<p>My daughter will be sending out letters to prospective employers (she is looking for a job as a paralegal, so she will be contacting law firms). Should she send an email or a paper letter to the HR contact person?</p>
<p>Email is quicker and easier but might be too informal, and also annoying to the HR person, especially if she attaches a resume. Paper seems generally preferable to me, although if the norm is email, she might seem clueless.</p>
<p>Advice?</p>
<p>If she is applying to online job postings, it seems like email “cover letter” with attached resume would be ok. DS does a pdf attachment for cover letter, I see pros/cons to that method.</p>
<p>The issue is that she will not be responding to any particular job posting. She will be sending out a letter (email or paper is the question) to the HR offices at a bunch of law firms in several cities, asking if they have any openings for paralegals and expressing her interest.</p>
<p>The prospect of an uninvited email with a resume attachment is exactly the concern I have. The opposite-side concern is that paper is old-fashioned and might be looked at as odd.</p>
<p>I would send it in the mail. I am a paralegal. But I am also “old.” ;)</p>
<p>My feeling, as a busy business person who hires, is that the paper version shows a certain amount of effort from the applicant. She can indicate she is email-literate or conversant by offering to communicate via email if the prospective employer prefers.</p>
<p>IMHO it’s way too easy to delete and forget an email query. It’s also very easy for an applicant to send out 1000 emailed resumes targeting any and all possibilities. The hard copy implies a bit of effort and expense on the part of the applicant. While an unsolicited resume may hit the round file, it’s at least hanging around for a bit.</p>
<p>Maybe I am old fashioned. But I am also, at the moment, a hiring manager and business owner.</p>