RESUME and COVER LETTER builder please help thanks.

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I've taken the approach to creating a resume and cover letter a bit differently than what you'd normally expect, in hopes to look creative and innovative. The problem is, I'm not sure how the employers would respond to this.

Cover Letter:

PLEASE ALLOW ME THE OPPORTUNITY FOR AN INTERVIEW, thank you.

Jonathan Luu
238 Maria Antonia Road
Woodbridge, Ontario
(416) 268 1450

I've approached the resume differently than what is considered the norm in hopes that you will take the time to actually look over it. This is not a joke. If you are reading my resume, you will be able to see the creative and innovative side of me. These two traits are what I consider to be my highest qualities. You will either love or hate my resume depending on your personality.

You're probably already aware that my name is Jonathan Luu, so I'll skip over that and head straight into the good stuff. I am currently attending Ryerson University as a first year student, studying in their Commerce program. As an individual, I am determined, punctual, detail oriented, and always on task. You've probably seen a lot of this in the hundreds of resumes you've already read, so the only way for you to confirm this is through hiring me. I'm sure I'd make a great asset to your corporation. Please excuse the informalities of this cover letter.

Some of the things I enjoy in life are reading, writing, and music. Writing is also one of my greater qualities. Thank you for taking the time to read this, it is very much appreciated. Hopefully this does not seem rude. I just enjoy being creative and innovative.

RESUME

not done yet..

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Sorry, as an employer, this defiantly unconventional, rambling cover letter would put me off.

You announce you're going to break the rules. You announce (without proof) that you're creative and innovative. You announce (without proof) that you'd be an asset to the company, but you fail to say how or in what capacity.

I assume you are looking for a summer job between your Freshman and Sophomore years of college. Summer jobs at your level are scutwork requiring patience, hard work and reliability as well as the ability to follow the rules. Your cover letter should show these characteristics.

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Honestly, if I was the potential employer, I'd never give you a call based on this cover letter.

First, you insult me by implying that I might not even read your letter.

You ask for an interview at the end of the letter, not in BOLD CAPS in the beginning.

Your having to tell me "this is not a joke" and "you're probably already aware my name is JL, so I'll skip that...." sounds immature. You don't need to tell me what I'm aware of.
Double plus ditto with the "you will either love me or hate me depending on your personality." So....it's MY personality that's in question now? Your job with the cover letter is to not to imply something wrong with me if I should hate you.

You are determined, punctual, detail oriented and always on task? Why should I believe that? So far you've been all over the board, and have given me no examples of your claimed attributes. Tell me of your determination with a real life example. Same with the others. I don't have to hire you to find this out. That would be a real crap shoot.

What makes you so sure you'd be an asset to my business?
Finally, if you weren't so informal with this letter, you wouldn't be needing me to forgive you now, would you? You're "hoping" you don't seem rude? It's a little too late for that.

Haven't even gotten the interview, and already you're asking for favors.

Asking for an interview is not the time to be witty and flippant.

Lay out for me in a brief letter what you can do for ME.

My words might be hard for you to take, but someone trying to run a business is not going to want to fool with you.

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yeah I figured they wouldn't want you to be different, and would rather have a drone than someone who is somewhat outspoken. Well I could write a professional cover letter, I am capable, I just thought that it would have been better to stand out. The employer would see this and say "He seems like an outspoken and enthusiastic person, I don't whether my cover letter displayed that but I thought it would. Anyway thanks .

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crayon851 wrote:

yeah I figured they wouldn't want you to be different, and would rather have a drone than someone who is somewhat outspoken. Well I could write a professional cover letter, I am capable, I just thought that it would have been better to stand out. The employer would see this and say "He seems like an outspoken and enthusiastic person, I don't whether my cover letter displayed that but I thought it would. Anyway thanks .

Save that for after you are hired. For now, you want to present yourself in a manner to make you attractive to the company culture, not stick out like a sore thumb.

