I am shocked by how many people don't send a covering letter with their CV

hcb42

Torry_Quine wrote: »

I don't like the implication that no cover letter means no effort. Talking of career advice is all very well but most job seekers aren't getting any as it's some time since they left school

It is some time since I left school too. This is essential stuff.

OK, so no covering letter - how the heck do you stand out among the crowd of 200+ applicants who applied for this clerical position?

Candidates have to sell themselves, and the first stage is getting to interview as you cannot get the job until you achieve that. How do you get to interview? By submitting a robust application on paper.

Torry_Quine

hcb42 wrote: »

It is sometime since I left school too. This is essential stuff.

OK, so no covering letter - how the heck do you stand out among the crowd of 200+ applicants who applied for this clerical position?

Candidates have to sell themselves, and the first stage is getting to interview as you cannot get the job until you achieve that. How do you get to interview? By submitting a robust application on paper.

Having a good CV which fits the job you are applying for is how you sell yourself. The person I know has had several interviews and one offer and waiting to hear from others so obviously not as essential to have a covering letter as you think.

hcb42

Torry_Quine wrote: »

I don't like the implication that no cover letter means no effort. Talking of career advice is all very well but most job seekers aren't getting any as it's some time since they left school

It SHOWS no effort. Recruiters are not daft. I could apply for 100 jobs tonight if I wanted by clicking on links in Reed. Applications needs to be considered, and it has long been the case, both here and abroad, that an application consists of a CV and covering letter....that should highlight the key points of the person specification and how the candidate matches them..why they want to work for that company etc....if someone cannot demonstrate to a recruiting manager that they want to work for someone, then it is no wonder that an application fails. Especially in this environment when jobs are hard to come by.

hcb42

Torry_Quine wrote: »

Having a good CV which fits the job you are applying for is how you sell yourself. The person I know has had several interviews and one offer and waiting to hear from others so obviously not as essential to have a covering letter as you think.

A good CV is obviously essential, but not writing a letter is a schoolboy error. Ok your friend might have got lucky. But when you get jobs being advertised, presumably not paying a massive wage like this one (clerical) and candidates are up against 200 others, then stating it is not important is poor advice imho.

Torry_Quine

hcb42 wrote: »

It SHOWS no effort. Recruiters are not daft. I could apply for 100 jobs tonight if I wanted by clicking on links in Reed. Applications needs to be considered, and it has long been the case, both here and abroad, that an application consists of a CV and covering letter....that should highlight the key points of the person specification and how the candidate matches them..why they want to work for that company etc....if someone cannot demonstrate to a recruiting manager that they want to work for someone, then it is no wonder that an application fails. Especially in this environment when jobs are hard to come by.

Well explain what I said above then.

Also they were told a CV was needed but a covering letter never mentioned, obviously if a job said one was needed they would send one but if not then it could be seen as surplus to requirements. Having to have a CV for many types of job is an entirely new thing for some people and does take effort to match to the job applied for.

SueC_2

emmaanddave wrote: »

If you wanted everyone to send in a covering letter then it should have been clearly stated in the job advert. 200 plus potential employees will not presume that a letter is needed if not asked for one. Maybe next time before slating all those that didn't send in a cover letter to actually request one in the first place. Cover letters can be an important part of the application and more effore is put in by myself if it is directly asked for etc.

Whatever happened to initiative?

By the same theory, asking someone to make the tea could well end up with it being poured in your lap because "if you'd have wanted a cup to put it in then you should have specifically asked for one".....

girl_in_need

SuzieSue wrote: »

I have just advertised a vacancy at my company on Monster.

I have received over a 100 CVs in 4 hours, but I am shocked by how many people do not send a covering letter with their CV and if they do, how they do not highlight how their skills and experience are relevant.

Many of the candidates have said that they are very interested in the vacancy but do not tell me why they are interested.

One person told me in their covering letter that they want a career in sales when the vacancy has nothing to do with sales.

Admitedly, the vacancy is for a clerical position, however if I was looking for a job, I would ensure that I sent a covering letter detailing why I should be considered for the vacancy and amend my CV if necessary.

I haven't been involved in recruitment for over 10 years, so perhaps I am out of touch.

What do other people think? Am I being unreasonable expecting people to spend time over their job applications or it is now acceptable to just fire off a CV without any thought?

SuzieSue.
maybe you should see it thought the
candidate eyes , as I my self have apply for so many job and got turn down for them.( I've got turn down for so many jobs I've lost count) I've seen lots of people who get the job is mostly non british people ( sorry but this is the god dame truth!!).
sometimes when I apply for jobs ( and yes I'm looking for work before you ask) the employer does not phone or email me back to say weather or not I got the job ( I find this a bit rude) . the job market is hard out their at the mo, but what I'm trying to say is , yes , maybe some people need to put a covering letter and a cv , but us jobseeker have got enough on our plate . I do have the skills need for a job but as I said at the start of my post I've got turn down for so many jobs that I lost count and not only that it make me depressed when I get turn down for a job , cos I've got the skills that you employers are looking for .

SuzieSue

girl_in_need wrote: »

SuzieSue.
maybe you should see it thought the
candidate eyes , as I my self have apply for so many job and got turn down for them.( I've got turn down for so many jobs I've lost count) I've seen lots of people who get the job is mostly non british people ( sorry but this is the god dame truth!!).
sometimes when I apply for jobs ( and yes I'm looking for work before you ask) the employer does not phone or email me back to say weather or not I got the job ( I find this a bit rude) . the job market is hard out their at the mo, but what I'm trying to say is , yes , maybe some people need to put a covering letter and a cv , but us jobseeker have got enough on our plate . I do have the skills need for a job but as I said at the start of my post I've got turn down for so many jobs that I lost count and not only that it make me depressed when I get turn down for a job , cos I've got the skills that you employers are looking for .

Believe me, I've been there, I know how depressing it is when you haven't got a job and are applying for job after job and getting nowhere. I personally would like to give everyone a chance but I can't because I have been overwhelmed by applications.

Evilm

I do put a covering letter with all my applications and yet mine would not reach your standards. I don't summarise my CV unless something important to the job isn't emphazised enough in the CV and nor do I give a reason why I am interested in the role unless it is completely out of the fields of prior experience. If you want more information on why I am interested in a role then perhaps that is a question for the interview. My CV is there to give you the information you need.

SuzieSue

Evilm wrote: »

I do put a covering letter with all my applications and yet mine would not reach your standards. I don't summarise my CV unless something important to the job isn't emphazised enough in the CV and nor do I give a reason why I am interested in the role unless it is completely out of the fields of prior experience. If you want more information on why I am interested in a role then perhaps that is a question for the interview. My CV is there to give you the information you need.

I have now received nearly 300 applications. I can't interview even 10% of them to find out why they want the role. If someone has applied for a job, surely the first question the recruiter wants to know is why they want the job and how their experience and qualifications fit the job spec. I don't want a novel, I just want a maximum of 10 lines telling me these three basic things.

I don't want to know why they want to work for my specific company as they won't know anything about it as it is only a small company, but I do want them to spend a few minutes tailoring their covering letter to the job spec.

Perhaps I am unusual in receiving 300 applications, but I've only managed to look at 20 this morning and so I am only able to look at the ones with decent covering letters.