Get That Job! » cover letters

I have a document like this and so should you

Daniel Johnson, Jr. — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:31:30 +0000

A coworker just commended me on something through an instant message (IM):

“Thanks, you saved me today with your help.”

It reminded me that I have a document for comments like this, so I added it to the “Quotes about my Performance” document I have. You should have one, too.

Why you should have this

A document like this is important for several reasons. I’ll include some ones I have, and I encourage you to add to the list in the comments:

Credibility of your accomplishments. It serves as a record of your accomplishments in someone else’s words.
Recommendations. Comments like these can be used in promotional material for yourself.
Cover letters. Specifically, reinforce a point made in a cover letter with a quote from a coworker or client about what you’ve done.
Encouragement. When you feel down or discouraged, you can refer to this list and remember that you have done something others have found valuable
References. Chances are if people have praised your work before, they might serve as references. Feel free to remind them what they’ve said if they have forgotten.

Where to find them

I’ve identified some places where you find quotes from others about you. Feel free to add to the list in the comments:

E-mail. If you have worked where you send and receive e-mail, you probably have some messages with morsels of praise within. Find those messages. I have often forwarded work messages with content like this to my personal account for this very purpose.
Performance Reviews. Chances are, if your company does performance reviews, your boss or manager has said something nice about what you’ve done, and you have a copy of it somewhere.
LinkedIn Recommendations. If you’re on LinkedIn (and you should be if you’re reading this blog- we should even be connected!), you can ask your connections for recommendations. Not only are they useful on your profile over there, but you can include them in this list.
Blog/Twitter trackbacks. If someone whose opinion you value highly has commended you in a blog post, on Twitter, or through some other form of “new media,” you can use Google Alerts and Twitter Search to find those comments.
Audio. I may be reaching a bit, but, let’s say you listen to a podcast or interview, or have been interviewed by someone else. Chances are you’re being interviewed because someone finds what you have to say important.

Start creating one

There are a few ways you can start creating a list like this:

Handwritten. Get yourself a notebook and start recording these comments in it. I used to have a page in a Franklin Planner many years ago for this. This might get time consuming, though, and you’ll have to be careful not to misplace your notebook.
Word. Create a document in Microsoft Word or other word-processing software and start adding to the list. But you’ll need to save this document somewhere and hope you’re able to keep track of it.
Online. I use Google Docs for this purpose, since I’m able to carry my Google account with me wherever I go, even if I leave an employer and have to give the computer back.
UPDATE: Jason mentions that the JibberJobber Job Journal is a great way to do this, and it’s now available in the free level.

RT @danieljohnsonjr: (via Get That Job!) I have a document like this and so should you: http://tinyurl.com/gtj-doc

Elements of a Good LinkedIn Recommendation (chrisbrogan.com)
Three Books to Check Out (chrisbrogan.com)
Open up most files with Google Docs automatically (news.cnet.com)

No related posts.

How To Write A Resume Cover Letter

Daniel Johnson, Jr. — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:47:00 +0000

From the One Minute How-To podcast, hosted by George Smyth, Patrick Fogarty explains how you can maximize the chances of getting that interview with a properly written cover letter.

Cover Letter Secrets: Secret Tip For Emergency Situations

Daniel Johnson, Jr. — Wed, 18 May 2005 15:48:00 +0000

Address your cover letter to the recipient by name…

If the name is unavailable, use one of the greetings in Example #2 and add this personal note.

Please Note: I’m sorry for this impersonal greeting on my cover letter. I was unable to get your name online. However, I look forward to the opportunity to meet you in person so I can address you by name and discuss this job opening. I am highly interested in working for {company name}.

CrossRoads Newsletter and Career Development Center: “care”

Cover letter not place for personal agendas

Daniel Johnson, Jr. — Fri, 17 Sep 2004 15:21:00 +0000

Most people already know a targeted resume can be the first step toward finding a good job. It provides employers with their first introduction to you and is often the ticket to landing an interview. Your cover letter is equally important, because it provides you with the opportunity to explain in greater detail and by using examples of why you are the best person for the position. It’s not the place for declaring your personal agenda.

A job hopeful seeking a public-relations position requiring strong writing skills listed in her cover letter a few magazines she’d written for, adding: ‘I think my best work sample is a novel I’ve just finished writing. I’m attaching the first chapter. I think you’ll agree that I’m as original as a writer can be.’

Attaching a work sample is not unusual for a writer, but in this case the hiring manager may wonder if she’s more interested in finding a publisher than landing a PR job.”

