Handwritten covering letters with a CV - anachronistic?

[Manks]

Mrs Manks is on the third draft of a handwritten covering letter to accompany her CV.

As I watched her carefully write drafts one and two in best teachers handwriting, only to fk up in the last paragraph on both occasions, I pondered whether handwritten letters in business are still relevant or whether they should be consigned to history.

What is the general feeling about this?

[ewenm]

Fine if someone wants to do it, but I wouldn't mark them up (or down) compared to a typed one. Just so long as the spelling, grammar and punctuation is correct

[davepoth]

Ask yourself what's more useful in business - attractive cursive, or competency with a keyboard. I have a feeling that a handwritten letter may come off as a little "odd" if it's for a standard office drone job.

[Gargamel]

Dear god no.

Much the same effect as turning up to interview wearing a bow tie.


Unless the job is for a handwriting tutor, it is absolutely not the way to go.

[mph1977]

Gargamel said:

Dear god no.

Much the same effect as turning up to interview wearing a bow tie.


Unless the job is for a handwriting tutor, it is absolutely not the way to go.

very much so , especially given that

1. keyboard competency is something that most jobs require these days - does anywhere still have typing pools ?
2. quite a lot of job application processes are or can be entirely on-line

[Manks]

mph1977 said:

Gargamel said:

Dear god no.

Much the same effect as turning up to interview wearing a bow tie.


Unless the job is for a handwriting tutor, it is absolutely not the way to go.

very much so , especially given that

1. keyboard competency is something that most jobs require these days - does anywhere still have typing pools ?
2. quite a lot of job application processes are or can be entirely on-line

The position is a primary school teacher job, and as she may well be teaching handwriting I suppose her letter demonstrates her skills. Also she typed her CV, which obviously demonstrates her keyboard skills.

However I am taking the view that a handwritten covering letter is a little old fashioned, and I will try to persuade her to not do it again. It took me some months to persuade her to ditch the quill and ink well though.;)

[DoubleSix]

Gargamel said:

Dear god no.

Much the same effect as turning up to interview wearing a bow tie.


Unless the job is for a handwriting tutor, it is absolutely not the way to go.

Completely agree. At best it indicates you maybe be a bit quirky (not in a good way), at worst it indicates you may be completely out of touch and lacking in basic computer skills.

[NDA]

Handwritten letters in business look amateur or the output of a loon. I can't speak for the school world.

Typed letters can be personalised by leaving off 'Dear Headmaster' and 'yours sincerely' and writing those parts in by hand.

[DCS01]

I have had a couple of positions ask for hand written cover letters. Proberbly to see if you can write at all and if so how well, note also the positions were aimed at grad's.

[rog007]

There is no right or wrong, but many of the opinions above are of course valid. My sense would be to type it, if only to allow the recipient to have a better chance of deciphering it, which is a risk if it is handwritten and her writing may not be too easy to read at first glance. It's worth remembering that many initial sifts are conducted by office staff and not the ultimate hirer, so any attempt at differentiation may be lost on them. Good luck to her.

[extraT]

its a little old fashioned, but as you said, her CV is typed and given the face she may teach handwriting, it sounds like all her bases are covered.

Its funny how everyone here says 'Mrs needs to show off her keyboard skillz', half the people in my old team could only just about write (thankfully not official letters, just notes etc...)...it looked liked a spider crawled across the page! as for the other half..... Showing off good handwriting is something to be proud of, well, I think so anyway!

[Engineer1]

Written letter for someone applying to teach seems sensible, writing on a whiteboard or interactive whiteboard is a skill.

[Zad]

In which case, do it on a whiteboard and submit it on (private) YouTube video. Actually, scratch that, 90% of the people likely to interview her probably haven't even heard of YouTube. It would impress the people she would be working with though!

[TurricanII]

My thoughts: Hand write the name and address on the envelope as a demo of pen skills. Type the covering letter and sign it in ink. Maybe a bullet point in the C.V. 'My handwriting is legible and consistent'. Maybe a mention at interview: "I know it might be unusual to list handwriting as a skill, but I believe that good handwriting will give a positive example to students and a good impression to parents. I think the increasing use of computers has lead to a general decline in legible handwriting.

[einsign]

[ReaderScars]

einsign said:

You see, that's a perfect example - it's not clear from the handwriting if it's 'dead and buried' or 'dead and burned'.

Now if the deceased definitely wasn't cremated then the letter would indicate that the applicant doesn't pay attention to details.

[NDA]

Brilliant!

Now in that instance I would want to interview the applicant - despite the mistakes.