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  • ManpowerGroup Solutions

    ManpowerGroup Solutions is a global provider of customized, scalable solutions for workforce agility. For more than a decade, the world’s leading companies have turned to ManpowerGroup Solutions for Talent Based Outsourcing, Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Managed Service Provider solutions and Borderless Talent Solutions. Learn More >

  • Experis

    Experis is an operating division focused on contract and permanent job placements in areas such as information technology, engineering, finance and accounting, healthcare and business professional fields. Experis also provides employers with innovative workforce and project solutions to improve operational efficiency, performance and cost containment.
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  • Manpower

    Manpower is a world leader in employment services, creating and delivering services that enable job seekers and employers to win in the changing world of work. Founded in 1948, Manpower creates ideal temporary and permanent employment matches across skill, industry and business need, and provides workforce solutions to improve operational efficiency, performance and cost containment.
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  • Right Management

    Right Management is the world's leading global provider of talent and career management, designing and executing workforce solutions that align talent strategy with business strategy. Right offers services including talent assessment, leadership development, organizational effectiveness, employee engagement and workforce transition.
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Contemporary Working

The changing world of work presents new dynamics. To prepare for what's next, visit our Contemporary Working blog. Manpower's V.P. of World of Work Solutions, Melanie Holmes,understands that what's present-day today might not be tomorrow. That's why you'll always find something new on her Contemporary Working blog. Lively perspectives on work life issues. Tips and tools. Even some comic relief. Plus, hear from your peers and post your own comments.

Visit manpowergroupblogs.us/contemporary-working today. Visit often. You'll find it to be a cherished companion on your journey through the changing world of work.


Employment Blawg

The impossible has happened. A lawyer is doing something for free. Check out Manpower's Employment Blawg: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Employment Law (But Didn't Want to Pay a Lawyer to Ask). Chief Legal Officer for Manpower North America, Mark Toth, selflessly donated billable hours to create his Employment Blawg just to help professionals like you stay out of trouble and gainfully employed.

In his uniquely entertaining style, Mark delivers up-to-the minute information on employment law, plenty of practical tools and lots of laughs at the expense of his profession. (And yours. And Elvis.) Arm yourself with insights to prevent mistakes without being bombarded by legalese, legal fees and without falling asleep.

All these miracles happen at manpowergroupblogs.us/employment_blawg.

Career Coach

When you're stumped for career advice, turn to your coach - your Career Coach. We're here to provide you with the latest and greatest career tips and info to help you succeed in today's complicated and competitive world of work. We're also here to offer encouragement. The job market can be a crazy place, let us help you figure it out. So, get comfortable.

Read our posts, write a comment or ask a question. We're in your corner.

CareerBrain

You're smart. You know it. We know it. But are you smart when it comes to your career? It's tough to keep up with the latest trends, tools and technologies related to finding, keeping and having a successful career. That's where we come in - let us be your CareerBrain. You'll get access to our knowledge of job trends, markets, industries and people. Let's put the CareerBrain to work.

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Cover Letters Revisited in a Digital Job Market

By Ralph Haas

In this age of proliferating applicant tracking systems, automated job posting systems, and company career pages, the cover letter seems to be going out of style somehow. And yet, while it is often true that computers (and some recruiters) don’t read cover letters these days, it is also true that sometimes living, breathing humans—and even a few hiring managers—still do.  So if you keep writing them, and one of them gets read (thereby having a positive impact on your candidacy for the job), then the extra effort was more than justified.

A few thoughts:

  • Be sure to use the language, syntax, and key words of the job posting in the cover letter, just as you would in the resume. When cover letters are uploaded into resume management systems, they, too, are often scanned for key words. The voice of cover letter is not your resume “in other words”; it is in “their” words.
  • After you have submitted your credentials through appropriate web-based channels, consider printing the resume and cover letter on high quality white paper and send it to an actual human being via snail mail. Your cover letter can refer to the fact that you have—as asked—submitted your resume via appropriate channels, but you hoped that this additional follow-up would underscore your interest in the position.
  • Limit the letter to one page, leaving plenty of white space. Use columns, indented bullet points, or other formatting strategies to increase the readability of the page.
  • Make every effort to avoid starting every sentence with the word “I.”  Although the purpose of the letter is to promote you, there are limits to any reader’s tolerance for narcissism.

  • Use this opportunity to let the reader know that you’ve read up on the company beforehand, by including early on a sentence or two that describes some of the company’s recent initiatives or a note on its performance. The best way to adhere to the suggestion above—talking less about yourself—is to talk about them instead.

  • Include a header with your name and contact info at the top of the letter. Call that section your “letterhead.” Copy that section into a new Word file, and use that as the header for all correspondence, including your thank you letters, to give your written materials a better sense of cohesiveness (much like a corporate identity).   

  • Finally, after you’ve drafted the letter, set it aside, at least for several hours. Then proof, re-write, and edit carefully, or, better yet, ask a friend or family member to proof it for you. One thing that certainly hasn’t changed with the new technologies? Typos and grammatical errors will still get you eliminated every time.

    • While it is certainly true that the odds of your cover letter being read are decreasing with the introduction of newer technologies, the ultimate mathematical equation of job search still trumps all others: It only takes one. If that one cover letter gets you in the door, what do you care what the odds were?