Let your experience and accomplishments stand out in your cover letter rather than your unusual decorum. The one you wrote didn't show enthusiasm, it showed arrogance. Turn down the arrogant tone and keep the enthusiasm and you'll find your letter more successful.

In doubt about what your letter sounds like to others who read it? Record someone else reading it and then listen to the playback with your eyes shut. Hearing it in another's voice will help you get the tone right.

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crayon851 wrote:

yeah I figured they wouldn't want you to be different, and would rather have a drone than someone who is somewhat outspoken. Well I could write a professional cover letter, I am capable, I just thought that it would have been better to stand out. The employer would see this and say "He seems like an outspoken and enthusiastic person, I don't whether my cover letter displayed that but I thought it would. Anyway thanks .

You are so far off base it isn't funny crayon.

They are not looking for a drone, but for someone who shows basic communication skills.

I have seen hundreds of resumes and cover letters. There have been a few that really got my attention.

The common denominator in all of them? Showing me what you've done.

If you've been in the workforce a while, that means something like...

"Cut production costs by X amount of dollars in x amount of months by implementing new inventory system"

"Increased customer base by 20% in 2 months by providing free software with installation of product."

"Increased client satisfaction scores by 30% by increasing follow calls on a quarterly bases."

For someone who doesn't have the work experience, you need to tell them things like....

"Was co-chair of the "save the baby ducks" cohilition, succeeding in in creasing the rare breed of cacamamy ducks by at least 50 over one breeding period."

"Worked through my church group bringing the elderly needed supplies during last years floods"

You are absolutely incorrect in saying people want to hire drones. However, they don't want to hire people who are all hat and no cattle.

Your original cover letter is just a bunch of words. Show them some substance.

As a matter of fact, going in there with the attitude that someone wants a drone with show itself, whether you want it to or not.

People want to hire employees that will make a difference, show them how you'll do that. Get away from these broad sweeps of the brush telling them how dynamic and engenious you are, those are just words.

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Buttry - you are right on the mark, it sounds arrogant.

I'm not meaning this as a putdown crayon, but that is often a common theme in a younger persons cover letter.

Since you haven't had the practice out in the real world, you want to come across and slick, new and innovative, and it comes across as wanting to tell someone with years of experience how you know more than they do after years of work.

A little humilty can go very far in progressing your job search.

he he....I'm thinking of this resume/cover letter I got last year. We passed it around so we could all get a laugh and relieve a little work tedium....

In it, (god I wish I had saved it, it was funny) went on about how he was looking for a place of employment where "everyone worked together as a team, and were willing to take his suggestions." he went on to say "there were people at the former job who were unwilling to accept my ideas, and talked amongst themselves about me. I could not work somewhere where my talents could not be appreciated"

Looking at his resume, he'd never even held a job more than a few months, and all of them were low level...gee, I wonder why.

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I'm with the others. Sorry, but you're not getting a job from me. Rather, your letter is going into the trash if I'm feeling kind, or on the bulletin board for all to see if I'm not.

Why?

I haven't got the time or the budget to give you a chance based upon, well, just your say-so. Many, many people are wonderful, creative and talented. So show me. Like Chai says, even if you don't have overall work experience, you can talk about volunteering. If you want to talk creativity -- and since you claim you write so well -- show me a sample. It doesn't even have to be a professional type piece of writing. I'd rather see your paper on The Life Cycle of the Golden Nematode than nothing.

Sorry to be harsh, but if you don't work out, it costs me money and time, plus someone else has to do your work, plus we have to go through the hiring process all over again. All of that also costs me in employee morale and happiness. Unhappy employees look for other jobs, or slack off on the ones they've got. Your lack of performance (and maybe you'll be wonderful, but I don't know that from anything you've written here) could cost me a much more valuable employee.

Now, try it again, please, in a conventional manner. We don't have closed minds and believe it or not, we are trying to help you.

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I've never had to apply for a job where a cover letter was required.

Why do some employers want one and why is it necessary if one's resume is properly laid out?

