Today we’re looking at 5 main tasks:
- Check in with your Lego purchases.
- Follow up about claim letters.
- Discuss the readings for today.
- Analyze some job ads.
- Analyze some sample letters.
1. Legos. Are they on their way?
2. Claim letter follow-up: Time Warner Cable. So after our class on Thursday, I tweeted:
I then also tweeted this, which led to a series of exchanges with @TWC_Help. Long story short, someone from the local TWC billing office did call me on Friday and I got my rate adjusted back to the original rate (saving me $120/year). This would have happened anyway, but by Tweeting to them publicly I’d like to think I saved myself about an hour of being on hold. How about you guys? Any stories since Thursday?
3. Discuss the readings. In I’ve Read 500 Cover Letters for Entry-Level Media Jobs (from Slate, Aug 2013), Katherine Goldstein says this: “Many young people seem to have no idea how to apply for a job. What I see time after time from young [professionals] are not the classic no-nos, like misspellings and typos, but what appears to be a fundamental lack of understanding of how to sell oneself to a prospective employer” (emphasis mine).
- What are some of the ways Goldstein tries to address this in her article?
- Of her tips, which seem the most compelling or surprising based on your experiences writing cover letters?
- How do they line up with the other readings? That is, what do you hear repeated over and over again?
4. Analyze job ads. In Cover Letter FAQs, Career Services suggests that the purpose of the cover letter is to “to demonstrate a terrific fit between what the organization needs and what you can offer.” In order to do this, you’ll first need to understand exactly what those needs are.
- Let’s look at the examples from the handout, Tailoring Your Cover Letter. Read the job ad quickly to see if you can spot the skills and qualifications necessary for this position — then read it again, looking even more closely and critically. Now read the excerpts. Which is strongest? Weakest? Why?
- Often the qualities or skills in an job ad seem vague. In those cases it is up to you to show them what they are telling you. That is, if they tell you that they’re looking for a “good communicator” you show them how ways how your treasury position at your sorority required you to brief the house on finances every other Sunday. Let’s use this brainstorming handout to help us practice this.
- Take the job ad you brought in today and try this same exercise. First list the skills, requirements, qualifications like the one in the brainstorming handout. Next, list specific experiences and skills from your own background that you could use in a cover letter for this position. After 10 min or so, we’ll share these.
5. Analyze some sample letters. Although letters will vary somewhat, both the “Writing a Cover Letter” handout and the Virginia Tech Career Center page offer similar advice in terms of structure & content. Use these sources and the original job ads to evaluate the effectiveness of each letter:
On Thursday, we’ll look at a few more samples and let you do some writing toward your own letter.