email or personal letter?

soolin

My son leaves uni this week and so far has been unsuccesful in finding any employment. Even with my help we haven't even found an agency that will take him onto their books for any sort of work, perm, temp manual or office.

We were thinking of just blitzing all the large companies we can find with his CV and a letter explaining what he is trying to do, my question is we had thought to do this by email to save postage costs, but would it be an advantage if we did it all by real mail instead?

Oldernotwiser

Although I don't have a link to it, I believe that some research was done a couple of years ago which showed that the majority of companies preferred people to apply by email.

soolin

Thank you.

I think we will be busy tomorrow then online!

SomeBozo

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Although I don't have a link to it, I believe that some research was done a couple of years ago which showed that the majority of companies preferred people to apply by email.

My company was not questioned in that! We hate spec emails (they usually get deleted as unsolicited emails with the vast array of recruitment companies!)

But anyway, my point is this.

The communication "road in" whether it be via the internet or via the postman is irrelavant.

What you need to focus on is who gets the Cv/Covering letter/email.

It needs to be addressed to the right person. Putting no one on the letter/email or putting a job title like "The head of recruitment" I think will get typically no-where. You need to ring or visit and find out who is in charge or who makes the decisions on recruitment.

Also, don't send the same letter/email to all of them, we can tell!

Plus, change the CV to match the company. I am sure a DIY shop (for example) won't be interested in your food handling skills, so have a selection of CVs specific to the industry or company you are applying to.

A little time spent researching the company and including some of it on the letter makes it far more personal and more likely for someone to actually look at it and reply.

I remember one letter where the chap had done his homework well. The letter was addressed to me personally. The covering letter told me all about my company, the office bases, my clients etc! He now heads up my London office and overseas affairs!

(Does the job centre teach you this?!)

Bozo

honeypop

Similar to Bozo above, I would delete any spec emails that came in where it was clear the person didn't actually know who it should be addressed to, so by all means yes email the company - as long as you know specifically WHO it should go to, rather than a department or general title.

The same goes for real life mail too though, anything addressed to 'Personnel' or similar or that was clearly a mass-sent letter the same to everyone, was quickly scanned through to make sure the person wasn't by chance something amazing, then binned as they clearly didn't target their application very well and a little research would have gone a long way - companies do notice these things and having someone think that a person has spent a bit of time looking into your company and finding out exactly who to contact, may well make all the difference.

If it's about the moneysaving aspect, then hand delivering a spec application/letter can also be an idea. I assume he would be able to travel to all the places he'd be applying for, so just popping it in to the reception or similar and asking for it to be forwarded to the appropriate person works nicely. I've seen this work, especially when the receptionist can pass on details that the person who came in was very well presented, polite and communicated well etc, as that first impression, although not with the 'right' person, can make a lot of difference.

Out of interest OP, what is he qualified in if no agency would take him on for anything?

soolin

He has a history and politics degree plus internship experience with a coupe of city offices and spent his summer holidays on and off in a factory packing boxes.

All the agencies locally have closed books, too many applicants not enough jobs. They have all advised him to go away for a year or so and get more experience in an office and then they'll be interested in seeing him.

456789

Don't 'blitz' but target carefully as mentioned above

Your son sounds like a good candidate hopefully something will turn up

CCFC_80

Yes apply by e-mail if it allows it - Think of the planet !!

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

Speculative CV's/Applications are for professionals or those with extremely specialised skillsets and/or experence in that field..

Waitressing staff etc should apply for jobs that are advertised only or only to restaurants etc.

A speculative CV received from someone with no skill or experience in that industry will be laughed straight in the bin.

The fact is it seems your daughter has limited skills and experience and no employer is likely to decide to find a role for her etc. needs to stick to applying for what is advertised.

kalaika

Not a moneysaving point, I know, but I would add is that whatever you do, make sure that his CV and covering letters do not contain any spelling mistakes, presentational problems (e.g. margins not lining up) and grammatical errors (e.g. missing capital letters). Applications with mistakes always go straight in the bin!

Make sure he triple checks it for errors (and don't rely on spell checkers as they won't pick up errors such as there/their, etc) then make sure that you (and preferably someone else) also check it thoroughly - once he's spent some time on it, he may read what he thinks he's written rather than what he has actually written so a fresh pair of eyes reading it can sometimes see mistakes that he's missed!

Otherwise, good luck!

Nile

LinasPilibaitisisbatman wrote: »

Speculative CV's/Applications are for professionals or those with extremely specialised skillsets and/or experence in that field..

Waitressing staff etc should apply for jobs that are advertised only or only to restaurants etc.

A speculative CV received from someone with no skill or experience in that industry will be laughed straight in the bin.

The fact is it seems your daughter has limited skills and experience and no employer is likely to decide to find a role for her etc. needs to stick to applying for what is advertised.

Have a look again at the first post in this thead.;)



Hello soolin

I like the suggestion that your son takes his letter(s) and hands them in personally to each company.

I seem to remember watching the news and seeing an unemployed man who resorted to advertising his skills on a sandwich board. He stood where there was a regular queue of traffic...................and he was rewarded with a job offer.:cool:

I hope he finds work soon.

Good luck

Nile