Resume cover letters for the underemployed
 

Even as the unemployment rate is rising, the rate of underemployment is rising, too. Underemployment describes the group of people who are working part-time that would prefer to work full-time or who are working, but not in positions that pay as well as their chosen professions. For instance, there are the cases of the engineer who lost her job who is now working full-time at the local market or the computer programmer working construction.

One of the biggest problems that comes with being underemployed is explaining the gaps in regular employment on your r�sum�. We are often told by job coaches, advice columns, books and articles that gaps in r�sum�s are bad. Stay at home moms returning to the workforce are advised to creatively explain the time away and those who can't find jobs are told to volunteer to avoid those breaks in employment. But what about people who are working, but not in their usual or preferred fields?

This is where the power of the cover letter comes in. Your cover letter is how you introduce yourself to the person who is either going to be responsible for hiring you or pass your r�sum� on to the person who will. You need to convince them that although you have settled for less in the past, you are capable of so much more and you are no longer willing to settle. If you can sell them on that premise, they will move on to your resume, and if it meets their criteria they will likely offer you an interview.

Your cover letter has to be perfect, no grammatical or spelling errors and it has to look professional. It should be sent to the individual who is making the decision as to whether you get the job or not - and if you don't know who that is, you should make every effort to find out. If after researching and phoning you still don't know, make sure your writing is polite and professional.

Your cover letter should be aesthetically pleasing, too, on nice, plain, paper with a readable font. You can use bullet points, but leave off the fancy arrows and pointing fingers. This is a sales letter with you as the product, and, as such, it needs to have a power headline and compelling content. Your cover letter is your ticket to an interview and you don't want it to be cluttered with distractions that obfuscate what should be the focus; you want all eyes on you.

Being underemployed is nothing to be ashamed of, but it isn't the way you want to spend your working life. To get back into the field where you believe you belong, you will need to convince others you belong there, too. Your cover letter is how potential employers meet you and hear your voice, make sure you are telling them you want to work for them.

Don't approach cover letters or resumes with the "near enough is good enough" attitude. If you can't manage these documents yourself - get professional help - it doesn't need to be expensive.