, right, arrives at Manhattan Supreme Court for arraignment with an unidentified man Monday, Dec. 1, 2008, in New York. Burress accidentally shot himself at a Manhattan nightclub Friday evening and was treated at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. He was released Saturday. (AP Photo/David Karp)AP - Antonio Pierce and the doctor who treated his New York Giants teammate Plaxico Burress after he accidentally shot himself at a Manhattan nightclub will talk to investigators Friday.



Automobile leaders testify during the Senate Banking Committee hearing on the financial assistance package for the big Detroit automakers on Capitol Hill, December 4, 2008. (Larry Downing/Reuters)Reuters - The CEOs of General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC said they would consider restarting talks about a merger during a nearly six-hour congressional grilling on the industry's pleas for $34 billion in government aid.



The AT and T logo in an undated photo. AT and T said on Thursday it would eliminate 12,000 jobs, about 4 percent of its workforce, as it joins a raft of corporations trying to slash costs in the face of the economic downturn. (Handout/Reuters)Reuters - Top U.S. phone company AT&T Inc said it will eliminate 12,000 jobs, or about 4 percent of its workforce, in a fresh wave of cuts to cope with an economic downturn that has exacerbated a decline in traditional phone sales.



European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet (L) and Belgium's National Bank Governor Guy Quaden arrive for a news conference at the end of an ECB Governors Council meeting in Brussels, December 4, 2008. (Eric Vidal/Reuters)Reuters - Central banks in Europe slashed their benchmark interest rates by record amounts on Thursday to fight the global economic crisis, while U.S. automakers pleaded for a bailout to avoid collapse.



Two members of the Indian security force (R), one armed and one unarmed, take cover behind a wall and return fire at gunmen (top) at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai November 26, 2008. (ANI via REUTERS TV/Reuters)Reuters - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday Pakistan had given assurances of its commitment to root out terrorism and round up anyone connected to last week's attack in the Indian city of Mumbai.



U.S. soldiers of 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division stands guard outside a mosque in the Hurriya district northwest of Baghdad December 3, 2008. (Erik de Castro/Reuters)Reuters - Iraq's Presidency Council has approved a security pact with the United States that paves the way for a complete U.S. troop pullout by the end of 2011, a spokesman for the council said on Thursday.



A shopkeeper is seen at an electronics shop in Moscow during Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's annual question-and-answer session with the Russian people, December 4, 2008. (Denis Sinyakov/Reuters)Reuters - The United States will quickly feel a change in attitude from Moscow if President-elect Barack Obama transforms Washington's policies toward Russia, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.



Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej attends the annual Trooping of the Colour, an annual military parade, in Bangkok's Royal Plaza, December 2, 2008. (Adrees Latif/Reuters)Reuters - Thailand's revered and influential king missed his traditional birthday eve address due to illness on Thursday, a speech many Thais had hoped would provide short-term relief to the country's intractable political crisis.



A still from a 2002 advertising campaign launched by the U.S. government to persuade Muslims around the world that U.S. Muslims are free to live and worship as they wish. (Handout/Reuters)Reuters - Hate crimes against Arab Americans have decreased steadily since the September 11 attacks but are still more common than they were before the hijackings, a civil rights group said on Thursday.



European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet gives a press conference after a meeting of ECB governors in Brussels. Leading European central banks took historic action Thursday to ward off spreading recessions, slashing their key lending rates to boost businesses and consumers.(AFP/BELGA/Dirk Waem)AFP - Leading European central banks took historic action Thursday to ward off spreading recessions, slashing their key lending rates to boost businesses and consumers.



A map locating the western Iraqi city of Fallujah. Car bombers killed at least 15 people in a former rebel bastion on Thursday as Iraq's security pact with Washington won final approval before its launch at the end of the month.(AFP/Graphic)AFP - Car bombers killed at least 15 people in a former rebel bastion on Thursday as Iraq's security pact with Washington won final approval before its launch at the end of the month.




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