RESUME COVER LETTER

HOW IMPORTANT IS TO HAVE A COVER LETTER WITH YOUR RESUME?

I NEVER MAKE IT AND MAY BE THAT IS WHY I AM STRUGGLING TO GET A JOB EVEN THOUGH HAVING I GOT WHAT IT TAKES ME TO SECURE A GOOD POSITION.

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hugolucky

"I NEVER MAKE IT" <> "I GOT WHAT IT TAKES ME TO SECURE A GOOD POSITION"

1. anyone applying for a professional position should include a cover letter with thier resume
2. if you are communicating with a company that is expecting you to use the english language, make sure you are using it properly

good luck

skrpune

I have to agree, it is usually very important to make a cover letter to go along with your resume, especially if you're doing a career change or if you have gaps in your resume or if you have done some relocations that need to be explained. For example, someone looking at my resume alone would think that I am travel happy and a wanderer, when I've just relocated for my husband's education/past jobs and I am now settling down...things they wouldn't know if I didn't include a cover letter with my resume.

With english not being your first language (you mentioned this in another thread somewhere), you have an extra challenge in creating a good cover letter & resume that some of us don't. A quick band-aid for that is to use a grammar checker in Word (or whatever word processor program you happen to use) to check for complete sentences, structure, tense, etc. It could be a very easy and helpful tool for you to do a self-check of your writing. It's not the end all and be all of review, but it's something that you can do on your own as a first step to try to clean things up a bit.

By the way, could you please turn off the caps lock when you're posting? It makes it seem like you're yelling and can be a bit of a turn off...

LarryDaMan

I will play the devil's advocate and disagree.

I have never used a cover letter and I have had good success when searching for new positions. I have a second interview Monday for a position that would make my kids' college funds very happy. I have 3 daughters and if I can keep at least two of them from dancing on a pole for a living, my life will have been a success!

It depends on your experience. It depends on the position. When I have interviewed potential hires in the past, I was never too concerned about seeing a cover letter. The references, cover letter, and extra information often times get held on to by HR or the recruiters anyway. The hiring managers often times just want the resume.

A cover letter is a personal preference in my opinion, not a game changer.

networker050184

LarryDaMan wrote:

I will play the devil's advocate and disagree.

I have never used a cover letter and I have had good success when searching for new positions. I have a second interview Monday for a position that would make my kids' college funds very happy. I have 3 daughters and if I can keep at least two of them from dancing on a pole for a living, my life will have been a success!

It depends on your experience. It depends on the position. When I have interviewed potential hires in the past, I was never too concerned about seeing a cover letter. The references, cover letter, and extra information often times get held on to by HR or the recruiters anyway. The hiring managers often times just want the resume.

A cover letter is a personal preference in my opinion, not a game changer.

+1

I have never really used one either besides an email with my resume attached.

wat08

If you're a hiring manager and you've got a stack of one hundred resumes on your desk, are you really going to take the time to thoroughly read a cover letter? No. You're going to skip to the resume, skim it, and then decide whether it goes into the "yes", "no", or "maybe" pile.

Instead of writing a cover letter, spend your time reading about the intricacies of EIGRP or brew me a coffee. No sugar, please.

skrpune

to each their own I suppose. In my opinion if comes down to: if you have something else you want/need to say that doesn't fit into a resume format or if you have something that needs explanation, then go ahead & write a cover letter. I don't think it's a negative thing to do and unless you write it incredibly poorly or include inappropriate information, then it can't hurt.

Talic

I just give a cover letter if they ask for one.

dynamik

skrpune wrote:

I don't think it's a negative thing to do and unless you write it incredibly poorly or include inappropriate information, then it can't hurt.

I think that's a point everyone can agree on. It's not going to do anything but help you if done right.

Personally, I'd rather error on the side of putting in too much work up front and having it overlooked than missing an opportunity because of finicky HR personnel.

unclerico

As with most things the only real answer is it depends. It depends on who is asking for the resume. If you can tell by reading the job posting that HR wants the resume then you'd better include a cover letter. If you can tell that the resume will go directly to the hiring manager or a technical services firm then it's your call. I can say with about 99% certainty that a resume sent to an HR person without a CV will get tossed mostly because it didn't fall in line with what they're expecting, i.e. perfection.

Personally I cringe when HR does the candidate screening for IT positions mostly because they don't know jack about IT. In our organization it is policy that any and all resumes go through HR regardless of the position. For IT positions this is just a formality because I request to see any and all resumes regarless of whether or not HR likes what they see.

It depends...

MCPWannabe

IT-Tech wrote:

HOW IMPORTANT IS TO HAVE A COVER LETTER WITH YOUR RESUME?

I NEVER MAKE IT AND MAY BE THAT IS WHY I AM STRUGGLING TO GET A JOB EVEN THOUGH HAVING I GOT WHAT IT TAKES ME TO SECURE A GOOD POSITION.

My rule on cover letters is to limit mine to my name, address, phone number and 4 sentences that are bulleted. This seems to attract more attention than anything else.

jryantech

wat08 wrote:

If you're a hiring manager and you've got a stack of one hundred resumes on your desk, are you really going to take the time to thoroughly read a cover letter? No. You're going to skip to the resume, skim it, and then decide whether it goes into the "yes", "no", or "maybe" pile.

Instead of writing a cover letter, spend your time reading about the intricacies of EIGRP or brew me a coffee. No sugar, please.

I agree with this 100% just a part where after he puts the resumes in piles of Yes, No and Maybe is missing.
He then throws all the No's in the trash then does the same with all the Yes and Maybes that do not have cover letters.

I mean come on if you're going for a position that 100 people are applying for, it probably is pretty professional. A Cover Letter can not hurt you so why the heck would you not make one? Same thing goes with wearing a suit or brushing your teeth for the interview.