re: Finding Your First "Real" Job

The best way to get a job is through networking. While its a good idea to keep your eye on job openings (sites like simplyhired.com and indeed.com are better to use), but go to the chamber of commerce website and look at all the businesses that are in the industry you are looking for work in and send them your resume even if they do not have a job opening. Tell them in the email you are searching for a job and although you didn't see any job openings, you would appreciate being considered in the future, if they do have job openings (word it better than I did).

Having worked in recruiting at an engineering firm, from my experience you do not really need a cover letter. Managers will look at your resume to see if you have qualifications they are looking for. They don't have the time to read a cover letter filled with bull shite. Ive seen managers rip off cover letters, throw them away and just look at the resume. A simplistic resume (in terms of how it looks) is better than trying to make your resume look different. Also, if you have an "objective" at the beginning of your resume, you don't need that either. Just list everything possible.

While some people will say you need an objective, managers see a lot of resumes which means they see a lot of the same bullshite as to why people are applying for the job, etc, etc.