cover letters suck

mocha beans

I've fried my brain writing these things.  I curse whoever invented them.That is all.  Any other gripes?

jaimebeth9

They do suck, but I just hired someone based partly on a really good cover letter, so they do matter.

mocha beans

Yeah, that's why I've fried my brain, I'm trying to make them really good.  And I'm terrible at selling myself.Any good tips?

ggmae

I hear ya. I have about 30 saved on my computer. They suck.

jaimebeth9

My only tip is the same one I give about thank you notes - you don't have to go crazy making them 100% different.  Yes, they should be tailored to the position...but Company A isn't going to compare your cover letter to Company B. 

Brie2010

They really do suck.I have written a bajillion of them.  My problem is, you can't really put, "Please please please hire me, I don't really have any relevant experience but I learn fast and am normal and smart" in a cover letter.

ggmae

The hardest part is removing some of the "I"s and "Me"s from the CLs.

mocha beans

Dude, I wish that worked.  I'm writing one for Hazelden, the one of the world's best treatment facilities.  I don't want to eff it up.

ggmae

I make sure to tell the organization/company what I can do for them - sure, working there would help me in achieving career goals, but they want to hear what you can do for them and how they can benefit from hiring you. Brie - I hear ya on the experience. It's hard when I have so little, but someone's got to bite sooner or later - right?

Brie2010

Let's hope so. In stranger job-search-related news, I saw a post on CL today advertising for a "legally blind retail manager."  Strange?  Or just me?

timmysgal1

personalize your cover letter and your resume.  not just your cover letter.  i am trying to hire a part timer to work for me, and the resumes i'm getting are so ridiculous!!!  they are clearly not personalized to the job i'm hiring for!

ggmae

Brie - That IS odd. Maybe they are trying to be more AA/EOE? Or, maybe it's just weird. I got a post card in the mail today from a job I applied for asking if I could fill in my sex and ethnicity, but then telling me that I wouldn't be judged on it and they just want to know if their efforts to be affirmative are successful. Yeah, okay!

dawnfromtexas

send me your cover letter. i'll critique it for you if you want. i used to do this for cash, charged by the hour. one time offer mimosa626 at yahoo

ggmae

Timmy - When I apply for, say an admissions counselor position at a college, I know that it may not matter that I was a summer camp counselor or mailroom clerk, but I put it on there because I don't have much work experience at all. I make sure to tailor the objective line to the job, but I put all of my work experience on there because if I didn't, I'd have 1/2 a page.

mocha beans

Thanks Dawn, I might have to take ya up on that.  I'm just starting this Hazelden one, so once I get something down I'll send it to you.  That would be awesome!

Audrey_03

Re: tailoring your resume to the position you're applying for.... I keep a document that is the "master resume" (about 14 pages) and then I just cut out the irrelevant parts when necessary to whittle it down to 2 or 3 pages depending on the need or position. Every time I do something new/different/worthy of note, I add it onto the master file so I don't have to reconstruct things or try to remember details the next time I need to put a resume together on short notice. As for cover letters... I hate them, too. I don't recall the last time I wrote one though, so I'm no help

ring_pop

Yesterday I looked through a whole bunch of applications and I'll admit I totally glossed over the ones that didn't have cover letters.

dawnfromtexas

omg Ring Pop you're back. How WAS it? Sorry I missed the thread.On resumes, mine are always one page. Always. In my biz if yours is longer it's like wtf does this kid think she is?

Brie2010

Yeah, I've never, ever, ever heard anyone recommend a resume longer than one page.Question for Dawn and the other hirer-people: FI and I have had a debate a few times re: white space on a resume.  I've always been taught that you want your resume to be full with as little "white space" as possible.  He thinks that looks overwhelming and prefers to keep his much simpler.  Thoughts?

Audrey_03

I guess mine are always long because I'm old. The norms as far as length might also vary by industry and level of experience. I've never had anyone (including head hunters) say anything negative though. *shrug* I'll just shut up about the resume stuff now.

ring_pop

I've always been taught that you want your resume to be full with as little "white space" as possible. He thinks that looks overwhelming and prefers to keep his much simpler. Thoughts?Anything to make the job of reading your resume easier on the recruiter is good. When I was scanning resumes yesterday, I found white space really helpful and I got really annoyed reading the ones that were just a huge block of text. (Think of The Knot, lol)  On my resume, I leave blank lines between each job and between each section.

Brie2010

Yeah, I mean I have blank lines between jobs and it's organized, but I guess it's more text-heavy than FI's.  I describe tasks I did in more detail than he does, etc.

ring_pop

Oh, in that case.. I think it's most important to describe yourself in sufficient detail. I wouldn't cut down just for the sake of simplicity.

mocha beans

My resume is kinda wordy too, but I wanted to get across all the responsibilities that I did well.

ring_pop

Whoops dawn, I started a new thread to respond to you but I see you're offline now... so I'm just posting here in case you check your posts later. I paged you above!

lpstl

I've done a lot of hiring, and never once looked at a coverpage. 99% of the time they're just BS and a waste of time to read. But, I hire for technical positions, it may be different if I was hiring editors or something.About the white space, I don't pay attention to it unless the resume is crazy ugly. It's more about meaningful content, I look for specifics and hate it when vague statements are made that sound like BS.

lpstl

cover letter.ok, now I suck.