Providing cover letter advice

[Seraph]

This is a good way of looking at it- your resume is your foot in the door, and your interview is what seals the deal. I see your point about length, but consider this:

I agree. The best rule of thumb to follow is if you have to have more than one page to your resume, it better not be bullshit. The most important information should always be on the front page. Attach additional pages for additional information if necessary, or make it known that additional information is available upon request. Speaking from a reference standpoint, many people do not like their information posted online or publicly due to the rash of identity theft (assuming you are posting your resume online, or mailing it out). I never considered not initially listing references as hiding something, rather as a courtesy to the references. Not all people will see it like that though. Millage will vary, etc.

[Absolutely Virtue]

I agree. The best rule of thumb to follow is if you have to have more than one page to your resume, it better not be bullshit. The most important information should always be on the front page. Attach additional pages for additional information if necessary, or make it known that additional information is available upon request. Speaking from a reference standpoint, many people do not like their information posted online or publicly due to the rash of identity theft (assuming you are posting your resume online, or mailing it out). I never considered not initially listing references as hiding something, rather as a courtesy to the references. Not all people will see it like that though. Millage will vary, etc.

You may also encounter situations in which your resume sits around for six months before anyone calls you. That's another argument for including the "references available upon request bit." We generally talk to candidates BEFORE we contact references, but not everyone does. The worst thing you could have happen is an employer calls your old references, and they don't know who you are.

Speaking of which, I thought of a couple of important things-

Keep track of where you apply. I use a spreadsheet, but any sort of system will do. Note when you applied, the job you applied for, and anything else you can think of that might come up later. You never know when they will call you, and you don't want to ask "Uh, what job was this for again?"

Use your brain when you answer the phone. Bolded for great justice. If you have a million resumes out, and you get a call you don't recognize on your cell phone, ASSUME that it is your future employer calling. That means turn the radio/TV down, pull your car over, tell your LS you are AFK, etc. Devote your full attention to the call. If you are in a position where you can't devote your full attention, let it go to voicemail and call them back as soon as possible. To that end, fix your fucking outbound message. "Hello, this is X, I can't answer my phone right now. Please leave a message." It's grown up time. I'm not going to pay tens of thousands of dollars a year to someone who has a ridiculous internet meme for a message. Nor am I going to hire someone who answers phone calls from numbers he doesn't recognize with "sup?"

[Darkevolution]

This is an awesome post with some great tips. I'm graduating in 2 weeks and currently applying for full time positions and I found out that you NEED a good cover letter. I never needed one for my previous internships that I got, but when you have to write one and have no idea what to write these tips certainly help.

[miokomioko]

No more giving tips like this. If people are too retarded to use all the common sense (in my opinion) stated here, they don't deserve a fucking job. Especially now. Survival of the mother fucking fittest.

P.S. Give me a job.

[Ferien]

My company formats our resumes (they're used to bid on proposals) like this-

2002-2009 XYZ Research Company, Inc

2007- Senior Researcher
2005-2007 Research Analyst
2002-2005 Research Assistant

Then the description would be your most recent work. You could even do:

As Senior Researcher- five sentences
As Research Analyst- two sentences
As Research Assistant- one sentence

(etc)

Maybe you didn't actually mean sentences, but if you did, I completely disagree. Paragraphs and sentences look horrible, and it would be much more effective with very short bullets.

Another tip: Be real careful about what font you use. You want it to be readable and clear, and you don't want to look like an ass. Sans-serif fonts work very well (thank god MS changed their default to Calibri), they're very easy to read/scan through and aren't distracting, and don't fuck around with style unless the position/company calls for it. If you're applying for an office job, your resume should look professional. If you're applying for an artsy or design job, do your thing.

[Absolutely Virtue]

Maybe you didn't actually mean sentences, but if you did, I completely disagree. Paragraphs and sentences look horrible, and it would be much more effective with very short bullets.

Agree. Wall of text is a bad thing. But I do use short sentences and small paragraphs simply because breaking the whole thing into bullets would create too much white space and make mine several pages longer. Shit is situational, etc.

[Teorem]

I disagree, at least for science (can't say for IT). In my experience, jobs in industry and private research both require cover letters because they allow the applicant to expand upon their resume, since so many applicants (especially entry-level) are very similar in their experience and knowledge. The cover letter is where you display that you're unique and useful, and not a run-of-the-mill, replaceable product of the educational system. If you ran a research project that is similar to what the job will require, a cover letter offers more space to describe how that experience is relevant to the job. Maybe you ran into a technical or even legal problem with your project. How did you resolve it? Troubleshooting is a very important aspect of research, and an employer needs to know if an applicant needs to be hand-held every time the slightest problem arises, or if they can take care of themselves.

You always need a cover letter for IT. Always.

Competency in your subject is great and all, but it means nothing if you can't effectively communicate, whether it's with your group, your management, other groups, or even (in certain parts of IT) customers. Your cover letter is the chance for you to show you can do that in written form and do it well. The interview is the chance to demonstrate it verbally.

I know plenty of hiring managers who will trash a resume with plenty of certifications/experience/schooling but can't put together words to make a comprehensible sentence in their cover letter, especially since people can easily pick up skills in the former but really have to work at developing the latter to do it effectively.