You knew we had to do it. These anecdotes come from Killian Advertising and their Cover Letters From Hell page. Absolutely classic content for your reading pleasure. First, I think their reasons for these poorly written communications are spot on. I believe point 1 is the primary explanation: A writer uses pseudo-legalese because he lacks confidence in his authentic voice. From undergraduates trying to ace our Creativity Test, to MBAs immersed in BizSpeak, applicants feel they must inflate their prose by imitating Dickens, or combing the thesaurus to select – sigh – precisely the wrong word. That misguided approach leads to this: “Who’s better to spew out incite, than a… Read More
Continue ReadingWait Until You See Their Resume
Survey: M.B.A.s Are The Biggest Cheaters. Grad students are quite the cheaters according to this CareerJournal.com article. More than half (56%) of M.B.A. candidates say they cheated in the past year. For the study, cheating was defined as plagiarizing, copying other students’ work and bringing prohibited materials into exams. This borders on the absurd: However, what’s holding many professors back from taking action on cheaters is the fear of litigation. How pathetic is that? If these students are willing to risk their academic career by cheating, what will they be willing to state on their resume once they join the work world?
Continue ReadingCover Letter Help
After all of my cover letter enjoyment, CareerJournal.com offers up a short article to assist candidates – Six Tips for Writing A Winning Cover Letter. Thank goodness for CareerJournal. Their last suggestion (my emphasis): Proofreading. Double-check the letter before you send it. When you’re applying for multiple jobs, it’s easy to send the wrong cover letter, or not change the company name. Make sure you have addressed the letter to the correct person and have included the correct company name and job position. Check also, of course, for spelling and grammar problems. And if you’re sending your resume via an attachment, don’t forget to attach it before you send it.… Read More
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