Advice about writing a job-letter-thing

[Kerr]

Hi all.

Basically I am trying to write a letter to a possible employer telling them that I am interested, but I am horrible at it. So far I have only managed to put up a couple of general points that I can expand on, but not anything more. Does anyone have any advice for how to write one?

From what I understand, they are supposed to be short, at most one page, and should tell who I am, why I want the job, why I want to work for them and why they should choose me. Is that correct? Or is there more?

And what is the correct English term for a job-letter-thing ?

Take care,
Kerr.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Do you mean a cover letter?

Yes, a page is good. Generally, the idea is that you thank the potential employer for the opportunity and give a short summary of how your skills and experience are suited to the job requirements.

And of course, as a cover letter, it should "cover" a resume.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Oh - as for tips:

- be honest.
- use the cover letter to show that you understand the employer and the job.
- remember that it's not about showing how awesome you are per se; it's about showing how suited you are for the job.

Also, there are some general rules of thumb about the process:

- the objective for your cover letter is to get them to read your resume.
- the objective for your resume is to get them to give you an interview.
- the objective for the interview is to get them to give you the job.

Edit: what I was trying to get at there is that your cover letter isn't about getting the job in one step; it's about calling attention to the things in your resume they'll think are most important. They can get the details from your resume.

 

[oldbadger]

Hi all.

Basically I am trying to write a letter to a possible employer telling them that I am interested, but I am horrible at it. So far I have only managed to put up a couple of general points that I can expand on, but not anything more. Does anyone have any advice for how to write one?

From what I understand, they are supposed to be short, at most one page, and should tell who I am, why I want the job, why I want to work for them and why they should choose me. Is that correct? Or is there more?

And what is the correct English term for a job-letter-thing ?

Take care,
Kerr.

After redundancy from a big retailer (21years) my wife wanted to work for a vet. She wrote a three sentence letter to all of them.

1. That she had worked for one employer for 21 years, and that employer was now in administration.

2. That she had always been interested in animals.

3. That she was devoted to and switched-on to customer-care and customer-service.

She got three interviews from seven letters, and two job offers. All three veterinary surgeries told her that sentence 3 focused their attention. None of them was advertising a position.

So....... whatever you write, however long, whatever the job......

Mention how important you believe that customer care and service is!!!!!

Good luck.......... we all know how well you can write, anyway!

 

[oldbadger]

- the objective for your cover letter is to get them to read your resume.
- the objective for your resume is to get them to give you an interview.
- the objective for the interview is to get them to give you the job.

Beautiful! You must be, or have been, a sales-star.

 

[Nyingjé Tso]

Vanakkam,

It's called a cover letter, and yes that's what you said: one page, etc etc

I loooooooove writing cover letters Yeah that's weird, but it's really something important, so you have to sweat your motivation trough your pen on the paper !

I had some classes about this with a woman specialized in finding talented people (a hunter or I don't know how you call that....) I'll try to find the references she gave and give them you you.

Usually this is how I do:

- First, up, name, adress and all that stuff.
- Introduction thing: "to whom it may concern..."

First section:
-Who I am ("My name is ----, I am currenyly studying/have worked at)
-What I've learned ("During those 4 years at Supinfogame/Ubisoft, I learned the basics of --, I am experimented at --- I have worked on ---- project)
-What It learned to me ("I have learned teamwork/how to pass ideas/management..")

For this section I play soft: the intend is not sending flowers to myself, or not to show I'm a pure talented genius (on the contrary xD) This is all a question of writing and finding the good words.



Second section:
-What I am looking by applying at your company ? ("I'm seeking a new experience, your company is very competitive, [insert here some projects the company worked on to show that you know them and not applying with a copy-paste cover letter]) Show that for you, this company is the best choice, and why.....Even if it's not true ! (you have very talented persons, I'm seekin to be a part of, whatever)
-What can I do for you ? ("insight and skills from school/another country, I'm open minded, easy going, have experience in this kind of company, we will learn from each other...)

-After that two sections (3/4 of the letter), I add a line to repeat that I'm absolutely motivated to get job/internship/other in this company

-One more line to say that I'm immediately available if they need more information or an interview

-"Thank you for your time"

-Name, signature


Usually when it's applying by e-mail, I send a pdf along the resume (pdf too). Don't send word documents to avoid compatibility problems ! If they can't open your document, they will let it go, and you'll miss your opportunity. Send PDF!

If it's a letter by postal service I have to send, or to give directly to a person, I usually write the letter on paper. This is very long process, as I have to get the lines straight, good grammar and beautiful curves...But it show motivation and if you are easy to read, it can be better


I'm not a reference, you'll find many examples by searching around with google, but I've always been sucessful in writing those letters, so I hope it'll help a little x3

 

[Nyingjé Tso]

Vanakkam,

One last thing:

NEVER. EVER. LIE.

