Feature Article: Cover Letters to Recruiters Require Special Handling
Special Feature: Cover Letter Checklist
Quintessential Site: Featured Career Web Site of this Issue
The Career Doctor: Answering Your Questions
Latest Additions: What's New on Quintessential Careers
Q TIPS: Quick and Quintessential Tips to Guide Your Job Search
Notes from the Editor: About this Issue...
Ahh... the Cover Letter issue -- it's
like coming home. The topic of cover letters
launched us into the career field back
in the late 1980s when I decided to
transform my long-time fascination with
cover letters into Dynamic Cover Letters
(now in its 3rd edition) one of the first
cover-letter books on the market (now there
are zillions!)
And from that humble beginning sprang
our other books and Quintessential Careers,
which will wind up with more than 300,000
unique visitors for the month of September.
The role of cover letters has changed
somewhat in the Internet age, and we look
at one of those nuances in our article
on cover letters for recruiters. Meanwhile,
our Cover Letter Checklist addresses some
long-standing guidelines for effective
cover-letter writing and presentation.
Cover Letters to Recruiters Require Special Handling
by Katharine Hansen
Here's a cover-letter fact that can be sobering or
comforting, depending on your perspective: According
to experts in the world of recruiters/headhunters/
executive-search firms, cover letters to these
professionals don't get much attention, at least
not on the initial screening of your job-search
materials. The resume is king in this world, and
if your resume shows you to be qualified for an
opening that the recruiter is trying to fill for
a client, he or she at that point might take a
look at your cover letter.
For those who've labored over a cover letter to try
to get the recruiter's attention, this news is a little
deflating. For those who find writing cover letters to
be a agonizing chore, it may be good news if indeed
it's a waste of time to put a lot of effort into cover
letters to these professionals.
But wait, hold on just a minute
there... Just because
cover letters to recruiters may not get much initial
attention doesn't mean you shouldn't put considerable
care into crafting them. If you're qualified, the letter
will, after all, be looked at eventually.
Certain differences in letters to recruiters compared
to letters to direct hiring managers indicate that even more
care should go into recruiter letters. If you are in fact
qualified for an opening that a recruiter is working on,
your cover letter should provide crucial information that
will save you and the recruiter time and aggravation down
the road. Thus, it pays to attend to differences between
conventional cover letters and recruiter cover letters
in such areas as content, length, format, and how the
letter is sent to the recruiter.
Find out more about how to tailor your letter to
these differences in
our full article .
Instantly email your resume to 1000s of recruiters,
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Your cover letter (also sometimes referred to as
a letter of introduction, letter of application,
or employment letter) is a vital part of your
job-search correspondence package.
Think your cover letter is ready to be seen by
employers? To be sure, use our checklist to guarantee
that you've written the most dynamic (and powerful)
cover letter possible. Go to the
Cover Letter Checklist.
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CareerPerfect offers lots of information
for job-seekers, much of it free, some of it for
a fee. The site provides advice on career planning
and testing, with descriptions of various types of assessments.
My Personal Profile is the site's own low-cost assessment and
CareerPerfect also offers the free Work Preference Inventory.
The job-seeker can also find a section on Job Search Advice
and Strategy, as well as access paid resume-writing and
resume-distribution services. The site offers discussion
forums and an Ask the Counselor feature. There's also advice
on résumés, e-résumés, cover letters, government applications,
and CVs, with tutorials and samples. Other tools and topics include
salary surveys and cost-of-living information, relocation
tools and calculators, interactive tools and calculators,
career and job-search checklist, employment trends,
goal setting for success, burnout, unemployment, age issues, and
powerful interviews. Finally, CareerPerfect offers a section of
interviewing advice with sample follow-up letters.
AEC Job Bank --
an employment resource for the architectural, engineering, and construction industries, where
job-seekers can post your resume, search for jobs, as well as find key career resources.
Registration is required to use all services. Free to job-seekers.
DeepSweep
-- a leading job site for nonprofit jobs, where all levels of job-seekers can search for numerous career
opportunities, post your resume, and register for a personal search agent. Job postings are listed by date.
Free to job-seekers.
NerdsWanted.com -- where
IT professionals browse or search for tech jobs (by keywords, posted date, location, and employment type),
employ a job search agent, and post your resume. Free to job-seekers.
Recruiters Directory
-- a directory of recruiters, headhunters, staffing firms and recruiting agencies, where
job-seekers can search for recruiters (by keywords, industry, and location) as well as
find useful articles about working with recruiters. Free to job-seekers.
Find even more career and job site additions to Quintessential Careers by visiting our
Latest Additions section.
Ad: Great New Free Self-Help Newsletter
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the nature of Creativity, Imagination, and Self-Expression
Ben writes: "I have a question concerning submitting my
cover page and resume via email. The question is that most
companies will not accept attachments, so I must submit my
resume within the message body of my email vs. attachments.
How do I maintain the same appearance as the original
written in MS Word?"
Barbara writes: "I do engineering design work
(AutoCAD/3D) and I am not a college grad. I recently
had a phone interview for a position and one of the
questions was 'do you get along with others..?' This is
a subjective question, and no one really gets along with
100 percent of the people 100 percent of the time --
that's LIFE. Why would this question be asked, and
how should one respond?"
