Do you mean customised for each job?
Yep, It only takes a phrase or two to make the cover letter personalized and special. And at least in our case it is rare enough that it gets read. The ads we run are for programmers, network support, software support. Even when we run an ad for clerical (scanning and document prep) and we get hundreds of responses in the first few minutes the ones that took time to write a few personalized words go to the top.
Truly it is scary how many responses we get whenever we place an ad. People so overqualified, and so many responses. It is overwhelming. I used to write some kind of thanks for applying response to all, but I had to give it up because there were too many. I need to write at least a couple varieties of canned response to let people know something. Because I feel guilt when X number don't even get more than a glance. Too many qualified people, too few openings.
Ha, that was some cross post!
Excellent, Erin!
It always scores points to see the applicant apply specific skills to specific needs
I guess I was applying to so many jobs (hundreds) that were so truly the same, that I could literally not have come up with meaningfully different language for each letter. Well, not without doing research on the company, not just the position. And I was saving that for interviews.
Perhaps the mass attack wasn't the best approach, and I'd have been better off applying to fewer positions with different cover letters...but I was feeling the pressure to work in volume.
Yep, It only takes a phrase or two to make the cover letter personalized and special.
The last time I did a job search that involved mailing out resumes, I did cover letters that were customized to each opening. The basic body of the letter was the same, but I would change the "My experience in ___ will meet your need for ___," depending on the position. Of course, at the time, cover letters were much more common, I think. Also, people were still trying to pick unique colors for the paper their resumes were on in order to stand out more. I decided that a good quality white paper would stand out from all the colors, and possibly appeal to anyone out there that might think that whole thing was nonsense.
And Erin, that is good news. I hope something shakes out of that tree.
Also, people were still trying to pick unique colors for the paper their resumes were on in order to stand out more.
Those were very useful. I could pick them out of a stack of resumes and eliminate them. I still smush my resume to two pages, because I was on a number of search committees and my attention span rarely made it to the third page.
We had one woman submit a folder. Included photograph and color reproductions of various certifications. My higher ups were righteously impressed and hired her...except she was so anal retentive and obsessive that she couldn't deal with our environment and quit about a month later. And then called us in a huff because we refused to lie about the length of her engagement to a potential new employer.
TOLD YOU SO.
Erin, that's excellent!
I got up early and forced myself to go to PT and when I finished it was freaking snowing hard out. So I decided I would treat myself to breakfast out.
Also, quick check in to say: we will get (or not) contracts tomorrow. I will find out tomorrow if I am being asked to come back or not.
I am conflicted. I guess there is a pos and a neg either way, so I will just deal with whatever comes.