You can say things that for you it's the best company for what you are looking for blahblahblah even if it's not true but never, ever lie about yourself. Two reasons:

- You'll be discovered. No matter how sly as a fox you are, you'll be discovered.
- If it's a job in a "small world industry" (like videogames are) you'll be sure that companies will pass the word about you, and you'll be branded for years and maybe never get a job in this industry again.

 

[Kerr]

Oh - as for tips:

- be honest.
- use the cover letter to show that you understand the employer and the job.
- remember that it's not about showing how awesome you are per se; it's about showing how suited you are for the job.

Also, there are some general rules of thumb about the process:

- the objective for your cover letter is to get them to read your resume.
- the objective for your resume is to get them to give you an interview.
- the objective for the interview is to get them to give you the job.

Thanks . Should probably clarify the biggest issue I have. I have never had a job. So I dont actually understand what the job entails, because I just lack experience. Nor do I have an actual resume, since I have never had a job. And I dont know how suited I am for the job, once again because I lack experience to make that assessment. But I do have an education that overlap what this company does, and I am good at learning new things. The problem for me is how I take all that and manage to make a cover letter that catches their interest, which is problematic because the advice I tend to find is for people with job experience.

 

[Kerr]

Vanakkam,

One last thing:

NEVER. EVER. LIE.

You can say things that for you it's the best company for what you are looking for blahblahblah even if it's not true but never, ever lie about yourself. Two reasons:

- You'll be discovered. No matter how sly as a fox you are, you'll be discovered.
- If it's a job in a "small world industry" (like videogames are) you'll be sure that companies will pass the word about you, and you'll be branded for years and maybe never get a job in this industry again.

I wouldnt lie if I could get away with it .

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Usually when it's applying by e-mail, I send a pdf along the resume (pdf too). Don't send word documents to avoid compatibility problems ! If they can't open your document, they will let it go, and you'll miss your opportunity. Send PDF!

FYI - lately at work, I've been running into a surprising number of garbled PDFs: they look fine on one computer but turn into random gibberish on another. I'm not sure if it's an issue with the PDF generation software we're using or what, but messed up PDFs can happen, too.

 

[Kerr]

FYI - lately at work, I've been running into a surprising number of garbled PDFs: they look fine on one computer but turn into random gibberish on another. I'm not sure if it's an issue with the PDF generation software we're using or what, but messed up PDFs can happen, too.

Guess I will make a quick check to make sure it will display properly on not just my machine then.

 

[Kerr]

A question. I am checking out their site now and I decided to check the English section and I think I found some errors in their translation. Should I point that out to them? Assuming I am correct and they are errors, that is.

Its a double negative, they say that "we do not believe you can no longer make a distinction", which my brain translates to "we believe you can make the distinction", but on their swedish page it says they do not believe you can make the distinction.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Thanks . Should probably clarify the biggest issue I have. I have never had a job. So I dont actually understand what the job entails, because I just lack experience. Nor do I have an actual resume, since I have never had a job. And I dont know how suited I am for the job, once again because I lack experience to make that assessment. But I do have an education that overlap what this company does, and I am good at learning new things. The problem for me is how I take all that and manage to make a cover letter that catches their interest, which is problematic because the advice I tend to find is for people with job experience.

Okay. First off, you should still put together a resume. If you check around the internet, you should be able to find different resume templates for people looking for their first job. In general, I've seen two approaches:

- something close to a regular chronological resume, but listing volunteer positions (though making it clear that they were volunteer positions) instead of paid jobs

- a "skills-based" resume. Here's an article on how they work: Is a Skills-Based Resume Right for You? - Forbes Basically, you list the skills you have that your prospective employer will want to see and show how your life experience so far demonstrates them. This doesn't have to be through a paid job; for instance, maybe you have sports experience that shows you can work effectively as part of a team. Or your experience in school shows you can reliably meet tight deadlines. Or maybe you had use sales skills for some sort of charity fundraiser. Or you showed good project management skills organizing some sort of event.

As for not knowing what the job entails, hopefully you can find out more. If there's a job ad, then they'll list what the duties are and what skills and experience they need. If there isn't a job ad, then try to do some research: maybe talk to friends who have similar jobs to find out what they do... or you could look online for job ads for similar positions and see what those employers are asking for.

