The aggressive cover letter

If it came to you weeks after the job posting ran, had a bunch of errors and wrong information in the cutline, you should have hired him just for his attention to detail.

 

What about resumes can stand out? What can you write other than covered ----- beat for ---- paper with a --- circulation. What kind of suggestions do people have for spicing up the resume?

 

My wife has a friend who is an editor, although not in journalism. We were visiting her a few years ago on the way to somewhere else, and over lunch she was reading us her cover letter. I said, "Geez, Nancy, I think you missed a few. You need to work in 'proactive' and 'ramp up.' " Boy was she pissed. She said, "Well, I'm sending it to HR and that's how they talk." I was going to say "Relax, I'm just giving you shit because you served us quiche and fucking dandelions," but my wife already looked like she wanted to kill me.

 

When I was younger I used to spend hours on cover letters, trying to be original. Now I just write a couple of paragraphs explaining who I am, what my experience is and how that experience matches the job I'm applying for. Letting my clips speak for themselves, seems a whole lot effective.

Another common problem I've noticed with younger writers is they use utilize and other important-sounding words. Keep it simple, kids.

 

Sound advice from someone who obviously has a way with words.

 

The 5 best cover letters I ever wrote didn't even get me a nibble.

A letter I wrote to a paper telling them I wasn't interested actually led, several years later, to a good job.

So I guess the moral is to take good care in all gestures.

 

oops ...

 

I once wrote a cover letter so amazing that an editor emailed me back and saidm simply: "I liked your cover letter".

But he never offered an interview. I thought that was special.

By the way, that cover letter said something to the effect that every editor who hasn't hired me is an idiot. So, if you don't hire me, you are an idiot too.

If you can't tell, I was in the middle of a rather lengthy and frustrating job search.

 

I liked Mystery Meat's take on cover letters.

It seems some newcomers to the business don't fully understand that the more chances you take in your cover letter -- unwarranted bravado, humor, whatever -- the more chances there are that you're going to swing and miss on one of those chances and end up in the trash.

 

What if you know the hiring editor, but have to send your package into an HR person, who will then pass it on to the SE?

 

What's your package have to do with any of this?

 

for some reason he's giving it to the HR person ... wonder if it's a she?