When the going gets tough...

...don’t lose your manners.

Being in HR, I’m a recipient of all kinds of resumes, CVs, bio-data, profiles, what-have-you. The first thing that strikes me about job mails is the lack of effort, interest and respect displayed by the applicant.

For most of them, there’s no formal addressing. It begins with “Hello. I’m blah blah blah”. And God bless those ones who “expect a favor from you as he/she are alumnus/ X’s cousin/ Y’s colleague/ Z’s daughter in law” Excuse me, but none of the above obliges me to consider your profile for my organization. Period.

What follows next is the grief story on why he/she wants to switch. Okay. Whatever.

The worse are the concluding remarks. “I expect a positive response at the earliest” or “Keep me posted”. I just can’t help laughing at such mails/ cover letters.

Which brings me to the point of cover letters. These days, thanks to the numerous consultants and job portals, applicants don’t take the pain of drafting a cover letter. It was one of the potent tool recruiters used in old days to shortlist candidates and I regret its absence these days.

Get a grip, folks. When you are ‘cold-calling’ your CV to someone, remember you need them more than they need you. If you don’t draft a good, impressive mail/ cover letter, you’ve lost them even before they check your full CV.

Comments

Nikhz said…
Yeah yeah you whiny people. The only time that people (read prospective employees) even bother with the likes of you and you have to show all kinds of attitude :). But jokes, aside, I agree. I remember when you read out even some of the resumes when you were helping your uncle out with something
Nov 6, 2009, 2:06:00 AM
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