Re: Resume Revision/CvrLtr

["Marie C. Paretti" <mparetti -at- RRINC -dot- COM>]

I'll weigh in with Katav, Garrett Winn, and Charlene Hirschi on the cover
letter question here.  I work for a small company that's in the process of
trying to hire another tech writer.  We have no HR Department per se, so
I'm the one who reads all the resumes and letters, and from my perspective,
the letters are invaluable.  I'm looking for a writer, after all, and the
cover letter is the first actual writing sample I get from someone (the
resume is another sample, but that's a different issue).   In essence, a
resume tells me what you can do; a cover letter tells me what you can and
will do *for me.*

As a writing sample, the letter gives me some sense of how the applicant
communicates -- can they construct coherent sentences, formulate thoughts
concisely, convery the relevant information quickly, etc.  It also tells me
*why* the applicant is applying for the job -- what aspects do they find
interesting, how do they think their experience satisfies the needs of the
position, how can they make up in skills or willingness what they lack in
experience, etc.  I don't want to be overwhelmed with information; I want a
straight-to-the-point summary explaining why I should hire this person from
among dozens of people with similar experience.

Case in point: in my current search, I need someone who can develop and
teach training classes as well as write technical materials.  I got a
number of resumes from people with lots of writing experience but little or
no training experience.  I got only one or two cover letters that
acknowledged that fact and explained what they planned to do about it or
why they thought they were capable of training.  Needless to say, the
people who wrote to say "Although I've never had any formal training
experience, my strong skills in blah blah blah and my interest in yakkity
yak . . . " or "Although most of my work has been in documentation, I have
also had the opportunity to train coworkers or new hires or whatever. . . "
got much more of my attention.  As did the letters that said the reverse -
"Although most of my work has been in training, I have also written xyz
types of manuals . . . "

Essentially, the cover letter tells me the applicant read and responded to
*my* job ad, not a generic ad for a tech writer or trainer.  It's another
indication of audience awareness to me, another piece that lets me set this
applicant apart from the pile.

So, there are my morning thoughts.

Marie

Marie C. Paretti, PhD
Recognition Research, Inc. (RRI)
1750 Kraft Drive, Suite 2000
Blacksburg, VA 24060
mparetti -at- rrinc -dot- com
http://www.rrinc.com

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