some commonsense tips for your resume

Otterma
Mon, 06 Mar 2017 21:31:00 +0000

also there is a back and forth debate on cover letters ( I personally think they are silly and a waste but many people do not agree with me)

I would always include a cover letter unless the potential employer specifically requested that I not send one.

A cover letter gives context to your resume and connects it directly to the job. Also, if you are a strong writer, a cover letter is a way to demonstrate that (as @ChowdyCat mentioned) since resumes tend to be very formulaic.

Say I met someone at a conference and we were having a discussion about something and that person asked for a resume. My cover letter would be something along the lines of “I enjoyed our conversation last week. Attached is the resume you requested. After our discussion, I looked into the foo mechanism you mentioned and I agree, it looks very promising. When I worked on the flubber project we used a similar approach…”

@mathmom - That is so cool. I would be living in a cardboard box if good handwriting were a job requirement but if a job applicant submitted a resume with a beautifully handwritten written cover letter I’d be tickled and it would be a plus mark for the applicant.