This posting is a guest entry from the Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD:
Jacqueline writes:
I have a question regarding the closing, “Take Care,” at the end of business cover letters. Is that considered “less” professional than all the traditional closings?
The Career Doctor responds:
I consider “take care” as a bit too informal for traditional cover letters. I have seen it in email cover letters, and I find it a bit more acceptable there. When writing conventional cover letters, I would stick with the traditional closings: sincerely and cordially.
In the grand scheme of cover-letter writing, though, I think how you close the letter is of little consequence compared to the much bigger issues that I list below.
Key cover letter strategies:
- Addressing the letter to a named individual. Job-seekers must address the letter to a person — the hiring manager. And if you make the effort to get the name, make sure you spell it correctly. Do not write to the Human Resources department.
- The first paragraph must engage the reader and entice him/her to read more of your letter. Do not waste this opening paragraph with the typical boring one that many job-seekers use.
- The second and third paragraphs must show how well you fit the position you are seeking — as well as highlight key accomplishments. Focus on what you can do for the company rather than what the company can do for you.
- The last paragraph must state how you plan to follow-up the letter (usually with a phone call). Be sure to give a timeframe — and then be sure to do what you say you are going to do.
Finally, be sure also to avoid:
- Long (read boring) sentences and paragraphs;
- Letters longer than one page;
- Typos, misspellings, and grammatical errors;
- Simply rehashing/highlighting your resume
And remember to follow-up all cover letters with a phone call — showing your continued interest in the position and the employer.
Read more in this article published on Quintessential Careers: Don’t Make These 10 Cover Letter Mistakes.
And to find just about everything you ever wanted to know about cover letters, including numerous samples, go to the Cover Letter Resources section of Quintessential Careers.
Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document? Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.
This posting is a guest entry from the Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD:
Mike writes:
No too long ago, I used one of your samples for resume and cover letter writing. I must say, they really helped me.
The Career Doctor responds:
OK. So technically there is no question here, but I wanted to address this issue because I had been recently interviewed on the subject of job-seekers borrowing too heavily from samples found on job-search Websites and books. And by the way, I am not saying that Mike did anything wrong; I am assuming he used the samples correctly.
Why do career professionals provide samples? I know I do so as a learning tool. I want you to be able to see what a good resume, cover letter, thank-you letter, etc., looks like. I have seen so much poorly written job-seeker correspondence, that I thought it important for you to see good examples.
But I do not expect job-seekers to copy phrases or sentences word-for-word
in academic circles, we call that plagiarism, and if I were a hiring manager, I
would call it a reason not to interview or hire you. Borrowing someone else s
work brings into question your ethics — and work ethic.
So, please use the samples you find as guidelines for what your resume or cover letter should look like and sound like, but do not lift whole chunks and use them as your own. And be sure to read the accompanying articles that describe in detail how to develop your job-search documents.
One final point. Someone raised the question of the difference between borrowing a sample resume versus hiring a professional to write the resume for you. The difference is one is stealing someone else’ s work (that may not even apply to you) and the other is paying a professional to develop a document specifically for you.
For those interested in samples, check out the many sample job-search materials we have in this section of Quintessential Careers: Job-Hunting Samples and Examples.
Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document? Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.
This posting is a guest entry from the Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD:
Anonymous writes:
I don’t think its smart to have my resume for all to review, how I can I post my resume and keep it confidential?
There certainly is validity to wanting to be discrete about job-hunting when you are currently employed — you wouldn’t want your current employer to do a search for a position and get your resume from one of these job sites.
The good news is that many job boards now offer you a confidentiality option — thus your resume is still out there getting viewed, but you control who actually knows it is your resume. There are a few other job sites that even allow you to block your resume from going to certain companies, thus allowing no chance that your current employer will see your resume. You can search through a list of The Top 10 Job Web Sites.