Just remember that non-employment experience can be valuable and relevant. If they need specific skills, then try to show how you have them, even if it means talking about your school experience or hobbies. And if it's an entry-level job that doesn't need specific skills, try to give examples of things that employers will care about. For instance, if you can say that you were on a school sports team for 3 years and never missed a practice, this will help tell the employer that you're reliable and dedicated. If you can say that you sold cookies at a charity bake sale, then this will help tell the employer that you can be trusted handling cash.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

A question. I am checking out their site now and I decided to check the English section and I think I found some errors in their translation. Should I point that out to them? Assuming I am correct and they are errors, that is.

Its a double negative, they say that "we do not believe you can no longer make a distinction", which my brain translates to "we believe you can make the distinction", but on their swedish page it says they do not believe you can make the distinction.

It really depends. Keep in mind that depending on the company, it's entirely possible that the person who did the translation will be the one reading your application. They could take it as a personal insult.

I don't think they'd count it against you if you didn't say anything, but it could be risky to bring it up. Personally, I wouldn't.

 

[Kerr]

It really depends. Keep in mind that depending on the company, it's entirely possible that the person who did the translation will be the one reading your application. They could take it as a personal insult.

I don't think they'd count it against you if you didn't say anything, but it could be risky to bring it up. Personally, I wouldn't.

Ok. Its a small company, so that might be a possibility. But it still annoys my brain .

 

[Alceste]

I've been rethinking everything I learned about cover letters and resumes in school. I suppose I'm not very good at either, since I rarely manage to line up an interview. That could be because I usually get bored and quit all my jobs within a couple of years. That means I could never sum up my experience in anything on one page and I have experience in practically everything.

Anyway, not here to give advice, just here to piggy back on getting some.

Oh yeah - I will give the advice that a temp agency is a great way to bypass all this fuss and bother and gain experience.

 

[dust1n]

I had some classes about this with a woman specialized in finding talented people (a hunter or I don't know how you call that....) I'll try to find the references she gave and give them you you.

I wonder if that is the French equivalent of a job recruiter. I think that's what you would call a person like that in U.S.

 

[Kerr]

Vanakkam,

It's called a cover letter, and yes that's what you said: one page, etc etc

I loooooooove writing cover letters Yeah that's weird, but it's really something important, so you have to sweat your motivation trough your pen on the paper !

I had some classes about this with a woman specialized in finding talented people (a hunter or I don't know how you call that....) I'll try to find the references she gave and give them you you.

Usually this is how I do:

- First, up, name, adress and all that stuff.
- Introduction thing: "to whom it may concern..."

First section:
-Who I am ("My name is ----, I am currenyly studying/have worked at)
-What I've learned ("During those 4 years at Supinfogame/Ubisoft, I learned the basics of --, I am experimented at --- I have worked on ---- project)
-What It learned to me ("I have learned teamwork/how to pass ideas/management..")

For this section I play soft: the intend is not sending flowers to myself, or not to show I'm a pure talented genius (on the contrary xD) This is all a question of writing and finding the good words.



Second section:
-What I am looking by applying at your company ? ("I'm seeking a new experience, your company is very competitive, [insert here some projects the company worked on to show that you know them and not applying with a copy-paste cover letter]) Show that for you, this company is the best choice, and why.....Even if it's not true ! (you have very talented persons, I'm seekin to be a part of, whatever)
-What can I do for you ? ("insight and skills from school/another country, I'm open minded, easy going, have experience in this kind of company, we will learn from each other...)

-After that two sections (3/4 of the letter), I add a line to repeat that I'm absolutely motivated to get job/internship/other in this company

-One more line to say that I'm immediately available if they need more information or an interview

-"Thank you for your time"

-Name, signature


Usually when it's applying by e-mail, I send a pdf along the resume (pdf too). Don't send word documents to avoid compatibility problems ! If they can't open your document, they will let it go, and you'll miss your opportunity. Send PDF!

If it's a letter by postal service I have to send, or to give directly to a person, I usually write the letter on paper. This is very long process, as I have to get the lines straight, good grammar and beautiful curves...But it show motivation and if you are easy to read, it can be better


I'm not a reference, you'll find many examples by searching around with google, but I've always been sucessful in writing those letters, so I hope it'll help a little x3

Thanks, this actually helped me a lot .

 

[Kerr]

Silly question, but could anyone explain what a resume is supposed to look like and what can be put into it (and not put into it)?

 

[Pastek]

Don't you have people who can help you ?

I used to go to a center for youth. They help people to write a resume, they help you for finding information about a job, to do tests if you don't know what to do etc ...
Do you have this kind of center were you live ?

Sometimes they also help you about that in job centers.

Or you can just search on internet to get ideas.

Here it shows you different type of resume : Resume Samples