Generic Job Application: Fill & Download for Free

Most of those in LinkedIn may not be recruiters and won't likely like the idea of a "generic" job application letter. They would sense the letter is generic because not all of them work in the same industry or even have jobs to offer. The chances of your email being ignored are high.If you really want to go this route then put some elbow grease into it. Browse your list of contacts and divide them into groups. Remove those with no jobs to offer. You can draft a "recruiter" request email containing your skills and profile to recruiter friends and contacts. Everybody else must get a customized email. If they are simply acquaintances that you haven't met in a while then you might want to state where you met them. Put a personal touch to increase the chances of getting read.

A great deal of what Josh wrote fits my experience, it can be hard to unpack your life. This probably isn’t rare, but until I was diagnosed, I tended to assume everyone’s internal processes were like mine…Realistically, the only person who knows my real self is my wife. In common usage, “reserved” is often a synonym for “quiet”, but it is profoundly applicable to me since I reserve most of my thoughts, interests, & emotions for home.Going outside is a little bizarre…Rules or law & order - This is hyperbole-free: I honestly try and hide this part of my personality more than others in a work context. What’s seriously baffling to me is someone else wrote the damn rules, my company has numerous annual training modules (with tests) on the damn rules, but if you bring them up, people look at you like you’re from outer space… I out myself all of the time by being ‘inflexible’ or ‘too literal’, but I’ve learned to be ultra-cautious with this area.Humor - I probably show about 30% in a work context. There’s been this normal cycle where I loosen up, some extra humor bleeds through, and I get that, “wow, he’s weird” response. I know I’m not completely alone with my sense of humor, but apparently, I diverge enough from the mean that it’s drawn notice & comment…Lying, or the lack thereof - Generally, being uncomfortable with lying makes your external life easier: You get a reputation for honesty, integrity, & fairness. All that is good. However, the mask is all important since showing revulsion at someone else’s dishonesty rarely makes your life easier. Additionally, “lie” is a taboo word in the working world. Unless it’s on video, with supporting witnesses, and egregiously damaging to the company or someone “important”, people will bend themselves into pretzels to avoid calling it a “lie.”Interests - I’ve stopped talking about them altogether. There have been maybe three co-workers in the last 20 years where there have been either mutual or compatible interests. This sounds dumb, but I make a point of watching at least one current & popular television series. That, plus current news events, generic job babble, and bland family chit-chat seems to pretty much cover the average person’s interests. Supposedly, the majority of Americans self-report reading four books a year.[1] From 20′ish years in the adult world, I doubt it. I think a lot of those people inflated their one book per year into four…Home is much easier!My wife and I have very compatible senses of humor, so no masking needed there. When it’s the two us, we laugh a lot. I can also be open and honest with what I’m thinking (and vice versa).She’s neuro-typical, so there’s some adaptation that happens, but I don’t consider it to be “masking.” To me, the “mask” isn’t something I enjoy or want to do, it’s an irritating obligation imposed on me by others. Whereas the adjustments needed for living harmoniously with (some) NTs is something I want, so it feels different…The interests in our home are really weird since any common territory tends to be superficial. On the deep interests, we all seem to make an effort to humor each other.Everyone, even NTs, mask with their children. So I’m genuine with them, but like every parent, I have to pretend to be angry or stern sometimes when I’m secretly amused, or prevent myself from hiding in the crawlspace when the four-year-old had pink-eye (so creepy and gross).Thanks for the A2A.Footnotes[1] Majority of Americans Are Still Reading Print Books

Agree with Ambra Benjamin that above all else it's about most recent role but here's exactly what I'd like to know about it:- what you were actually doing ('software engineer' is a generic title with a huge variance of responsibilities - be specific about what that meant for you)- who you were actually working with (include details of team size, how your team fit into the org structure)- why the work was important to the company (was this the company's core product you were asked to work on, or some other piece to enable things to happen)I would also add that as a recruiter for a start up I actually value a cover letter more than if I worked for a large company. The resume isn't likely going to allow me to make a judgment on a candidate's knowledge and genuine interest in our company and product. Reading a paragraph about why you want to work here vs. why you just want to work anywhere could very well be the difference between being passed over and being called for an interview.Of course, that requires the cover letter to be specific. Anything generic that appears re-used across many job applications or focuses only on your background (which I could just glean from your resume) is useless and detracts from any genuine or specific interest you might actually have in the specific company.