Tag Archives: The New Rules of Work
All About Alexandra Cavoulacos of The Muse
The lead author of the book that I will present on June 2 at the First Friday Book Synopsis is a very interesting and renowned professional woman. Here is her biography, as taken from Amazon.com:
Alexandra Cavoulacos is the co-author of The New Rules of Work: The
Modern Playbook for Navigating Your Career (Crown Business, 2017) and co-founder & COO of The Muse, a career platform used by 50+ million people every year to find a job, learn professional skills or advance in their careers, and by hundreds of companies looking to hire or grow their employer brand. At The Muse, Alexandra focuses on the product, engineering and operations of the fast-growing business. She spends a lot of her time on hiring, people development and management, growing employees in their careers to hit their full potential. Alexandra has been named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Media, Inc’s 15 Women to Watch in Tech, Business Insider’s 30 Most Important Women Under 30 in Tech, and was recognized as a SmartCEO 2016 Brava Award winner. Alexandra is a frequent speaker on topics like entrepreneurship, productivity, and women intechnology, having spoken on WNYC and at SxSW, Work & Co, Luminary Labs, and more. Before founding The Muse to help people answer the question, “What do I want to do with my life (and how do I get there?),” Alexandra worked at the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, primarily focused on growth strategy for Fortune 500 companies. She also spent time in McKinsey’s professional development practice and was active in their campus recruiting, helping attract, identify and develop great talent. Alexandra is an active member of the NYC and SF tech communities, and a champion for women in tech. Alexandra dedicates time each month to paying it forward, mentoring up-and-coming leaders, especially first time founders, women and non-technical founders. A self-taught coder herself, Alexandra was an inaugural advisor for Hackbright Academy, the leading software engineering school for women. Originally from Paris, France, Alexandra now lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband Anthony. Alexandra holds a BA from Yale University and is a Y Combinator alum.
New Rules of Work about Cover Letters and Resumes
On Friday at the Park City Club in Dallas, I will present a synopsis of this best-seller by Alexandra Cavoulacos and Kathryn Minshew: The new rules of work: The modern playbook for navigating your career. New York: Crown Books (2017).
You can register for this event on the home page of 15MinuteBusinessBooks.com.
One of the issues the authors discuss is whether job seekers still need resumes and cover letters, given the amount of information available about them on social media sites, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter.
Here is what they say:
“Believe us, we’ve heard that question many times before. But heed our advice when we say that nothing replaces your formal resume and cover letter. Not your LinkedIn profile. Not your impressive personal website. Not your articulate expression of your skills and talents in your informational interview, or your well-written email to the hiring managers. These are all important, of course. However, you absolutely still need to have a polished resume and cover letter prepared. Because all those extra trappings won’t matter if you don’t have the right packaging to catch the eye of your target audience – the hiring managers” (p. 125).
They publish a list of resume and cover letter do’s and don’ts (pp. 149-150)
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Resume |
Cover Letter |
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Do’s
· Tailor your information · Include quantifiable achievements · Show, don’t tell · Make contact information easy to find · Stick to one page – two at most · Check for skimmability · Include key words from job description · Use powerful and unique verbs · Proofread · Save as a PDF |
Do’s
· Share your personality · Tell a relevant story about what brought you to the job · Expand on your resume · Highlight key transferable skills · Use the company’s “voice” · Address the letter to someone specific |
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Don’ts
· Make bullets read like job descriptions · Include confidential information about a previous employer · List “references available upon request” · Neglect application instructions · Squish it all to one page – six point font · Lie |
Don’ts
· Fail to write one · Regurgitate your resume · Use stiff, formal language · Address to “whom it may concern” · Include a desired salary – unless asked |
