You're Not Alone: Some Law Students Also Write Horrible Cover Letters

Thanks to my brother for sending me this article on How Not To Write A Cover Letter from the legal blog "Above the Law."  Cover letters are tough to write - as evidenced by this law student's attempt.  I'm not totally sure what this guy was thinking, but this nearly incomprehensible letter and overuse of $10 words suggests that law schools may indeed need to rethink what it is they're teaching.

An excerpt from the shamed cover letter is below:

The Outlook Chronicles: Writing Samples

So here's the set-up: without fail, I meet with students who, upon leaving my office, have a million more questions. Some of these questions they figure out on their own, some they e-mail to me for my two cents. Not surprisingly, I tend to see a lot of the same questions. So for those of you are asking yourselves those ground-breaking questions, like "should I text the hiring manager?," here are my answers to some frequently asked questions.

A Student Writes:

Dear Ms. Paley,

I am in the process of applying for summer internships, and most of my applications request a 2-3 page writing sample. I was wondering if you have any advice on choosing and editing appropriate writing samples.  I don't believe I have any assignments from the past year or two that are less than 3 pages!

Thank you for any advice you might have.

Josh

And I answer:

Josh,

I recommend sending a product no longer than 5 pages and ideally between 2-3 pages. I often recommend sending an excerpt from a larger body of work. If you opt to send an excerpt, provide the entire work’s title, which a brief caption indicating that it is an excerpt. Usually an introduction or a chapter from a larger work make good writing samples.

If the employer has not indicated what type of writing they’d like to see, I’d hone in on a piece of work that matches the job description, i.e. a research paper, literature review, or program evaluation. Usually, the writing sample is used to vet a candidate’s writing skills, rather than verify they are capable of specific type of writing.

Best,
Shimrit

The Outlook Chronicles: What's a Salary History and How Do I Write One?

So here's the set-up: without fail, I meet with students who, upon leaving my office, have a million more questions. Some of these questions they figure out on their own, some they e-mail to me for my two cents. Not surprisingly, I tend to see a lot of the same questions. So for those of you are asking yourselves those ground-breaking questions, like "should I text the hiring manager?," here are my answers to some frequently asked questions.

A Student Writes:

Dear Ms Paley,

I've finally been applying to some jobs that I've found and I was just wondering what employers mean when they ask applicants to provide a resume, cover letter and salary history and desired salary?

Thank you and have a great weekend!
- Lisa

And I answer:

Hi Lisa,

You should address these questions in the last paragraph of your cover letter. You do not need to attach a separate document (unless otherwise stated). Compensation and salary history can get a little nuanced if you’ve had a yearly salary with benefits, which we can talk about when we see each other next week. In these situations, you may want to mention not only your most recent or current salary, but also your total compensation package, which might include benefits, bonuses, and even stock options.

However, since you, as a senior, have yet to hold a full-time job, you might say, “In my most recent roles as a summer intern and on-campus student worker, my salary has ranged from $8.50-$12.50 per hour. My desired salary for this position is negotiable, but ranges from $$-$$$ depending on benefits and responsibilities.” In order to get a good feel for industry salaries, I recommend using websites like Glassdoor.com or Salary.com.

Best,
Shimrit

Way Too Busy Thursday

It's been awhile, but rather than apologize for my lengthy absence, I'm leaving you all with this gem. You're welcome.  Click here for for more solid career advice from the oatmeal.com

The Outlook Chronicles: Connecting With Recruiters on LinkedIn

So here's the set-up: without fail, I meet with students who, upon leaving my office, have a million more questions. Some of these questions they figure out on their own, some they e-mail to me for my two cents. Not surprisingly, I tend to see a lot of the same questions. So for those of you are asking yourselves those ground-breaking questions, like "should I text the hiring manager?," here are my answers to some frequently asked questions.  

Sometimes, my smart and talented friends e-mail me their job search questions, too.  This e-mail is adapted is from a question I received from one of those friends.

