So, I have a job interview on Thursday, and I was wondering about cover letters. I'll be meeting at least four different people, so should I print a cover letter addressing each, or just something along the lines of, "Dear Interview Team"? I'm also wondering if it's even worthwhile to write a cover letter. Generally when I'm applying for jobs online through indeed.com or whatever I won't include a cover letter, just my resume, unless a cover letter is required to apply. That may be a mistake on my part. But whenever I've gotten an interview in the past I've taken the time to write a cover letter and make hard copies of my resume on nice paper, then everyone just walks into the room with a copy of the resume they'd printed themselves or HR passed along to them and never wanted the cover letters or resumes I brought in. Thoughts?
It never hurts to be prepared, perhaps even over-prepared. You can probably re-use the resumes. But if you're lucky, you won't need them.
A cover letter is where I took notes. Are they needed? Not really. Addressing each person (if they are know) on an individual cover sheet is a nice touch. Even if they walk in with a copy already and you give them another, they can say they have one and decline. If they don't and you don't have a copy. . . that'd suck for you.
Just cut to the chase. Bring in a case of fifths of your preferred alcohol and hand each interviewer a fifth.
My advice would definitely print off complete “packets” for everyone. Cover letter, resume, accomplishments and hand them to everyone before the interviews start. I just had a 4 person panel interview a couple weeks ago and they liked that a lot. I wouldn’t and didn’t bother addressing each person, that’s unnecessary. Just print the generic one that you include when you send them off on indeed, monster, etc. They didn’t even bother reading the cover letter at the interview, flipped right to the resume(as a refresher since it was interview 4) and then we talked for at least 10 minutes about the accomplishments page. But I feel like it shows a level of preparedness to bring them complete “packets”.
I can’t add much other than good luck wishes to you. You seem confident, so project that. Hope it all works out for you. Will you be interviewing as a team, as in “Step Brothers”? Hopefully Pam won’t be one of your interviewers...
I like the idea of individual packets. Did you assemble them into a binder, or just paper clip them together? I think it may be a good idea to address each individual, but it may be a bit of a risk. At my last interview I was supposed to be meeting four people, two of whom weren't there, and I wound up being interviewed by the COO by surprise. I don't know that I have any real professional accomplishments, other than showing up and doing my work well. None of the suggestions I made that might have made improvements were ever implemented, and I didn't oversee anything major. I was just given a list of tasks to complete every shift and got shit done.
What industry do you work in? In IT there is no point of doing a cover letter. They just feed your resume into the system and search on key words. I haven't done a cover letter or a printed resume on fancy paper in over 20 years. If your experience doesn't match the key word search your resume goes in the trash folder. The last few jobs I have had were all done via phone interview and I never met the person I spoke with until the day I started the job. I prefer it that way.
This job is in the pharmaceutical industry, specifically as a microbiologist. I already typed up a cover letter. Better to have it and not need it, and it was just a few minutes work.
This just shows your initiative and as Dave said a nice touch, all those little things add up. Make sure you do your research on the company as well so you can engage in conversation more than just answering a direct question.
I got about 50 resumes for the last job opening I had. I only got three cover letters, and one properly formatted, error free resume. Do you want to guess which one I hired?
I can only hope I know which one.... I get some resumes that make it through HR to my desk and just think, WTF. Some of the stuff on there as accomplishments are what sends them in the trash is what's really ironic.
If you want pm me your email and I'll get in touch and take a look, plus I have some buddies high up in that industry that can probably look at it as well. I'm in automotive so not 100% sure what they key in on in that industry but I can give it a once over for some key things I look for. No we don't care you corner low, are a stand up guy (well we do actually), have red power bands and are hung like a donkey
I made sure to ask the HR rep about what I might want to look for outside of the company's website to learn a bit about the company's background, and scheduled my interview to give me enough lead time to get a little research done. She did mention that she was glad I asked about that since most people walk in for an interview with no idea on the company's history, or any specifics of what they do. They just walk in knowing that it's a pharmaceutical company. PM incoming.
I haven't had a cover letter for a while but it might be industry specific, mine likes to cut to the chase. I do recommend finding out who's on the panel and researching them...their backgrounds both professional and academic, how long they've been around etc. Can really help to direct the conversations in your favour even if you don't refer to the information directly.
Cover letter is sent with the resume to secure an interview. It highlights education and experience that makes you an especially strong candidate for the position. A thank you/pleasure letter is sent shortly afterwards- important and often overlooked IMHO.
Like you mentioned I usually did not send cover letter when applying online, only did to very specific places that I applied. The last two jobs I got were from resumes without cover letter. But also as mentioned above, it doesnt hurt to have them. Most definitively doesnt hurt to have hard copies of resume and whatever other information might be relevant during the interview. Good luck.
