From: katie edwards [mailto:kedwards_hr@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2010 8:12 AM
To: Kim Brushaber
Subject: Re: Executive Networking Tomorrow

Here is an article from today’s WSJ. I tried to put it on our linked in page as a discussion article but it was too big. Can you somehow share it? Thanks

Standout Letters to Cover Your Bases

By SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN

It’s something job seekers often wonder: Do you really need to submit a cover letter with your résumé?

Some hiring managers confess to ignoring these introductory notes, while others say they read them attentively. Hiring managers say that despite the vast advice available on writing cover letters, many job hunters don’t submit them. But applicants who take the time to craft a cover letter stand a fair chance at setting themselves apart.

And given the stiff competition for jobs these days, career experts say writing an introductory note may be worth the effort, especially for career-changers and individuals whose résumés show a red flag, such as an employment gap.

To make a favorable impression, hiring managers say job hunters should craft different letters for every application and tailor them to both the employer and position they’re targeting. Cover letters should be brief, says David Loeser, executive vice president, human resources, for baked-goods company Hostess Brands Inc. in Dallas.

One way to customize a cover letter is to reference an employer’s products or services or point out content on its Web site. Another is to comment on a trend within the organization’s industry. If you know the name of the hiring manager for the position or a human-resources manager at the firm, you should address him or her directly and—whenever possible—acknowledge something personal about the individual.

High-Priority Candidate

Last spring, a job hunter wrote in a cover letter to Chris Willis, vice president of human resources and general counsel for Dallas-based distributor Interstate Battery System of America Inc., about how he had just graduated from Mr. Willis’s alma mater. The job hunter, who was seeking a legal position, also noted Mr. Willis’s involvement in the Texas General Counsel Forum, a trade group. Mr. Willis says Interstate Battery didn’t any have any legal jobs open at the time, and still doesn’t, but the writer will “be top of mind” whenever one is available. “We’ll keep him on file in a database of high potentials that get higher priority when it comes to recruiting,” Mr. Willis says.

To customize a letter for a particular position, applicants should show how their backgrounds line up with the requirements outlined in the job description.

“With a cover letter, you can get more context than you might get in a résumé,” says Craig Campbell, director of staffing for Dolby Laboratories Inc., an entertainment-technology company in San Francisco.

A recent applicant for a director of business-development position at Dolby described how his background matched the four qualifications listed in the ad for the job, says Mr. Campbell, adding that the applicant was granted an interview.

Cover letters also are ideal for clearing up anything in a résumé that might confuse or concern recruiters. Clare Shanahan, senior director of talent acquisition for Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co., a high net worth insurer in Novato, Calif., says she recently received a cover letter from a job hunter that explained why his résumé didn’t list an employer after 2008: He had spent the past 18 months unsuccessfully trying to launch a business.

“It showed that he was honest and entrepreneurial,” she says, adding that she extended this person an interview invite for a senior-level sales and marketing position at Fireman’s Fund. “Had he not done that, there would’ve too much room for doubt.”

Similarly, Natalia Schultz, chief talent officer for Grey Group, a New York-based advertising firm, says she granted an interview to an industry outsider after reading the person’s cover letter about why she wanted to change careers and join Grey in particular. “It was such an incredibly compelling note that I had to meet her,” she says.

No Mistakes

Make sure every cover letter is error-free or your hard work could backfire. About 20% of applications for jobs at Fireman’s Fund include introductory notes, says Ms. Shanahan. Of those, she estimates 30% contain mistakes, most commonly because they’re addressed to the wrong company or recruiters’ names are misspelled.

Sloppiness can automatically eliminate an applicant from consideration, says Ms. Shanahan. “The person’s résumé and credentials would have to be really outstanding to compensate, and many recruiters may not look past the cover letter to make that assessment,” she says. Factual, spelling and grammatical gaffes indicate “a lack of attention to detail,” she adds.

Cookie-cutter cover letters also can derail an applicant’s shot at landing an interview. “I can tell if it’s a form letter and they just inserted my name or my agency,” says Ms. Schultz. “I’m immediately turned off.” An original, but lackluster cover letter will likely generate the same reaction, she adds. “If it’s boring, I don’t want to meet you,” she says.

