A full time position is opening in my department - someone part time will be reclassified as full time. I have to submit a resume, cover letter, and application to be considered. There will also be an interview. At least one other person will apply for it. She's fabulous but so am I. And I've been here 5 years to her 1.
I keep staring at a blank word document for my cover letter. I find it incredibly awkward to "toot my own horn" when I know that the people reading it are the ones I work with every single day. I go out with my department head and assistant department head socially.
I really just want to say,
Dear People,
I feel stupid telling you what you already know. Please read my stellar annual reviews that you wrote if you have any questions or concerns.
Post by countthestars on Mar 14, 2015 14:30:28 GMT -5
Did you start full time and drop to part time? If so, maybe something about why you want to go back to full? What would be your goals if you do get the full time position? Expand xyz program, spend more time doing abc? I think it's fair to say "as you know, I have been involved in blah blah since I started here and going full time would allow me to fill in the blank".
I personally think cover letters are kind of useless in certain situations, and this might be one of those. Your coworkers know you and would presumably understand why you want the new job (full time or promotion or whatever). I'd also assume that they'd interview both you and your coworker as a matter of course upon applying, so really the interview more than the cover letter would be the key.
Have you been involved in any other hiring processes at this location? Any impression of how much they'd be expecting in a cover letter?
Everyone agrees that the process is silly but it is required. If it were just my department head and asst. department head, I would be less concerned but my director is involved in the process too.
Post by water*drop on Mar 14, 2015 17:43:01 GMT -5
I was recently in a very similar position. I had trouble with the cover letter at first for the same reason, but I ended up pretending that I was writing to complete strangers and made sure to REALLY sell myself. I was also interviewing against a coworker, so I just kept telling myself that even though everybody involved in the search knew I was awesome, I had to look better than the other candidate on paper for HR or anybody else who might see the materials and not know me personally. I did get the job. Good luck!