The art of building and maintaining a successful career, no matter the field, requires skills, determination and the ability to stay on top of all things at all times. Because any successful career will span many years, the fact that a changing business landscape will continuously play a role in your strategies and decisions is a given and this necessarily requires all successful people in business to stay ahead of the curve at all times.

You’re not alone in your quest for business success and keeping up with the variables that affect your business is as simple as staying involved in the industry; enter these five career building conferences:

Search Engine Strategies San Francisco

No matter what area of business you work in, the growing force of the internet is almost certainly a big factor in your success. Whether you’ve yet to get your business online or you depend solely on internet traffic for your income, the Search Engine Strategies conference to be held this summer in San Francisco is an excellent place to get up-to-date on the latest trends, practices and inspiring success stories to be shared by those who understand how to make the most out of search engine optimization! Besides offering an atmosphere that encourages close networking with your peers and potential customers, SES will help you to tackle the promise held by search engine traffic head on, taking your business to the next level once put into practice.

When & Where: California’s city by the bay, San Francisco, is the home of this year’s SES conference from August 13-17, 2012. Feel free to bookmark your hotel using SanFranciscoHotels.net.

Lean Startup Machine Santiago

Promising to teach business-minded entrepreneurs more in three days than most career-oriented professionals learn in six months, the Lean Startup Machine conference combines workshops, lectures and discussion panels to give business professionals of all types the tools they need to take their unique ideas to the next level. Whether you’ve got an idea for a personal launch or you’re ready to present your product idea to your board of directors, this event promises to help you to better realize your potential through planning and innovation, helping your next big idea to be one that catches on!

When & Where: Need an excuse to visit beautiful Santiago, Chile? The Lean Startup Machine event takes place from July 20-22, 2012.

An Event Apart Austin

No matter what area of business you put your hand to, a deeper understanding of the web, how it works and what drives it can only increase your value and abilities as a person in business and no event offers a better crash course on web design and development than An Event Apart, to be held from July 9-11, 2012 in Austin, Texas. A two day conference featuring speakers and presenters will be followed by an intensive workshop on the third day in an effort to see all attendees leave with a better idea of what the web can do for them and how exactly they can take advantage of it!

When & Where: An Event Apart will take place in sunny Austin, Texas from July 9-11, 2012.

Business Travel Show

This London, United Kingdom-based career building conference focuses on the travel industry, offering insight into the potential income to be found for everyone from airline CEOs to startup travel agents. Free to attend and presenting a unique opportunity for established travel professionals and new-to-the-game agents alike, the Business Travel Show promises a look at a wide array of products and services while ensuring some of the best networking opportunities in the industry!

When & Where: London, England is the home of the 2012 Business Travel Show, to be held from February 5-6, 2013.

World Business Forum 2012

Coming this October to New York City is the world-renowned World Business Forum conference, a bringing together of business leaders of all shapes and sizes in order to discuss how to make better businesses by being better people, all in an effort to shape a better world. The focus here is on discussion and debate, allowing creative and out-of-the-box ideas to form and take shape right before your eyes as people from all different walks of professional life come together to offer their insight on modern challenges, allowing all to leave with a renewed sense of what it is to be a smart, responsible, career-focused person in our complicated modern business landscape.

When & Where: The World Business Forum 2012 conference is set for October 2-3, 2012 in New York City. Arrange your lodging using this list of hotels in NYC.

There’s no denying it. If you are out of work, it can be very difficult to find another one. You are probably already upset at the loss of income and security, and you’ve read each day that unemployment figures are not promising. It’s more important than ever to present yourself to a prospective employer in the best light possible. That starts with the first thing any Human Resource Department or position supervisor reads—the cover letter preceding your resume.

Writing a killer cover letter is far easier than most people think. Some general principles apply, regardless of your occupation speciality or the industry. Within those, additional specifics can further spotlight your background, experience, and potential worth to the company.

Generalities

Common sense rules many of the generally applied principles.

Spelling

While many word processing programs provide a built-in dictionary, it is not complete or comprehensive. It also cannot tell whether you mean ‘two,’ ‘to,’ or ‘too.’ Each word is correctly spelled, but each means something entirely different. With most word processors, the document dictionary will accept any of the three options and not flag a misspelling. However, a human reading it will notice that you used the wrong word. You don’t need to know how to spell every word in the English language, but the words you do use should be the right ones and spelled correctly.

Punctuation

A nemesis for many, poorly punctuated cover letters and even resumes can transform your documents from killer to killed. Make sure you use contractions properly, note commas where appropriate and never use exclamation points. You are presenting fact in your cover letter that draw the reader’s attention—not selling a how-to e-book. Convince the reader to continue reading through to your resume by presenting a calm, factual letter.

Highlight

No, this doesn’t mean taking a marker and over-stroking letter content. If you have a special skill or an accomplishment that 1) applies directly to the position for which you are applying, and 2) is unique or beyond normal standards in the field, definitely mention it specifically. An example might read, “As you will see on my attached resume, I redesigned the computer file retrieval system at XYZ Corporation. Users no longer had to search for electronically stored documents by title name but now can by subject or creation date as well, minimizing wasted time and effort.”

Make sure that your experience, duties and accomplishments at XYZ Corporation are clearly noted on your resume.

Direct Address Name

Never open a cover letter with the salutation “To Whom It May Concern.”

If you were reading that opening, and you were pressed for time because you have 100 identical document sets to read, how much attention would you pay to a cover letter and resume sent to no one? The reader could easily think that he or she certainly isn’t ‘concerned’ and toss your information into the trash bin. If a contact name is noted in the job ad, address the cover letter directly to that person. If it lists just a department, make one telephone call and ask the name of the person in charge of that department. Address the envelope to the person. On the next line, note the department name. On the next, the company name and finally the address. On the cover letter, pay the person respect by writing “Dear Mrs. Brown” or appropriate address.

That touch of personalisation immediately tells the reader that you pay attention and that you went a few steps beyond what the ‘Concerned’ users did. That just put your information on the top of the Look Closer pile.

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Failing to address properly

One of the biggest mistakes while making a motivational letter is that candidates do not address the hiring authorities properly. They start the letter by writing “Dear Sir” which doesn’t cut it for them. A candidate should try to find out the name of the authority that is going to receive the CV and hire the individual. Candidate can do this by contacting the company and ask them the name of the hiring authority.

Trying to be humorous

Most of the candidates try to show that they are over smart by showing wittiness in cover letter. Trying to be a little humorous as they think that the hiring manager or authority will like it, this is not so. This act is discouraged by the hiring authorities and they think the candidate does not take the job seriously. A motivational letter should be a serious one like a business letter.

Rephrasing the resume

Most of the people have a misconception about the motivational letters, they write the same details which they have already mentioned in the CV. This gives a feeling that they have rephrased the resume again and the hiring authorities consider it a foolish act. A cover letter should elaborate on your resume while explaining the skill set you’ll be brining to the table related to the new company.

Making it too short or too long

Candidates make a motivational letter too short or too long which goes against them. Too short cover letters are considered to be just fulfilling the formality whereas the motivational letters which are too long give an impression as if they are a preface of a novel, hiring managers do not even read it properly. The length and the content of the cover letter both should be appropriate.

Using same cover letter of every job

The job seekers who apply for a lot of jobs daily attach the same cover letter. Most of the generic cover letters do not speak about the job and they do not touch the corners of the organization. That gives the hiring authority an impression that you are not interested in this job and that is only a generic cover letter.