Job hunters should further keep in mind that many employers use tracking software to store and share information about applicants and can therefore tell if someone submitted the same exact cover letter for more than one position.

And while mailing handwritten cover letters through the postal service may be a way to avoid this, recruiters say doing so is unlikely to win their favor anyway.

What’s more, even sending a well-crafted note this way, rather than via email, also may not be wise since doing so prevents recruiters from forwarding it to other decision makers.

I was exchanging emails with my friend, Robert Betts.  He was telling me about how he was talking to a friend of his who was a Director at an Austin company.  This director spent 3 years pondering job search issues before he was finally able to find a new job.

I started to respond back to Robert with my take on why we are seeing this problem occur right now.  It’s not just Robert’s friend. It’s hundreds of people that I talk to every single day.  I decided to instead post this as a blog.  I will warn you that I make some “generalizations” in this blog. I know it won’t resonate with everyone, but I know that it will hit home for many.

Austin went through a huge round of layoffs from 2000 – 2002. At that point in time it hit the relatively new tech sector.  There were a lot of businesses that were funded that probably shouldn’t have been.   The web was pretty new and money was being thrown at anyone with an idea.  People took risks and left their jobs to be parts of these great ideas.  However, the people who were affected when these layoffs hit were people who already knew they were in a risky situation.  They were comfortable with the idea of change and were prepared to do something different if the idea did not work out. They bounced back easily.

This round that hit us in 2008 and has been affecting us through 2009 has been different because it has hit a part of the workforce that was supposed to be “Safe”. People who had the same job for 10 – 20 years were affected in this round.  This group of the population chose the positions (and companies) that they were in because they wanted some place that was safe and stable.  All they had to do was keep doing their job and they could coast easily to retirement.

During the 2000 hit,  job boards were a relatively new concept.  There weren’t that many people applying online, so the companies that were using online technology were not inundated with the number of applications.  In fact, it helped them to reach a certain part of the population that was tech savvy.

In the 2008 hit, everyone knows about job boards. The “Apply Button” is available on every single company’s website.  It appears to make the job very easy for people.  All they have to do is be qualified and they can submit their resume through electronic means and they trust that someone on the other side of the screen is going to see them and love them. (For my take on the Apply Button check out this previous blog post – http://www.bridgeatx.com/blog/?p=91)

 We are now in an environment where people have lived their lives masked behind computer screens.  They work all day and then they isolate themselves from the world when they go home.  Some people watch reality TV shows to make them feel like they are part of another person’s life.  If people have families, the family circles around computers and tvs to entertain themselves.  For the most part, our circle of friends were our coworkers.

So this leaves us with a circle of contacts between our family and our friends who we used to work with.  Old coworkers either can’t hire us back at our old jobs OR they are struggling to find a new job as well.

The people who are fairing the best in the job search right now are the ones who:

A) Kept in contact with coworkers after they left our organizations

B) Have a circle of parents they have bonded with over children’s extra cirricular activities

C) Have maintained a large circle of friends

D) Have established vendor relationships with other companies not affected by layoffs

E) Are going out there and networking and meeting new people

So, what do you do if you are not one of the groups listed above. 

You’re scared. You’re resistant to change. You have a low risk tolerance. You’re depressed because the tactics that are easy for you are not working out. You’re depressed because you feel like your lay off was a divorce from the company not just a lay off.  You don’t want to go out there and learn something new.  You just want your old job back! As crappy as that job might have been, it was familiar.

So, now what?

1. Recognize the situation that you are in – stop hiding from it
2. Seek professional help – don’t think you can take on your job search alone. There are lots of well qualified career coaches out there to help you.
3. Circle the Wagons – who have you lost contact with that can help you?
4. Build a new network – get out and meet new people
5. Create a Plan – make a plan for what you are going to do to get that next job
6. Act on your plan – implement strategies that will help you in this search
7. Be realistic – set goals for yourself that are achievable
8. Find a partner – find someone outside your family who will hold you accountable to those actions
9. Go Easy on Yourself – stop beating yourself up
10. Celebrate – start celebrating every little triumph along the way

This job search pattern that started in 2008 is different than any other job search that has been out there before.  Old tactics no longer work.  Get creative and figure out how to get yourself that next job!