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Writing Letters for Cold Canvassing (IT) Jobs?
jtan163 asks: "I'm trying to help a friend write job applications for cold canvassing jobs in the IT industry but we're quite stuck. His CV/Resume shows his skills and employment history and even to some extent, what he is looking for.
So, what do you put in the letter for cold canvassing IT (and probably any other field) job applications? With cold canvassing, is the letter really important or is it just 'fluff' so the CV/Resume doesn't get lonely in the envelope (electronic or otherwise)? We'd love to hear about what has worked or not for you. Or, if you happen to be a job application consumer, what you look for in, or at least what would make you consider (or at least not throw out), a cold canvassed application?"
Because they're all going to be thrown out. Seriously. There is such an oversaturation of qualified people in the current tech job market, that unless you're sending a tailored resume AND cover letter, it's just going in the trash. No employer is going to take the time to try to fit you to one of their jobs when they already have two dozen qualified applicants that were able to correctly follow instructions for submitting resumes.
Interested in open source engine management for your Subaru?
That book has been the bible for job seekers for as long as I can remember...and it's a pretty good book on the subject. There is a section on how to look for jobs and techniques for each...I don't recall if there is a specific section on cover letter writing. However, if that's all you've got for a job search method now, then WCIYP will give you loads of other ideas and the reasons why they work.
Advice: on VPS providers
To whom it may concern,
Please allow me to waste ten seconds of your life.
Sincerely,
459 of 3021
"Or, if you happen to be a job application consumer"
Learn the proper title.
If you're addressing your applications to "job application consumer", I can see why you're not having very good luck.
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
I'm sure you've heard it before, and you will hear it again, but in my humble experience networking is the best (the only?) way of breaking into the tech industry. Ask a friend at the company you're applying to, a former boss, contacts from conferences, etc. if they would be willing to submit your resume and give you a recommendation at their company. Many companies will look more favorably upon recommendation from within. Even consider asking former coworkers if they'd be willing to put in a good word at their old job: anything to lift you out of that cold-calling pile. Networking.
:-P
Beyond that, I don't have much. But I would definately at least Include a cover letter. If you don't its going to look like you don't care, and thats the last thing you want.
*now I'll sit back and wait to be corrected*
Your 'friend' can always go and work on Internet Explorer!
After all, Internet Explorer is Hiring!
I'm writing a cover letter and rewriting a resumé according to some guidelines from http://www.job-secrets-revealed.com/. It sounds interesting.
That's what I did and I got good results. As it turns out, I wasn't marketing myself well enough. I had a resume and cover letter done for $195. Then I sent my resume and cover letter to over 1400 recruiters across the country for $60. A month later, I'm still getting responses.
How do you tell the interviewer that you wrote the
software?
What would Linus's Resume look like to an interviewer?
The GPL, for those that truely understand.
Send this as cover letter
e =default&t=sub_pages&cat=28
25 Reasons Alcohol Should be Served at Work
1. It's an incentive to show up.
2. It reduces stress.
3. It leads to more honest communications.
4. It reduces complaints about low pay.
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6. Employees tell management what they think, not what managers want to hear.
7. It helps save on heating costs in the winter.
8. It encourages carpooling.
9. Increase job satisfaction because if you have a bad job, you don't care.
10. It eliminates vacations because people would rather come to work.
11. It makes fellow employees look better.
12. It makes the cafeteria food taste better.
13. Bosses are more likely to hand out raises when they are wasted.
14. Salary negotiations are a lot more profitable.
15. Suddenly, burping during a meeting isn't so embarrassing.
16. Employees work later since there's no longer a need to relax at the bar.
17. It makes everyone more open with their ideas.
18. Everyone agrees they work better after they've had a couple of drinks.
19. Eliminates the need for employees to get drunk on their lunch break.
20. Increases the chance of seeing your boss naked.-SCARY!!!!
21. It promotes foreign relations with the former Soviet Union.
22. The janitor's closet will finally have a use.
23. Employees no longer need coffee to sober up.
24. Sitting on the copy machine will no longer be seen as "gross."
25. Babbling and mumbling incoherently will be common.
http://www.realestatehumor.com/index.php?inl_them
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
Don't write to prospective employers, call them. Research each one you are interested in, find out who would be the hiring manager for a position you are interested in and contact them directly.