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I use 'em to clarify what's on my resume or to tailor even more specifically to the job in question, e. g. In 2001, when I was last working with ____ Company, I used the ____ program in the ____ Department and found that the best way to enhance the program was to write a macro for ____ on the results. I have enclosed a copy for your reference.

I can write a macro quickly so it's kind of a throwaway for me, but it can look like magic to some folks.

Anyway, something like that. It doesn't always work. I also might use the cover letter to mention who I know at the company or how the interviewer and I connect through our respective networks.

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Cover letters are huge. They provide all kinds of information that a mere resume does not.

Resumes have a clear format that is easy to follow. Resumes do display communication skills or lack thereof, but it's much easier to camoflage poor communication skills in a resume than in a cover letter. Resumes are pretty much one-size-fits-all -- cover letters are not. A cover letter should be tailored to the job -- if it's not, that says something in and of itself.

Aside from pure communication skills there are things like attitude, style, humor (though that's tricky) and intelligence that can be conveyed through a cover letter much more easily than through a resume.

Many employers read cover letters first and don't even bother with a resume if the cover letter is unimpressive.

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Ah, thank you jes and soz. Your explanations are succinct. Makes sense.

What annoys me is that when (recently while looking for a part time job) I hand in my resume (which is pretty clear), some employers still want you to fill out an application form, even though much of what is on a good resume is in the application form, too.

I'm probably being picky.

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All criticism is constructive and I'm not taking any of these comments personally, even if they are harsh. I'm hoping these harsh comments aren't meant to make feel bad either! I wasn't expecting a positive response for this since it wasn't really serious.

As far as my work experience, I usually quit after a few months so I don't know whether I can use these as references. I quit because the jobs become boring.

yeah I figured it is definitely not the best way to get an employer's attention, and it definitely does sound arrogant after I read over it again. hahah.

I have no problem writing professionally its just that I don't know what to put into the cover letter that will make me stand out amongst the rest since I haven't really worked much nor was I really active in school, so I really don't know what to put. All of the other cover letters I've previously written sounded really dry to me and sounded like it came from a textbook and I find it really boring to read. I thought I'd make it a little bit more interesting by doing this.

Thanks for you input. For a person like me, what would you put in a cover letter where you don't have extensive community involvement or work experience?

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I'm not sure how to start a cover letter and I don't like starting with "My name is....." since it sounds really corny and cheesy.

Can you guys give me a suggestion as to how to start?

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crayon851, are you in school right now? college or university-level? if you're in Canada, there will be a lot of resources available on campus to assist you with the whole job search process.

are you an alumni of a college or university in Canada? alumnae services will usually provide you with quite a bit of free help as well - including resume/cover letter development.

given the professionals now involved in the hiring process at most mid-to-large size companies these days, you need to have a cover letter and resume that meet current standards and trends. for example, the c.v. style of resume is used in very few professions now, so if you're using that style your resume will go to the bottom of the pile if not straight to the circular file.

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One thing you need to ask yourself is, what kind of job are you trying to get? And, what have you done/are doing that has anything to do with it? Positively, I mean.

You may not have had a magnificently active time of it in school, but most jobs that don't involve ditch digging do involve things like:

communication skills, both written and verbal. Can you express yourself clearly? Speak in front of a group? Proofread a document and spot errors?
team player skills, e. g. working with people for a common goal and making everyone around you look good/better
organizational skills, e. g. bringing order from chaos
the ability to focus and follow directions
the ability to follow through and finish what you've started (your job history sounds like it will work against you in this area, but if you, for example, finished a difficult course of study in order to become fluent in Spanish -- or whatever -- that goes towards this kind of thing)

If I had to train you to do my job, I would hope that you have technical skills or at least technical ability, but I could even live without that if you could demonstrate the above personality characteristics.

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What is c.v?

As for the characteristics you listed, I have more or less all of them except for the speaking in front of a group people. I can express myself much clearer through text than speech, but I really do not know a way of showing it.

How do i demonstrate this without having very much experience?

RESUME and COVER LETTER builder please help thanks.

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