Re: Resume Revision/CvrLtr

[Garrett Winn <v2cdigw -at- US -dot- IBM -dot- COM>]

(This is my first real post to this list--aside from my chuckle at the "Fed Up"
thing--so excuse me while I calm my trembling fingers)

<Actually, the purpose of the cover letter is to highlight the things you want
<the reader to pickup on in the resume and to put forward ideas, skills, or
<talents that might be overlooked otherwise.  To me, the cover letter is the
<place to tell the "What Elses"--or at least that's what I taught my students in
<all my business and professional writing classes--and it seems to work for me.
<For example, I have two fields--editing/writing and accounting.  So if I'm
<sending a business resume, I point out the things from my writing/editing
<background that will be beneficial in a business environment and vice versa
<when I'm sending out a writing resume. The cover letter is where you sell
<yourself--up to the point of the interview. Char

I also taught these things to my students in my technical writing class. A tip
I often gave them was to look at the job ad and list of qualifications, and to
respond to these in the letter by showing how their experience fit in with the
company's desires.  First, they were to state for which job they were applying
(I didn't allow "form letter" cover letters), then they were to go through the
ad and match up their skills with what the company wrote down for the
position.  They were required to show (as opposed to just tell) how they met
the requirements--referring the reader often to their resumes.  Finally, they
were supposed to request an interview and close.

What is everyone's take on this?  Did I teach my students okay?  Or did I miss
something important? It has seemed to work for me in my jobs, but I have only
been in the job market for a couple years.

Garrett Winn

 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=