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What about applicants looking to relocate? Should that be addressed in the cover letter as well as expectations around relocation funding (as in, I can pay it, you don't have to, sort of a line)?
Don't bring up the relocation in the cover letter if it is not specifically mentioned in the job posting. Address why you want to relocate. My biggest issue is wondering if people are going to stay in the new place once I hire them. What is holding them there?
Don't bring up the relocation in the cover letter if it is not specifically mentioned in the job posting. Address why you want to relocate. My biggest issue is wondering if people are going to stay in the new place once I hire them. What is holding them there?
I have a question regarding this. I am planning on moving back to Michigan to be close to my family. I haven't yet started applying for jobs there as I will have one that I'm taking with me. However, if do mention that I'm relocating to be closer to family, is that something that is typically acceptable among the HR circles?
Yes. A support network, a reason to stay, is what I want. Someone moving to Los Angeles because they like palm trees is not what I want. Palm trees can be photographed by the person as they quit and head home. A grounding reason, one compelling enough to give you reason to stay in an area is what I want. Family, a spouse going to school, moving back home because you miss family. All good. In fact, you make my point. You are moving to be closer to the support network. You are leaving your current location, even though you are transferring, they will have to fill the gap your leaving with cause. You are leaving to be with family....a grounding reason.
I'll start with saying I was a corporate manager for almost 30 years. I've hired a lot of people and got better at it with time. Many won recognition awards at the companies I was with. Most are still doing quite well.
And I didn't trust HR to make good decisions because they never understood what I was looking for.
My best hire ever was someone our HR consultant didn't want me to interview due to "job-hopping". I was sick and tired of getting fed resumes that only stated responsibilities or broad (nebulous) achievements with cover letters that seemed like a college writing project that I asked the HR person for everything that had been sent in and spent two nights going through all of them. And then I found this person. She had specific achievements I could relate to. And an odd but not unexplainable career path. I set up the interview myself over HR objections. She crushed the interview, was hired and eventually took over my job and has grown into one of the most respected people in her field.
Which brings me to my current situation. I left corporate a number of years ago to start a small business. Sold that business in 2011 and thought I had a nice soft landing back in corporate. That lasted all of three months as the project I was hired for was canceled, none of my doing.
Now in my mid-50s, and having been out of corporate for a decade (aside from those three months), it's pretty tough. My "old" network is OK, but as I haven't been in corporate for eight years, there's not a ton they can do except help with introductions. And I no longer live in the major centers for what I used to do. So it's an uphill battle.
Going back to my own experience as hiring manager, if there's a job I REALLY want (as opposed to one I could accept to pay the bills), I'll never go through HR. Those opportunities are few and far between, so I prepare accordingly. I always research into who I'd be working for, what their career path was, what the company culture is, how I'd fit into it and how I can help this person achieve what they want to achieve, not necessarily taking the company into account.
Then it's a cover letter emailed directly to that person (sometimes a bit tricky - I can usually figure out the email convention used for that company's employees, but in case I'm wrong I'll use several variants and put those in the BCC field). NEVER a canned letter. At this point in my career I find it worthwhile to take some risks in how I introduce myself. I get an excellent response rate and I've had interviews where I felt I nailed them, but have lost out to some heavy hitters with F500 experience I can't compete with. But the process works. I almost always hear back from the person I sent the email to, not HR, even when it's a rejection. It's a numbers game, I have age working against me, but the mere fact I'm getting through the clutter keeps me positive. Something will pop. Meantime I have enough side business going to keep the lights on and my wife (also my age, MBA with big corp experience and had to come down quite a bit in salary to land something after spending time out of corporate) got a job with bennies, so I don't have to worry about that.
I can't speak for the other hiring managers here, but I'd definitely suggest being original, but do so intelligently. There are ways to use LinkedIn and related sites to find the important keywords, to fine tune searches, and get earlier alters on job postings. I'm not going to get into specifics, but for professionals it's worth figuring out all the things LinkedIn can do. Address those bases in your cover letter, then be yourself.
So resumes of mothers staying at home for 6-10 years would automatically go to the junk bin?
What a pompous and bureaucratic post. "We have such an important job and it has so many details and red tape and lines and inputs and I want you to behave just so...." What has happened to the free spirit of America? Bureaucratized well above your head. What a creepy, spider-web painting of how self-important medium-sized cogs in the wheel looking for smaller suitable cogs. Or how the applicant cattle pool should behave properly cattle-tized.
Working in trades one will avoid the pompousness of this Orwellian machine.
So resumes of mothers staying at home for 6-10 years would automatically go to the junk bin?
What a pompous and bureaucratic post. "We have such an important job and it has so many details and red tape and lines and inputs and I want you to behave just so...." What has happened to the free spirit of America? Bureaucratized well above your head. What a creepy, spider-web painting of how self-important medium-sized cogs in the wheel looking for smaller suitable cogs. Or how the applicant cattle pool should behave properly cattle-tized.
Working in trades one will avoid the pompousness of this Orwellian machine.
Did you miss where he said to address it in the cover letter?
Read the entire post before jumping down someone's throat
Quick side note. Do HR and hiring managers like cover letters? I never write one because I have read articles from recruiter and hiring managers say they don't even read them because they only spend 15 seconds scanning a resume. If they like it at 15 sec they will spend more time. One HR person shared with me they will only consider CL's if they passed the 15 sec test and passed the resume review.
I have been getting good interviews without them that's why I am curious.
Quick side note. Do HR and hiring managers like cover letters? I never write one because I have read articles from recruiter and hiring managers say they don't even read them because they only spend 15 seconds scanning a resume. If they like it at 15 sec they will spend more time. One HR person shared with me they will only consider CL's if they passed the 15 sec test and passed the resume review.
I have been getting good interviews without them that's why I am curious.
Quick side note. Do HR and hiring managers like cover letters? I never write one because I have read articles from recruiter and hiring managers say they don't even read them because they only spend 15 seconds scanning a resume. If they like it at 15 sec they will spend more time. One HR person shared with me they will only consider CL's if they passed the 15 sec test and passed the resume review.
I have been getting good interviews without them that's why I am curious.
I like them. If I scan a resume and like it at first but have one or two questions, I will jump to the cover letter and read it. If I see a two year gap in employment in an otherwise great resume, I will read the cover letter for a reasonable explanation. That resume would be in the trash without the cover letter.
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