People are overly sensitive to junk mail these days, especially managers, so unless you are willing to take the time to research it properly you're going to go nowhere.
Damien
Introduce yourself, tell them why you hav decided to write to them, why you are looking for a job, highlight the areas of your curriculum vitae that are particularly relevant to the business area, personalise it a bit (so it doesn't look like a form letter, they can see you've actuall put some thought into it) and thank them for thier time.
You might want to also include a "business card" with your name, primary skills and contact details - while the CV might get binned, the business card might just make it to the card file.
NZ Electronics Enthusiasts: Check out my Trade Me Listings
The best part about this job is, they pay you not to show up!
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
There's a job opening there, they're getting ready to fire me. Read my slashdot journal to find out why. Oh, what the hell, I can summarize why... they read it too!
Haha. I hate the place.
Cover letters can seem hard, but I've noticed that if I have a lot of trouble thinking up a cover letter for a job it means that probably isn't the right job for me. A resume can be only so long, so a person with strong experience has to leave stuff out. This leaves the cover letter as a prime location for adding additional details and making them relevant to the company you are applying to.
That is, if companies even bother reading the thousands of cover letters they get...sigh.
Has anyone had success with online resumes?
As a consultant, from a hiring perspective, I'd certainly be impressed with anyone who submitted a resume in this format.
To the contrary, if applicants could *not* email, then there was no way I was going to hire them into a tech position.
The great thing about an online web resume, is that you can comb the logs to determine what companies are showing interest and what information they are viewing.
http://kevindawson.ca/ for my example.
I suggest you take a look at "The Perfect Resume", by Tom Jackson. (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/076 7916239/)
Among other things, he describes a "job creation" strategy, which will beat the heck out of any cold-calling plan you can come up with.
Highly recommended.
Pretend you're Indian. All you have to do is completely mangle the English language, lie like a maniac on your resume (you don't know .Net, you know EVERYTHING -- Java, .Net, Perl, C/C++, Lisp, assembler, etc -- and you've been doing it for ten years, even though you're only 21) and fake an accent if they call you.
Barring such subterfuge, you might as well forget about it. That whole "job" thing? Yeah, it's gone.
Good luck, though.
P.S. When you've completely given up, try civil service. It's a good living wage, you actually have job security, and the work is about the same as what you'd be doing in the private sector.
Farewell! It's been a fine buncha years!
http://www.job-secrets-revealed.com
Send your resume to all the big contract agencies (in the UK, this might include Lorien, Computerpeople, Elan, Parity, Hayes IT, etc etc). Go for a big, fat contract. The agency makes money from placing you and so has a vested interest in doing it: and they are always crying out for fresh meat.
You don't want to cold canvas. That's a good way to ensure they never call you back.
Try dice.com
http://www.google.com/profiles/malachid
Back in 1982, and I was looking for a part-time, afternoon only tech job while I went to school in the morning.
I printed up a bunch of resumes, got out the phone book (yellow pages) and just started going down companies who I thought would hire tech people.
I just started with the A's and spend afternoons driving to the address and leaving my (single page) resume.
WHen I got to the C's, and I was leaving my resume with a particular company, the receptionist said "hold on" and she walked away.
She came back and said, ok go on in. I went into the VP of Development's Office (he was the whole dev dept) and he asked how I knew about the job. I said what job. Aparently he was just about to place an adv in the newspaper. We chatted for about 10 minutes, and I got the job.
-- www.globaltics.net
Political discussion for a new world
Perhaps the cover letter should be:
Hi, I'm the kind of pond life that thinks cold canvassing is not ethically abhorrent and a complete waster of time. Employ me.
Civil-service is a joke. The jobs are not challenging and most of the workers should be called, time-wasters instead of workers.
They are all so surprised and upset when they realize they really don't have any job security. Unemployment is just a budget cut or Administration change away.
Cheap storage VM.
Sorry, but what is "cold canvassing", anyway?
Even Google doesn't know!
Ah. You're one of those.
Farewell! It's been a fine buncha years!