Writing A Resume Cover Letter Writing A Resume Cover Letter: Fill & Download for Free

I feel like I have to answer this as I've just spent 4 hours going through resumes and I want to scream.Not one resume made me happy. All of then were in the spectrum of mild annoyance all the way to actual anger.Here are the things that upset me.1. Generic cover letter/resumeEvery one of the cover letters was about why they have great blah blah skills or blah blah experience. Honestly I could post each resume up here and you would have no clue what industry they were applying for.2. Not one cover letter mentioned anything about our company or what we do. I honestly feel like not one of these applicants even went to our website.3. Not one cover letter mentioned the work they would be doing. We are hiring for a kid's app/toy company. Not one applicant mentioned anything about toys, kids, apps, fun... some even just wrote things like "I'm looking for full time work". Yes.. that's a great reason for me to hire you, because you need a job. Arghhhh4. So many had spelling errors. One spelled a word wrong right before the word "literacy". Oh the ironing (Bart fans will know what I'm saying).If English isn't your first language, I usually cut you some slack on things like grammar and maybe one spelling error (we're all human afterall). If you proudly write you are born and raised in North America and have spelling errors all over the place.. arghhhhh5. This is a creative position I'm hiring for and everyone has submitted an online portfolio. Only one person had even one item in a portfolio that has anything to do with what we do. You'd figure they'd take some time to sketch a few things or if they don't have it in their portfolio, put some examples of what inspires you that is relevant. I saw inspiration pages that featured medical devices and high end jewellery... arghhhh6. Interests. I had one person write in their resume that they are most interested in designing shoes and cars. So why the smurf are you applying to our company?... arghhhhI'm too upset to write all the other things.As mentioned by others, a lot of companies filter out resumes electronically and others are filtered out by HR staff who have no clue if a person is good for the job. In this case I took the time to read each one and view each portfolio to ensure I don't miss any good people and I feel like I was an idiot for it (though I'll still do it while I have the time).Bottom line1. Show you know who you are applying to and show at least a modicum of interest in what we do.2. Tell me why you would love to work here and why you want this job. What will you offer us? Why would this make you happy as well? It needs to be a fit on both sides for it to work long term.3. Proof read your resume, cover letter. Do some basic formatting.4. Put some personality in your cover letter. Don't list your skills on your cover letter, that's what the resume is for!5. For a creative position, don't make your cover letter a long boring read. Actually for any position don't make your letter a long boring read.

Over the last month, I had the opportunity to review over 150 Resumes and SoPs.Here are the top few consistent issues.Resume SNAFUs:Please make sure your resume is no more than a page long. Aggressively edit out things that are not relevant. Pick a few projects/roles and be detailed instead of writing a laundry list.Focus on impact. Most resumes talked about what the role/responsibility was. Instead, write what YOU actually did, what you learned and what was the impact of your work. Use metrics where possible.SDEs, please do not include a cluttered “Skills” section with MS Word and Excel and Java and OOP listed on there. You’re expected to know the fundamentals.SoP SNAFUs:Most people leave out the “Purpose” part of the SoP. Talk about your dreams, your goals, your purpose and why that university/course is the right fit to help get you there.Your SoP should not simply be an elaboration of your resume. Use it to tell a story. Walk the reader through your journey and have a theme to your essay.SoPs while important, may not play a deciding role. LoRs almost always do. Get them from people who can really assess you directly. Give each recommender a theme so that their letters cover diverse areas.In case we haven’t met before, I’m Rohan Kamath.Thank you for reading. I hope I could help you learn today. :)

Generally, yes. I’ve never read a cover letter. Scratch that, I’ve read my own and that of a few friends. At some point in my life I must’ve read at least one applicant’s but damn if I can remember it. In general, I do send one because god fucking forbid I apply to the one place that wants one (I send it in the form of an email with the PDF resume attached).Gun to my head?Just skip it if applying online (like through LinkedIn, Monster or CareerBuilder). Those automated systems use Workable, Taleo, SAP or Salesforce and they can take the cover letter but ain’t no self respecting recruiter spends the extra steps to open that file and read it. But if you are sending your resume via an email to a specific person, best to do a polite and quick introduction + some highlights and attach the resume.See Also:What are the best tips for writing a resume?Should I include my address on my resume?What are easiest ways to prepare a best professional resume?What are Dan Holliday's experiences in recruiting American and non-American candidates? Did he find any differences in their personalities or skill sets?Is the maximum length guideline for a resume still applicable?What are the best typefaces to use in a resume?What is the best answer to the standard introduction questions in a face-to-face interview (Tell us about yourself? Why do you want to work here? Why are you changing jobs?)?What is the worst typographical error you have ever seen on a resume or other important document?