cover letters nonsense
Dear Sirs,
Thank you for pointing out the obvious errors that occur in cover letters. Let me rephrase my request. Write a bad cover letter. I'm not talking about one with blatant errors, and foolish mistakes, I'm talking about a bad cover letter. If you can't, then there is no such thing as a bad cover letter. There is only the opinion of the reader. Period. That doesn't make the cover letter good or bad. It means that someone is judging someone else. What gives them that right? The simple fact that they are looking to hire you. Does it mean they're right. No. Is Joel right about his cover letter preference. No. He's using the influence he's built up by writing articles and creating noise to send a message about the way he wants things done. Good for him. So if he wants things done in a certain way, then he needs to make it known. This should be obvious to all employers. Why are these people not sending me cover letters the way >I< want them to be written. Hello! It's because you didn't tell them how you wanted it done. The employer might say, I thought all this was standard. Wake Up! It's not standard. If you want a cover letter that reads as though the applicants are sucking up to you then put that in your advertisement for the job. Otherwise just accept the damn things the way you get 'em.
Shift Left Operator
Monday, June 16, 2003
Agree.
Evgeny Goldin
Monday, June 16, 2003
Shift Left,
Point taken.
Patrik
Monday, June 16, 2003
Joel's just applying his own personal "Whack a Mole" to sift through all the resumes he gets. He doesn't want to have to weigh 100+ resumes against each other, so he's developed "punch list" criteria to disqualify applicants, regardless of their credentials or suitability to the position.
I continue to maintain that this demand for personalized cover letters is a need for ego-stroking - the need to feel like the applicant is personally asking you for a job because they like you, as opposed to the abhorrent possibility that an applicant is looking for a way to pay their bills.
Philo cover letters
Thank you for pointing out the obvious errors that occur in cover letters. Let me rephrase my request. Write a bad cover letter. I'm not talking about one with blatant errors, and foolish mistakes, I'm talking about a bad cover letter. If you can't, then there is no such thing as a bad cover letter. There is only the opinion of the reader. Period. That doesn't make the cover letter good or bad. It means that someone is judging someone else. What gives them that right? The simple fact that they are looking to hire you. Does it mean they're right. No. Is Joel right about his cover letter preference. No. He's using the influence he's built up by writing articles and creating noise to send a message about the way he wants things done. Good for him. So if he wants things done in a certain way, then he needs to make it known. This should be obvious to all employers. Why are these people not sending me cover letters the way >I< want them to be written. Hello! It's because you didn't tell them how you wanted it done. The employer might say, I thought all this was standard. Wake Up! It's not standard. If you want a cover letter that reads as though the applicants are sucking up to you then put that in your advertisement for the job. Otherwise just accept the damn things the way you get 'em.
Shift Left Operator
Monday, June 16, 2003
Agree.
Evgeny Goldin
Monday, June 16, 2003
Shift Left,
Point taken.
Patrik
Monday, June 16, 2003
Joel's just applying his own personal "Whack a Mole" to sift through all the resumes he gets. He doesn't want to have to weigh 100+ resumes against each other, so he's developed "punch list" criteria to disqualify applicants, regardless of their credentials or suitability to the position.
I continue to maintain that this demand for personalized cover letters is a need for ego-stroking - the need to feel like the applicant is personally asking you for a job because they like you, as opposed to the abhorrent possibility that an applicant is looking for a way to pay their bills.
Philo cover letters
posted by Robert Smith at 2:34 PM
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