A student writes:

Hi Shimrit,

I have a question about contacting recruiters on LinkedIn. Sometimes, through connections, I see recruiters at places I want to work, or a specific recruiter’s name next to a job posted on LinkedIn. What's the best policy on contacting these folks? A lot of times you can only contact them by clicking the “Connect” button and sending a brief message. Is it cool to do that and say something to the effect of, "Hey, I applied for job X, I am very interested, and just wanted to see if the position was still available?" Also, there will sometimes be over 10 different recruiters (say at a place like Google) and it's hard to tell which one would be the best to contact. Is it worth just shooting a line to a random recruiter to ask which person would be the best to email about job X I found on the company website?

Thanks,
Corey 


And I answer:

Hi Corey,

LinkedIn is certainly an amazing tool (as my blog indicates, I’ve drank the LinkedIn kool-aid), but proper etiquette and best practices for using this behemoth of an online tool are at best confusing. Hopefully my attempt to answer your question will not be similarly confusing – though you can expect it to be long-winded. And, in the spirit of long-windedness (is that a word?), I’m going to preface my answer with a disclaimer: while I consider myself something of a LinkedIn aficionado, my expertise largely relates to using LinkedIn as a networking tool. I very infrequently deal with the "recruiter question” as I mostly counsel undergraduate students – whose best bet is to connect and network with employees at their target companies, rather than directly with human resources.

Of course, the same does not necessarily apply to you given your previous work experience and graduate degree in statistics. You, as opposed to recent college grad, have a much better likelihood of being courted by recruiters. So back to your question . . . almost. You keep referring to recruiters in your e-mail, but I actually think you may be talking about human resources professionals, or even hiring managers. These are not recruiters per se. Recruiters are generally third-party professionals, who are seeking to find excellent candidates for open positions at their client sites. They receive a commission based on whether they are able to fill a given role with their candidate, but are not internal to the firm. Human resources folks are in fact internal to the company (and are often viewed as the gatekeepers to getting past the resume screen). A company like Google might employ hundreds of human resources professionals (this is totally a guess), so your chances of connecting with the appropriate contact is pretty slim. To make matters even more confusing, these internal human resources people may in fact be called recruiters. The people internal to a company who may be doing the hiring might have titles ranging from recruiter, to talent acquisition manager, to human resources coordinator.

That being said, a polite e-mail, or connection request, shouldn’t hurt your chances of getting the job. But there’s a better approach! If you actually know someone at Google (check the alumni network), I’d start by connecting with that person first. Before just shooting off a random e-mail, I would in fact check with your company contact to see if they can make an introduction, or even better, direct you towards the hiring manager.

Now, for the part about seeing a “specific recruiter’s name next to a job posted on LinkedIn.” If that person is in fact in human resources, then they likely are responsible for the job. In this case, yes, you should contact them! If the job is still posted you can assume it is not filled (it costs money to post jobs on LinkedIn) and use this brief message to say something along the lines of “Dear ____, I have applied for this job of XXX through the online system, however if you have any additional questions about my candidacy feel free to review my LinkedIn profile or contact me at xxx-xxx-xxxx. Thanks for your consideration, Corey.”

Similarly, if the position is posted by an external recruiter, you should also definitely connect. In fact, you want to connect with them even if you’re not exactly a match for the posted role as many recruiters are continuously looking for candidates with a similar set of skills. I would write, “Dear ___, I am interested in learning more about this position, as well as other opportunities in the field of XXX, and would like to add you to my LinkedIn network. Best, Corey.” And if you’d like recruiters to contact you - and many recruiters use LinkedIn for this exact purpose – make sure your profile is entirely complete with strong keywords.

Lastly, you’re right in recognizing that it’s nearly impossible to message someone you aren’t connected with without asking them to connect. NEARLY! If you have a group in common with someone, you can message them without connecting first by following these (admittedly convoluted) steps. First, find out what group you have in common with them (or join a group they are in). Then go to that group’s page. Click the “member” tab at the top and earch for the person’s name. Hover over their name when it appears in the returned results, which will cause a button to appear to the right of the name that says “send message.” Click “send message” to e-mail the contact without ever actually connecting with them.

Good luck and happy job-hunting!

Best, Shimrit