Preliminary Elimination Because of Resume and Cover Letters
The purpose of a resume and cover letter is to get an interview. You should assume that there are between 50 and 1,000 applicants for the position you want.
Recognize that a person is probably not looking at your resume. Your first goal is to have AI view your resume favorably enough to have it on the list of resume's that a person actually evaluates. The job description typically has a list of qualified and desired qualities. Make sure that most of those words and attributes are in your resume.
We are engineers. We should be logical, organized, detail oriented and technologically sound. Just looking at a resume, one can tell if these are qualities that some has. Recognize that the person may be looking at 20-30 resumes and is rushed. Most people look for reasons to eliminate rather than to invite for an interview. Don't be eliminated by format, mispellings or inconsistencies.
Be consistent in format, bolding, alignment, font size, etc.
Do a spell check for mispellings
Do not go over 1 page.
Getting an interview
Once your resume is not eliminated, imagine that you were the hiring manager, what qualities would you want to hire. These are the things that you should try to highlight. Try to make the reader see what you can offer to the company on your resume and cover letter.
Best qualities go first. This is either education or work experience.
Success creates a belief of future success. State succinctly your accomplishments. Do not diminish your accomplishments. It is not bragging. It is stating facts.
Interview
Expect some difficult questions, like name a time you failed or a group did not function well. The answers cannot be failures. They have to be here is when the issue became bad and the problem no longer exists or was overcome through the interviewee's skills and tools.
Try to turn the interview into a converation. Ask questions. The salary, vacation days, benefits questions, cannot be the first or last question asked. The questions you ask should indicate a desire to do effective work at the company. What does a typical day look like for someone in this position? What have people in this position done to excel? How collegial is the environment? If I were to get an offer, what advice would you give me?
Recieving an Offer
Congratulations, you got an offer. If you were the manager, would you want an employee that takes the first offer? Most people do not want the type of employee, the employee is just content with anything.
You should negotiate something. If you negotiate too much, you be labeled as difficult and even lose the offer. It is a delicate balance. The easiest things to negotiate are additional moving expenses, a signing bonus or small salary increase. Present facts with your argument. Using information like the national average starting salary or Utah's cost of living index may provide some basis for your request.