Career Management Alliance Blog

Beyond the Resume and Cover Letter

In an article by Teena Rose of Resume to Referral the power of a post-interview follow-up letter is revealed.

A follow-up letter seems like a last-ditch effort on the part of a jobseeker, am I right? Ah, but wait! The act of sending this kind of letter can actually sway a company in your direction. Companies don’t always make hiring decisions when expected. Sending your follow-up letter a few days or a couple weeks after the interview can actually reflect your ambition and dedication to the employer. In some cases, it will reflect you as a more viable, dedicated, and persistent option to employers. List new and unique content, and avoid regurgitating exact details contained in your original cover letter or those spoken in the interview whenever possible. Instead, keep it fresh by expanding in directions that put new angles or views on your work history.

Tell Me About Yourself, Interview Strategies (Back-to-Basics Series)

I’ve seen professionals who not only can appear confident, but who ARE confident, very successful sales professionals for example, fall flat on their faces in interviews. It’s a very different ball game. Many of the most skilled and successful professionals are victims here. I only reference sales professionals because they are the people likely [...]

Giveaway: I’m at a Networking Event – Now What???

PREPURCHASE the second edition of LinkedIn for Job Seekers, the DVD at a discount. Check out all the specials here.Last week there was awesome, hearty discussion to the giveaway question – on my Facebook wall. Unfortunately not many people saw that, and no one from that discussion was considered by Tom (except one who [...]

Follow the Green Money: Purfresh Secures $10 from VC’s, Compact Power to Build $303 Million Factory in MI, The Clean Tech Group Secures $3.2 Million

Purfresh has raised $10 million from venture capitalists. Compact Power, a subsidiary of LG Group, is building a factory in Holland, MI, to manufacture lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. The Clean Tech Group, a research and consulting group, has secured $3.2 million in VC funds.

LinkedIn Connections: Maybe I’m Just Not That Kind of a Girl

Lately I’ve been getting several invitations on LinkedIn either from people I don’t know or from people who get past some of the LinkedIn screening features by claiming they know me from working together someplace I have never worked. In both scenarios, I am rarely given an explanation of why they want to connect; just [...]

How to Write a Resume – Step #2: Work Out Your Value.

This post is the second in my ‘How to Write a Resume’ series. If you missed the first one, you can find it here. In my first post, I talked about the importance of feeling employers’ pain – knowing your audience is a crucial first step to writing a resume that really works. Now we’re going to [...]

The Secret Weapon for CFOs is the Intangible

One of the discussions by the recruiter panel at the CFO Rising conference was around the intangibles of being a Chief Financial Officer. Intangibles ... as in presence. It won’t matter how great your finance acumen, skill sets, and deliverables...

Spring forward – The Progress Challenge

Are you winning in a world of change? This book may help you get where you need to go!

The Public Life of Your Personal Brand

Most people would readily agree they have a personal life, but few would describe themselves as having a “public life.” Sure, we have our work life and our home life. Yet, we don’t usually think about having a “public” dimension...

Recruiters Don’t Always Read Cover Letters, But Ask If You’re Not Sure

Several years back, we researched how recruiters interact with cover letters and came to this conclusion: “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.”

A more recent blog entry by Harry Urschel suggests it’s still the case that recruiters rarely read cover letters:

If it’s being sent to a recruiter, or you are applying to an online system, you can be virtually guaranteed that a cover letter would not be even looked at, much less read. The volume of resumes that go through a normal recruiting process makes it all but impossible for cover letters to be considered in addition to resumes.

Here we would add that if an online system provides a place to submit a cover letter via upload or pasting into a text block, it can’t hurt to submit one. Also review the recruiter’s Web site carefully or speak to someone at the firm to determine whether the recruiting firm wants you to submit a cover letter and what information they want to see in the letter. Recruiters who want cover letters are the exception, but they do exist.

Urschel correctly notes that hiring managers who hire directly for positions (as opposed to recruiters) are much more likely to read to a cover letter:

A hiring manager, however, may be another story. In most companies, the hiring managers don’t usually get many resumes to sort through themselves. … Also, since the hiring manager naturally has the greatest interest in knowing more about the applicants they are somewhat more likely to read a cover letter if one is available. … As a candidate, your chances of getting an interview rise dramatically if you can present your information directly to a hiring manager. If you do, be sure to include a cover letter along with your resume for them to gain a better understanding of how you can be of value to them in the role.