Cover Letter advice

Good points. I usually just throw everything in as text. I think we are past making resumes "pretty". I want to work for a place that likes my clips, not how my resume is formatted.

 

Formatting a resume maximizes space and makes it more memorable and instantly recognizable. How is that a bad thing? The design should be clean and minimalist, though. No fucking color.

 

Always separate.

If they get any decent number of resumes, they'll print o0ut the letter and resume and put them together.

You don't want an e-mail sitting on top when you can have a formatted letter.

It also makes it seem as though you are cutting corners.

 

In response to Spikechiquet:

I understand what you are saying, but at larger papers, those are going to go through HR, and they do care how the letters look.

In addition, it's just another way of representing the fact that you take care in your work. A messed-up cover letter would be like wearing a gold shirt to the interview.

Reformedhack: I am going to politely disagree with "It would be fairly odd to receive an email from a job candidate that says "I'm applying for your job opening and my cover letter and resume and clips are attached."

It is standard -- and sometimes specifically requested -- to "attach cover lette rnad resume."

I have been at this a while, and that's what I recommend anyway.

 

If you're applying to a large shop and want everyone who interviews you to read your cover letter, then you should attach it. Printed out e-mails are ugly to have at the top of a resume packet.

 

I believe the last time I applied I did both. The cover letter was in the body of the email, but it was also attached as a nice PDF in case they wanted to print it out.

 

We'll agree to disagree. First impressions are everything.

Speaking as someone who has hired dozens of people over the years, I don't enjoy blind or vague emails from job applicants ... just get to the point. Now, my opinion isn't gospel or law, but why make someone take an extra step to find out who you are and decide whether to look at your resume? I encourage everyone not to waste the opportunity that your initial contact presents.

(Hey, if you want to send a printable cover letter, attach one. But make sure it matches the one in the body of your email ... because I will compare them. )

 

I'm not looking for "pretty" per se, but I am looking for someone who can organize his/her resume. That might be through boldface or italics, or maybe a font that doesn't look like it was typed on an IBM Selectric. No, I don't want clip art or skewed typography. Keep it simple, but put some thought into it.

My key point was that you might choose a nice, simple conservative font that looks good and professional on your computer, but if I don't have Garamond on my computer, your resume might look like graffiti when I open it. So don't take the risk.

 

I will agree to disagree. I have worked professionally in an unemployment office (and got laid off, so I wrote a lot of cover letters myself.)

If an ad says "please attach a clover letter and resume," and you don't do that, I think it's a strike against you.

I am unclear on "first impression."

A typeset resume looks a lot better than one in an e-mail, and to me repetition seems redundant.

When I have been in hiring positions, I have always preferred the e-mail to say, "I am writing to apply for, etc. My resume and cover letter are attached.

I also think Versatile has a good point.

But, what you're doing works for you. Cannot argue with that.

 

Well, sure ... if the ad says to attach a cover letter and resume, then you absolutely should do that. You'd be foolish to do otherwise. But in the absence of a specific instruction, my suggestion is that a job applicant SHOULD get to the point, SHOULD NOT make the recipient take an extra step to open an attachment, and thus SHOULD go ahead and put the cover letter in the body of the e-mail.

We live in a time-compressed age, and there are too many things competing for our attention. The e-mail you send, the first thing the recipient sees when he/she opens his/her inbox ... that's the first impression. So give them your best sales pitch up front, rather than vaguely saying "I'm applying for the job; open the attachments to find out who I am, where I'm from, what I do, etc."

Again, these are only suggestions, not commandments. If what you're doing works for you, then keep it up. Indeed, I don't disagree that a typeset cover letter looks better than a plain-text e-mail. But I also will suggest it's (A) not necessary and (B) is potentially a hindrance. Having spent a number of recent years working in media and communication strategies -- analyzing consumer trends and helping companies work with how people receive and process information -- attachments are becoming less effective. Recipients just don't like 'em. (E-mail itself is becoming less viable, but that's for a different thread.)

From where I sit, quicker is better. Your mileage may vary. Good luck.

 

Some people don't like to open attachments. And there's always a chance the person reading it may not have the required software on whatever computer they happen to be reading on. So I always include mine in the body of my email.