Don’t Feel Bad About It

Just a quick observation: execs have as hard a time as anyone with job search.  I know, I know – “hey, they’re executive material, I mean, just look at that suit.  And that hair – it’s silver!“  The impression is that they must be supermen/ women, who know how to get a job, network, etc.

Nope – apparently, they struggle with the whole “pants fits, then shoes” things just like the rest of us.  I mean, when they start sending me resumes, and all the cover letter says is “see cv”….  sigh.

Just to reiterate from a theme I have in this blog: stand out.  I don’t care what level you are – you have competition.  Serious competition.  Our VP of Sales job is a plum one, in a tight market.  If all you write is: “See cv”, you’re not taking advantage of the chance to show off your communication skills – when it comes to execs, that’s critical.  Heck, we’re looking for a Product Trainer, and one of the first things we look at is the cover letter – if it’s not fairly solid, the candidate doesn’t make it in.  A one-liner for any job means you’re not moving forward.

Well, here, anyways – but we’re pretty picky.

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Aww, c’mon…

 

“Enclosed is my resume for the Electrical Engineering intern position. I have a keen interest in the field of  Embedded System & VLSI Design , Research and Development and Testing , your company being one of the pioneer companies in this field would help me to expand my knowledge and use my current skills to serve your company in a better way.”

At least make a stinking effort…. And: no.  We do not have an internship opening for an electrical engineer.  And, no: we are not one of the pioneer companies in “the field of  Embedded System & VLSI Design , Research and Development and Testing”  I’m not even sure what that means…

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Okay, Look…

…if the job requirements include: Semantic Java, Hibernate, etc.  And the company is: a Web 2.0 business information engine that’s created (and is creating more) highly disruptive products.  And the team we’re looking to hire for: is our Core development team, which focuses on natural language processing, artificial intelligence, and information integration.

And you are: an embedded software engineer with a PhD in electronics, and a Masters in signal processing and controls.

Then, you can’t claim in your cover letter that your: “working experience closely matches the position requirements.”

Here’s the thing.  If this cat had made a strong, thought out pitch about how his work experience was in any way relevant, it’s not out of the realm of possibility he would get considered by some companies.  Not here, because we honestly need directly relevant experience for this critical hire, but a larger organization might have thought “hmm, smart guy, can communicate – and, it never would have occurred to us from his resume, but yeah, that project he did is relevant to what we do…”

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David Perry (Guerilla Marketing for Job Hunters) – Good Advice

David Perry’s great.  He has a new book out – Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters – that you should buy, now.  Worth the investment.  Here’s a video interview he and  his co-author, Kevin Donlin, just did with the Wall Street Journal.

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Irony

I don’t know why this is, but I’ve lost track of how many candidates make grammar and/ or spelling mistakes in the very sentence where they’re describing their excellent communication skills. 

I have excellent communication skills and with my diverse skills I think I am fit for this job.
 

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