And one final warning. Please remember that job-hunting on the Net should only comprise a small portion of your overall job-hunt — a little larger for people in technical and computer fields. You’ll do much better taking advantage of networking and other more traditional job-search techniques, but I also understand the value of the Web in a passive job search — putting your resume online and seeing what kind of responses you get, even when you are fairly happy with your current position.
confidentiality, employer, job board, job-hunting, resume, Top 10 Job Web Sites
Use Resume and Cover-Letter Samples Carefully
This posting is a guest entry from the Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD:
Mike writes:
No too long ago, I used one of your samples for resume and cover letter writing. I must say, they really helped me.
The Career Doctor responds:
OK. So technically there is no question here, but I wanted to address this issue because I had been recently interviewed on the subject of job-seekers borrowing too heavily from samples found on job-search Websites and books. And by the way, I am not saying that Mike did anything wrong; I am assuming he used the samples correctly.
Why do career professionals provide samples? I know I do so as a learning tool. I want you to be able to see what a good resume, cover letter, thank-you letter, etc., looks like. I have seen so much poorly written job-seeker correspondence, that I thought it important for you to see good examples.
But I do not expect job-seekers to copy phrases or sentences word-for-word
in academic circles, we call that plagiarism, and if I were a hiring manager, I
would call it a reason not to interview or hire you. Borrowing someone else s
work brings into question your ethics — and work ethic.
So, please use the samples you find as guidelines for what your resume or cover letter should look like and sound like, but do not lift whole chunks and use them as your own. And be sure to read the accompanying articles that describe in detail how to develop your job-search documents.
One final point. Someone raised the question of the difference between borrowing a sample resume versus hiring a professional to write the resume for you. The difference is one is stealing someone else’ s work (that may not even apply to you) and the other is paying a professional to develop a document specifically for you.
For those interested in samples, check out the many sample job-search materials we have in this section of Quintessential Careers: Job-Hunting Samples and Examples.
Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document? Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.
This posting is a guest entry from the Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD:
Jacqueline writes:
I have a question regarding the closing, “Take Care,” at the end of business cover letters. Is that considered “less” professional than all the traditional closings?
The Career Doctor responds:
I consider “take care” as a bit too informal for traditional cover letters. I have seen it in email cover letters, and I find it a bit more acceptable there. When writing conventional cover letters, I would stick with the traditional closings: sincerely and cordially.
In the grand scheme of cover-letter writing, though, I think how you close the letter is of little consequence compared to the much bigger issues that I list below.
Key cover letter strategies:
- Addressing the letter to a named individual. Job-seekers must address the letter to a person — the hiring manager. And if you make the effort to get the name, make sure you spell it correctly. Do not write to the Human Resources department.
- The first paragraph must engage the reader and entice him/her to read more of your letter. Do not waste this opening paragraph with the typical boring one that many job-seekers use.
- The second and third paragraphs must show how well you fit the position you are seeking — as well as highlight key accomplishments. Focus on what you can do for the company rather than what the company can do for you.
- The last paragraph must state how you plan to follow-up the letter (usually with a phone call). Be sure to give a timeframe — and then be sure to do what you say you are going to do.
Finally, be sure also to avoid:
- Long (read boring) sentences and paragraphs;
- Letters longer than one page;
- Typos, misspellings, and grammatical errors;
- Simply rehashing/highlighting your resume
And remember to follow-up all cover letters with a phone call — showing your continued interest in the position and the employer.
Read more in this article published on Quintessential Careers: Don’t Make These 10 Cover Letter Mistakes.
And to find just about everything you ever wanted to know about cover letters, including numerous samples, go to the Cover Letter Resources section of Quintessential Careers.
Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document? Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.
One of the “Top 5 Reasons Why Job Hunters Fail” is “not writing a cover letter,” Robin Ryan notes in an article in her monthly newsletter.
“Human-resources managers state that cover-letter writing is becoming a lost art,” Ryan writes, “since job hunters think they can skip this step when they apply electronically.”
“A well-written cover letter has great power with employers and should always precede any resume sent. Open the letter with a powerful first paragraph that sums up the background, key strengths, skills and accomplishments you have to offer. Human-resource managers say that a good cover letter demonstrates your communication skills and can capture the interview,” Ryan advises. For an overall refresher on cover letters, see our Cover Letter Tutorial.
Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document? Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.
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