Seriously. SERIOUSLY? THIS is your cover letter?
Okay, I REALLY should not have to say this, people. Seriously. But since someone apparently doesn’t know:
“Hi i was told to send you my resume”
is NOT an acceptable cover letter. Clearly it was your email client that capitalized the H in “Hi,” because there was no punctuation or capitalization in the rest of the sentence.
I know a lot of my fellow recruiting-bloggers have been bagging on the cover letter as unnecessary lately, and if you’re applying to an applicant tracking system (ATS) it probably is, but…
If you are sending me your resume via email, you need to write a cover letter. It doesn’t have to be long- email is great for brevity, but it does need to tell me what kinds of positions you’re interested in, how you were referred to me specifically, and the best way to reach you. This is an opportunity to demonstrate to me how professionally and clearly you can communicate in writing, so don’t squander it.
And DON’T send a separate cover letter attachment. That’s annoying and demonstrates that you have no idea what email is for.
Oh yeah, and if you were “told” to send me your resume, it helps if you do actually ATTACH said resume to said email, unlike my new friend here.
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Recruit.net provides jobs in Australia.
July 24th, 2006 at 4:54 pm
We hire dozens of sales people and I am always surprised at the lack of understanding…”please send your resume with a cover letter” cannot be more clear. I think it must have something to do with the sales reps’ mentality of sure that training is good for everyone else, but i am way above average, so I don’t need to listen, or participate. Maybe it starts with listening or reading exactly what is expected.