Daniel Johnson, Jr. — Sat, 24 Jan 2004 18:09:00 +0000

Tip of the Day: Blog your way to Job Search success!

(Original post is located here.)

While there are many blogging tools out there, I find that I have become very fond of the free

BLOGGER service for most of my blogging needs, ever since Google acquired them and added the Blog button to the Google Toolbar. What this does is allow you to add web pages, with comments, directly to your blog from whatever site you are on with the push of a button.

For example, suppose you see a job listing in your local newsgroup.

The logical thing to do would be to go to the employer’s site and see whether or not the job is listed there. Now here’s where Blogging can come in handy. Say you are ready to apply for the job immediately – it’s easy enough just to send in your resume and store all of the information in your Jobfiler job tracker. But suppose you aren’t ready to apply – you need to revise your resume, or get your cover letter in order, or simply think about it. If you had a job search related Blog, you would simply blog that page, add whatever notes you want to associate with that job, and post it to your blog. Your blog would then become a running job search diary, which you can even add follow up comments to any single entry.

Some things to consider… if you are blogging your job search for your own records, it’s important to set up the blog as PRIVATE (not publically available). Of course, there are folks who blog their search publically, but that’s really a judgement call on your part. Anything you post in the public domain could come back to bite you. Read this article on Blogger about the guy that got fired over his blog.

How-To’s (skip this if you’re not trying to set your blog to Private)When you create your account on Blogger , you can specify whether the blog is public or private. If you mark it as “Private” and want to keep it that way, you should also add the robots meta tag in the header of your template (and if you FTP to your own directory, placing the robots.txt file in the root is also a good idea). And of course, set your options on Blogger to Ping Weblogs = No.

Here are some sample jobsearch blogs which I have found on the web:

Trey’s Job Search

All About Jen

Mike McBride: Life of a one-man IT Department

On a related note, here are some jobsearch information blogs, offering advice, articles, etc.

The Job Files

http://bostonworks.boston.com/blog/

Not Working for a Living

The Monster Blog

Being Bold

And for those of you who would like an alternative solution to Blogger, here are some other ways to get your blog up and running in a short amount of time:

BBlog

Square Space

eBloggy

Good luck, and happy hunting!

Daniel Johnson, Jr. — Thu, 25 Dec 2003 18:57:00 +0000

Resume and Cover Letter Guide

About.com has some excellent articles on resume writing, job search methods and more.

Daniel Johnson, Jr. — Sat, 06 Dec 2003 01:50:00 +0000

Job Search Tracking – Keeping It All Straight

Does anyone else remember a time when you send in a resume and literally count the minutes between the time it was sent and the phone ringing? Well, back in the day, it was just not as difficult to track the old job search. A binder, a spreadsheet, even your Sent Mail folder would do.

When I embarked upon my most recent job search, just over a year ago, I realized that none of these methods were quite right. I kept

bookmarking job descriptions on the big job boards, only to go back later to find they had been removed. In order to better track the specifics of the jobs I was applying to, I ended up developing a very simple web-based job tracking system where I could store all of the job related information in one place (including the resume and cover letter I sent it), and retrieve it on demand. After using the application for several months, I turned it into a free public job portal so that anyone can use it.

With all of the job related web sites out there, I’m surprised that no one has done this until now. The closest thing I’ve seen has been on private career center sites which provide some job search tools for their paid clientele. Other than that, there are some sites that let you track the jobs you applied to through their interface, but none of them let you track all of your job inquiries, regardless of source. If you’ve seen anything else like it out there, please let me know. Also, if you’d like to share how you’re tracking your current job search, please add a comment below.

Cover Letter Refresher Course

Daniel Johnson, Jr. — Wed, 28 May 2003 13:17:00 +0000

“Your cover letter presents your intentions, qualifications and availability to a prospective employer in a succinct and appealing format. As your first chance to make a great impression, a personalized letter indicates you are serious about your job search. Your resume can give the nitty-gritty of dates, places of employment and education, but your cover letter must entice the reader to consider you amidst hundreds, or even thousands, of candidates for any one job opening.” read more…

Daniel Johnson, Jr. — Mon, 23 Dec 2002 19:25:00 +0000

Yahoo! Dailytips – Uncovering a Cover Letter Myth

Your cover letter summarizes your resume, right? Wrong! Some people think that a summary of the resume attached to the resume seems a little repetitive. The purpose of your cover letter, then, is to add a warm handshake to your resume and zero in on why the employer should be interested in you. Your cover letter should put your resume in context, drawing attention to your strengths and present nonresume material that can make a difference between you and your next closest competitor when the interviewing decision is made.