Odd website applicaiton situation

[chunder27]

OK when you are asked to write a covering letter, what do you do?

My basics are to expand on the job spec, offer experiences, personalise my application and try and sell yourself a bit more.

Ideal length would be about a three quarter to a page of A4 in decent size text.

Just applying for a job where a covering letter was asked for, and the website has a box, with only character amounts on it. 3000 characters, sounds a lot does it not?

My letter is less than 650 words, and it doesn't fit. That is with formalities like address, date, usual decent letter writing things like a yours sincerely, that i just words, no paras' just spacing. Pathetic.

Who in Gods name would restrict the size of a covering letter to about half a page of A4.

Maybe this says, "we don't care what you write, it just goes in a cruncher and we pick out keywords from it, or, it is other things that matter, this certainly does not, this is our way of telling you?

I wouldn't mind, but the job involves,.... Yea you guessed it writing! I am staggered, truly.

[anonymous-user]

I've never written a cover letter, don't understand the point of them at all and certain they don't get read

[parabolica]

For text boxes like that I would usually keep it short and sweet like 'please find attached my application for x, please feel free to get in touch if you require any further information'.

If you're intent on including a CL (I agree that they rarely are read but it can't hurt to include one) simply add it to your CV document, so it appears in front of your CV. But if they only wanted to give you 3000 characters for a cover letter I wouldn't bother with doing this.

[The Moose]

Maybe part of the job role involves being concise and to the point?

[eliot]

Assuming it’s not on your cv:
Reason for leaving current role
Salary expectations
why you suit the role
where you live
any questions about the role
crb clear and or other clearances
driving license
ability to travel

When I get candidate cv’s in, the internal recruiters put a covering page with such info.

[chunder27]

The job was about writing, so if I was recruiting for that role I would at least want to know if someone can write and show some creativity.

Sadly the company is large so the application portal has to cover all kinds of applications for all sorts of jobs.

3000 characters is about three quarters of a page, and the advert had a lot of detail that was easy to expand on personally in a letter

AS I say a simple oversight as the portal is geared up for umpteen types of job.

for other types of job say manufacturing I would not send a CL unless the company asked for it, and they sometimes do, i thin at times it shows willing and have often received good feedback on mine.

[98elise]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

They are useful for pointing the recruiter at where your CV and experience meets all the criteria they asked for in the advert.

CV's contain a lot of information and are a pain to modify and reformat for every job. A covering letter can quickly be knocked up instead.

It makes it easier for the recruiter to understand why I should make the shortlist. Also bear in mind that the person doing the first sift may not fully understand the role.

I'm a contractor so change roles regularly, and it works for me.