Daily Career Connection

Article by Natalie Joan

I’ve seen this debated quite a lot recently in online forums. The simple answer, in my opinion, is simply YES.

First of all, a cover letter is a much more personal document than a resumé. It not only shows off your writing style, but it is a chance for you to mention details or anecdotes that simply don’t fit within a formal resumé structure. Don’t lose this opportunity to further sell yourself to an employer by leaving the cover letter off.

The cover letter is also your chance to demonstrate what you know about your potential employer, and how you will fit into their organization. You are using your resumé to show your professional experiences and how you contributed to the success of past employers. In your cover letter you take this further, and say “look at what I have already accomplished - I can do all this and more for you.”

Critics argue that letters are long and dull, and quote top recruiters who say they don’t read them at all, to make their point that a cover letter is a waste of your time. In truth, your cover letter may not be read. There’s nothing you can do about it. But do you really want to be the one applicant in twenty who didn’t write one?

When screening candidates I often skip right to the resumé on first glance, taking time to read the cover letter only when I have seen that the candidate meets minimum qualifications. But I do look for it. I’ve received resumés without cover letters before, and my assumption has always been (right or wrong) that the person couldn’t bother take the time to learn enough about the job and organization and write one. No one wants to hire that person.

What are your thoughts? Do you include a cover letter? Hiring managers: do you read them?

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

Kevin Donlin http://www.collegerecruiter.com/guaranteed-resumes.php

It’s strange but true: You can’t get hired by an employment web site. Or an HR department.

You can’t get hired by a business, a non-profit agency, or a government, for that matter.

Rather, you can only get hired by another person.

This is what every successful job search boils down to — people connecting with and hiring other people.

You can put the odds in your favor, and shorten your job search, simply by meeting more hiring authorities in the flesh.

But you have to do it right. You must dress and act the part you want to play as an employee, if you want to impress an employer enough to hire you.

That’s the advice one man gave his wife that helped her win a job at a local college.

“She was going to mail her resume to apply for the position, but I told her that it was so close by, why not hand-deliver it instead?” said Daniel Dallaire, a financial services manager from Kamloops, British Columbia.

“That way she could check out the place where she might be working at the
same time.”

Problem: As his wife was heading out the door, Dallaire noticed she was dressed in sweatpants and a T-shirt. Solution? “I told her to change clothes and look professional before delivering her resume.”

Good thing. She ran into the hiring manager at the office, and her presence — her professional appearance and clothing — had a positive influence on the decision to hire her later, according to Dallaire.

All kinds of good things can happen when you visit an employer in person.

Example: Several years ago, I wrote about Eugene, a software developer from
Savage, Minn., who hand-delivered a portfolio of material to an employer after submitting his resume earlier.

As he was leaving, Eugene met several employees in the lobby. One question led to another, and he ended up interviewing them about ways to improve
their work. Eugene submitted a white paper of possible solutions to the employer, based on his unique research — and was hired only weeks later.

All because he decided to visit the employer in person.

According to Minneapolis-based recruiter Larry Harris, you should always try to drop off your resume rather than email or mail it.

When you learn of an opening for a job, call and ask for the hiring manager. Tell why you are calling, explain why you are perfect for the job and ask for a meeting. Then expect them to refuse — they’ll likely ask you
to email your resume instead.

Here’s where you turn opposition into opportunity.

According to Harris, an excellent response is this: “I could send you my resume, but I’m going to be near your office tomorrow around 11:00. If you don’t mind, I’d like to stop by and drop it off. If you’re available, I can
introduce myself and hand you my resume. If you’re not in, I’ll just leave it with the receptionist. Would that be OK?”

This tactic is non-threatening — the hiring manager can always duck into a closet when you show up — yet it shows you don’t shrink from rejection.

And it can lead to more in-person interviews than you’ll likely get hiding behind the anonymity of email.

If you’ve been surfing the Web and furiously sending out resumes by email, how’s that working for you? How many job interviews has the Internet produced by itself? If you’re happy with your results, great.

If not, try this experiment: Make a plan to meet five employers in the next five days, by hand-delivering your resume and a customized, well-researched cover letter to their office.

The worst they can say when you call to ask for a meeting is no. No problem — just email your resume as you would have done anyway.

But if just two employers agree to let you drop off your resume, you’ve just secured two job interviews! Because, whether they say so or not, any in-person meeting with any employer is a job interview. You will be judged
by your appearance, the questions you ask, and the knowledge (or ignorance)you display, just as in a formal interview.

So arrange your “resume drop-off” meetings this week and prepare accordingly. Then, go out and make your own luck.

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

Most job-searchers know that a good CV or Resume is an absolute MUST if they want to get an interview for that next position. They may spend weeks compiling what they consider to be an interview-pulling CV, or they may even actually PAY (horror of horrors!) for an expert to write one for them. But the CV or Resume is useless if it doesn’t get read, regardless of how good it is, or how expensive!

While a good CV or Resume is the ‘Sales Brochure’ for the candidate, unless it gets read, or gets its ‘feet through the door’ in retail terms, it is pointless even sending it out.

The job of actually getting the CV or Resume read falls to the ‘humble’ Cover Letter. If the CV is the Sales Brochure, The Cover Letter is actually the Salesperson.

The Cover Letter (if it is even sent - many CV’s arrive without one!) is usually very poorly put together, often almost as an afterthought, and is just as often the actual cause of the CV not being read or, worse, tossed into the circular file. Consider the following:
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