Wwwpd: cover letter

[erinshelley21]

In my TWERK I said I applied for a job with the local company where I know like half the executives and at least 20 other people that work there. On the website to apply there was only an upload box for a resume. Now typing this out I realize I should have just saved my cover letter and resume into the same document and I wouldn't be having this issue. But today's erinshelley is smarter than Wednesday's. So, I've only submitted a resume but have a cover letter ready to go.

Do I:
1. Not worry about it and hope my resume does enough talking for me
2. Figure out how to get it to the HR director.

If it's 2, is the norm to just call and ask for the director so you can get her email or is that too aggressive? Is asking a friend for it the wrong thing to do? Is sending a message through LinkedIn wrong?

[ilovelucyvv]

I lean more towards number 2 although when I am deciding who to interview, cover letters don't make me more likely to interview someone, personally. In fact, if I don't like what is said in the cover letter or if there is poor grammar, it is a deterrent.

[2chatter]

I’ve never proceeded with an interview because of a cover letter. I use them to eliminate people - they are looking for something else, ego is too big, spelling errors, poor organization...

So I would totally leave this alone.

Having said that, I would connect with the people you know who might be involved with or influence the hiring.

[erinshelley21]

Glad I didn't take my moms advice lol. She said it would show I'm very interested, which isnt wrong but I also don't want to seem desperate.

I will think over the weekend on how best to approach contacting anyone I know there.

[k3am]

Since they're not specifically requesting a cover letter and haven't made it easy to provide one, I would assume that submitting the resume alone is sufficient.

A large part of the application/interview process... can you follow instructions? If they ask for a resume, give them a resume. If they ask for a cover letter, give them a cover letter. Anything else is showing that you can't follow instructions. If they expect more than they asked for, they're also indicating they may not be a great fit.

[oldbaylover1024]

I wouldn't worry about the cover letter. If they only asked for a resume, then you fulfilled the request.

Good luck!

[HeartofCheese]

+1 for if they wanted a cover letter, they would have asked for one. I would bring both the resume and cover letter to the interview and ask them if they'd like to have it.