Applying online - cover letter

book12

When I apply directly for a job by post, I always have a covering letter with my CV.

However, when I apply for a job using an recruitment agency website, there is a box that I could type or upload my cover letter in. Do I really need a cover letter attached/typed up?

Does the recruitment staff usually read the cover letter as well as the CV, or just the CV?

GotToChange

What I think is - you need to do everything you can to stack the cards in your favour. This will probably include sending a covering letter that may not 1) get read - or) get passed on to the employer.

The difficulty is that you cannot be 100% professional in the letter as you don't know to whom you are actually sending it; I therefore would attach a fairly generic covering letter - albeit tailored to the role - with Dear Sir/Madam as the salutation. I would also - within the email to the agency - advise the recruiter that the covering letter is for the potential employer.

Nothing will save you from a c**p agency with make-believe jobs though.

dickydonkin

Nothing will save you from a c**p agency with make-believe jobs though.

You're not wrong there - I just hate agencies - I really do!

GotToChange

dpassmore wrote: »

You're not wrong there - I just hate agencies - I really do!

I bet that I hate them more!

There is one in our town - a shop-front type:

1) There was a perfectly suitable position in the window for a good few weeks. I rang to enquire and was told 1) That I must register (I am already registered so in point of fact, they should have let me know about the vacancy should they not?) - and 2) I was told that the role was actually not a real one; it was representative of a "typical" one that they might "get". ??? When I expressed my annoyance, the Manageress claimed that she "knew who I was" - she didn't as I had never actually called them about any issue before - and should stop ringing to cause trouble and then hung up on me.

2) I was in town a week or so later and saw that the position was still in the window (it was the only one that wasn't written in Polish [with no translation]) so thought that I would - in all innocence *wink* - go in and inquire about it (the staff wouldn't know me). I had to wait whilst both recruiters finihsed their phone calls (in Polish) and when they asked if they could help me, they couldn't - because they didn't speak English! (And my Polish is limited to Pie peschone suka - which is a spelt really badly.... and is not nice).

So - as I have said - I bet I hate them (or this one in particular) more.

Also, a previous job that I had is being touted through three different agencies; I would be interested to know the process if I apply to all three and my CV gets submitted three times to an employer that I would not want to go back to. Fortunately, I am not so stupid that I can't recognise the job (although it's pretty generic) and the nasty nasty company.

The whole employment/recruitment agency industry needs a good bleeping shake-up.

And don't get me started on the DWP/JCP website! A letter of suggestions on how they can improve their methods is a work in progess.

SorryOP - a can of worms has been opened.

Caffca

book12 wrote: »

When I apply directly for a job by post, I always have a covering letter with my CV.

However, when I apply for a job using an recruitment agency website, there is a box that I could type or upload my cover letter in. Do I really need a cover letter attached/typed up?

Does the recruitment staff usually read the cover letter as well as the CV, or just the CV?

Okay, I don't work for a recruitment agency and we don't do online applications but when recruiting do accept them by email. I ask for covering letter and CV so that is what I expect to receive - not just CV attached to email with message "Hi, here's my cv in application for the job" - hint don't write the covering letter in the email - you have no idea what it will look like when it is printed.

If you want a covering letter to go with your cv when applying online, there is nothing to stop you making the first page of your "CV" a covering letter and then the next pages the actual CV so that it is all in one document.

HTH