Thanks for the advice on CLs. Definitely a new direction I hadn’t considered before (although a year plus being unemployed does a number on your sanity and what you thought you knew). My personal favorite is the online applications where it is REQUIRED that you list your job experience in detail (especially when they give you a limited space to do so), and THEN ask you for either a resume or CL, or both…Ahhhhh! Why is such a supreme redundancy required? I get the move towards ATSs for corporations, and I’m on board with it. But why make me spend double the time to include the same thing twice?

I’ve thought about this. My opinion is two-fold.

One, perhaps a resume is overkill, meaning the owner puts too much “essay fluff” in their job description making it hard for the reader to actually ascertain just how this person might be qualified for the available position.

On the other hand, maybe the resume is not detailed enough due to a lack of work experience and this is an opportunity to add some qualities about yourself or your goals that you normally wouldn’t put in a resume. Recent college grads have this problem and should utilize this small request as best as possible!

Personally, my resume is probably overkill, however, considering the field that I come from (Software QA), a 3-4 page resume is not out of the question. Additionally, my getting a job depends highly on whether or not I have the right keywords in my resume for the recruiter’s database to even recognize that I may be qualified to fill a specific requirement.

I do preface my resume with a Qualifications Summary page. It outlines the major qualifications I possess at a glance, this way a recruiter can skim down the page quickly and see what I have to offer. I also include a matrix at the end detailing the different software applications I am familiar with and have hands on experience, as well as the industries I have applied this knowledge.

I know I have these items in my resume, but the person requesting it doesn’t until they see it. So I just grin & bear it when asked for a cover letter. I would rather comply with a small request than lose out because I blatantly ignored it. The latter may very well be the difference between getting a job or not.

Interesting you’ve tried both. There is no one way of getting a job, right? There’s also no one way to hire, so you’ll see companies do different, and like different things. Very cool that you’ve tried both.

Honestly, I’m not too sure. I’d say it’s probably 50/50 with recruiters who are for or against cover letters, and i’d say 60-70% of recruiters would prefer to have a cover letter pasted in the email.

Hope that helps!

If you had to guess at it, how popular do you think your methodology is?

If you can write that killer cover letter that will put you ahead, I think you should, but if all you can do is spit out a generic one…is that really helping anyone?

Thanks for the comment!

My opinion is different than many. The hiring managers may read them, but the recruiters probably wont’. Too many resumes coming in. Try the personal touch that you’ve discussed and walk in, but you might not always catch the person you want to meet. It may turn into just a resume hand off at the front desk.

Toss your CL in the body of the email, and keep it short. If it doesn’t look like a cover letter, they will read it. Keep it to 2-3 short paragraphs and if you put that in the body of the email, it might get read.

Thanks for your comment, and again, sorry for the response time.