Sarah writes: "I read your article on Quintessential Careers,
Getting Fired: An Opportunity for Change and Growth. I
had a question that seems right up your alley: I was
informed by a coworker that my boss told our department's
coordinator I am going to be fired. Things at work have
been tense lately, but I have not been reprimanded for
poor performance stating that my job was at stake. I
do work at an employer that has an 'at will' policy, so I
know I can be terminated at the employer's discretion,
but what can I do regarding all the talk in other
departments? I believe this rumor to be true and do not
want my boss to be aware that I know the ax is about to
fall. People in other departments are aware of my impending
doom and it's upsetting and embarrassing."
Lisa writes: "I will be graduating college soon and
have not yet held a salaried position. I have worked only
on breaks from school for hourly pay. A job for which I
would like to apply asks for a salary history in the job
posting, and I'd like to know how to go about completing
one given my situation. My pay in past jobs was significantly
below what I hope to make now that I will have a degree and
significantly below the going rate for the job I am seeking
(and for which I am now qualified). Could you please let me
know how to comply with their request without underpricing myself?"
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Q TIPS: Quick and Quintessential Career & Job Tips
A job-search letter technique that can be effective
during tough times is what Marky Stein, calls a "Q" or
qualifications letter. "This document is a short letter that
compares your qualifications with the employer's requirements
for the job," writes Stein on the Career Journal portion of WSJ.com.
"It's brief and concise enough to catch the reader's eye with
highly relevant material within those first crucial seconds.
When you compose a Q letter, list only those qualifications
that you meet or exceed. Requirements that you don't meet
or exceed may be omitted from the letter. Q letters can be
especially effective for qualified candidates who haven't
succeeded with traditional direct-mail methods," notes Stein
in her article,
Strategies for Beating The Job-Search Odds.
The article provides a link to a sample "Q letter," though
frankly,
we like ours better
It's OK to send a post-interview thank-you note
to hiring managers via e-mail, according to a recent survey
of executives developed by Accountemps. Seventy-eight percent
of respondents consider e-mailed thank-you messages appropriate,
while just 22 percent believe e-mail notes are inappropriate.
Executives were asked, "How appropriate is it for
job candidates to send an e-mail thank-you message,
rather than a written note?" Their responses:
Very appropriate: 26 percent
Somewhat appropriate: 52 percent
Somewhat inappropriate: 14 percent
Very inappropriate: 8 percent
"Sending an e-mail immediately following a job interview
demonstrates initiative, but candidates should follow up
with a traditional, more formal letter," advises Max Messmer,
chairman of Accountemps and author of Managing Your Career
For Dummies (Hungry Minds, Inc.).
Writing a thank-you message can also give job seekers a
leg up on the competition: In a related survey question,
86 percent of executives polled said they consider a
post-interview thank you helpful when evaluating candidates.
But only 39 percent of job applicants actually follow through
with this simple courtesy, according to executives polled.
Cut down on sentences that begin with "I" and adopt
a "you" perspective. Note how ad copy is liberally
sprinkled with "you." Your cover letter, after all, is an
advertisement for your resume.
Use your cover letter to convey enthusiasm for the job you're
applying for. Enthusiasm sells.
Using a proactive closer in your letter, in which you
state that you'll follow up to schedule an interview will
set you apart from the crowd with its determination and
confidence.
Instead of just relating what you did in your
jobs, tell what the outcomes are. Impress employers
by telling them what positive things happened as a result
of what you did.
If your school, organization, business or other
entity has a Web site, we welcome you to link to Quintessential Careers.
If you already have a link from your site, we want you to know we
appreciate it. If you don't have a link to us, please
send a request to your site's Webmaster to establish a
link to Quintessential Careers. Thanks so much!
For more details (including sample HTML copy), see our
Link to Us page.
QuintZine: Topics in Upcoming Issues
WATCH FOR feature articles on these topics in upcoming
issues of QuintZine:
* How to create and publish a Web-ready resume
* Crafting a successful e-mail resume
* The interview as sales call
* Getting the raise you deserve
* 10 things I wish I'd known before starting college
* 10 things I wish I'd known before starting my first job
* Letters of recommendation
* 10 ways to develop job leads
* Why, how, when to use a career coach -- and whom to choose
* Employer research: step by step
* Learn about careers through job-shadowing
* Balancing career and family
* 10 job-search reality checks
* Is job flexibility right for you?
* First days on the job: Strategies to get ahead
* Dealing with a bad boss
* Making your case for telecommuting
* A day in the life of a recruiter
* Don't wait by the phone: Following up on all job leads
* Dining etiquette
* Career journaling
* The relationship between personality and career choice
* What employers are really looking for
* How to resign from your job gracefully
* New series: 10 mistakes to avoid in: resumes, cover letters, interviews, salary
negotiation, career change, networking, job-search
* Quintessential Career Profiles of YOU, our readers
* Q&As with well-known career experts
* Book reviews
. . . and much, much more!
Don't ever want to miss another issue of QuintZine? Get a free subscription to
the email version of QuintZine by completing our
subscription form.
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Quintessential Careers also offers writing services
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Need a speaker for your career-oriented conference or
event at your college or organization? The Quintessential
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