Tag: Cover letters

This week we learned about what to include and not include in a cover letter. This was really helpful because I wasn’t sure what a cover letter was and I hadn’t needed one for any of the jobs I’ve done in the past. I now know how important they are to have especially for someone my age in college who will be soon looking for jobs. It was also helpful seeing different examples of cover letters and what either made them effective or not effective. We also looked at two very different cover letters from Eudora Welty and Robert Pirosh. The one from Welty was more like a traditional cover letter as she gave background information about herself and included the skills she has. The cover letter from Pirosh was interesting because although he did talk a little about his background he spent most of the cover letter talking about the kinds of words he likes. It made me think that the effectiveness of a cover letter also depends on who is it going to and what the job is. In some cases it may be ok to be a little humorous while most times it is probably better to stay serious. In this case his writing was effective because Pirosh was able to show he knew a large variety of descriptive words which is necessary for the job he wanted as a screenwriter. Even though he didn’t talk a lot about his past experiences I think it still shows that he knows what he is doing or wants to do. I think especially in Hollywood he knew that he would have to be very creative and think outside the box if he wanted to secure a job. In Hollywood he would have more potential to be creative than in his job at an advertising agency. The letter ended up getting him three interviews and a job as a junior writer. Even though the cover letter from Pirosh is very interesting and engaging, I think that the cover letter I make for myself will be a lot more like the one from Eudora Welty. I think the jobs I’m interested in align better with her style of writing. It was also interesting looking at potential careers and taking a survey to see what careers were a good match for me. It was helpful seeing what level of education you need for certain jobs. I’m definitely going to use the website to my advantage in the future because I learned a lot. The website also included what jobs are becoming more popular and jobs that are common in certain areas of the United States.