The Christmas tree has been taken down and you’ve finally gotten over the New Year’s Eve party hangover and you’ve made some New Year Resolutions that you’re determined to keep this year.

A new or better job is amongst the top 10 of New Year’s resolutions that are set every year. If this is also your New Year’s Resolution, then it’s time to get your planning cap on. An effective New Year’s Resolution needs a solid plan to help you work towards achieving a new job.

Planning documents such as your resume, cover letter, your referees, and the industries you wish to work in or organisations to work for, definitely is a good start.

For a plan to be successful it needs to have a set goal that you are working towards with indicators such as time frames, dates, or activities.

Having a plan that you can mark off items once completed provides the feeling of achievement that many of us like. To turn your plan into a list, simply list tasks in order of what is necessary to be done, with a review or reward point to assist in keeping you motivated.

You may like to reward yourself on completion of your resume, cover letter, an interview, and obviously, a new job.

The reward can be simple as a coffee and biscuit. The main aim is to set a reward, that you will enjoy and will motivate you to work towards achieving it.

Today we will focus the plan for your Resume, Cover Letter and Selection Criteria, as these are the pivotal documents in being selected for an interview.

Your Resume

Some of you may already have a resume that has been effective in the past, if so go and sift through your files to find it; bring it up to date with your latest particulars regarding employment, experience, education, and qualifications.

Some of you may never had the need for a resume or if your former one has not been so effective, there are templates on the web for free or there is an excellent resume template that’s included in our ebook. Choose a resume template and start entering in your information!

Your Cover Letter

A brief introduction that is only one page long is all that is required for a cover letter. Be aware that certain companies don’t request them, with a majority of online application methods also don’t want them. So make sure you check if one is needed for the position before you start to write it.

Your Selection Criteria

Writing and responding to selection criteria can be the biggest hurdle of applying for a job. Being able to write selection criteria has been defined as a skill in its own right. This explains why numerous professional resume writers can make a fruitful living from writing resumes, selection criteria or position applications for job seekers.

Resume Rescue has a step by step process that walks you through it in our ebook, plus over 50 different examples of selection criteria answers to give you direction and guidance on how to write and respond to them.

Example of a Checklist

• Locate a resume template to use.
• Locate your certificates, licenses, decide on who will be your referees, etc.
• Fill in your information into the resume template.
• Investigate if a cover letter is compulsory for the position’s application process.
• Locate a cover letter template or write your own.
• Adjust the cover letter to the position you are applying for.
• Investigate if selection criteria responses are compulsory for the position’s application process.
• If so, work on these as best you can, as the better you can write the selection criteria responses the better your chances are of gaining an interview.
• Have someone else read it for you, checking it for spelling and grammar errors.
• Resume and Cover letter finished – Time to reward yourself!

It is possible to obtain your dream job; you just need to know how to plan and how to use the tools that are available to you.

The better you plan your resumes, cover letters and selection criteria, the better they will be, and the better chance you have in obtaining an interview for your dream job. Meaning you could be successful in sticking to your News Year’s Resolution and can then focus on one of the others on your resolution list.