Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder
Update Re: Resumes
Hi, reader. I wrote this in 2007 and it's now more than five years old. So it may be very out of date; the world, and I, have changed a lot since I wrote it! I'm keeping this up for historical archive purposes, but the me of today may 100% disagree with what I said then. I rarely edit posts after publishing them, but if I do, I usually leave a note in italics to mark the edit and the reason. If this post is particularly offensive or breaches someone's privacy, please contact me.
Yes, you write a customized cover letter for each job application.
Comments
Martin
31 May 2007, 0:38 a.m.
Sumana
31 May 2007, 16:23 p.m.
Yeah, if you're just looking for random entry-level jobs on Craigslist then it's hard to get enough info to make customization interesting. Unfortunately the solution to that is "use better sources than Craigslist and its ilk."
A good theory in principle, but, alas, entry-level job postings are all so generic that generic cover letters look pretty much the same as customized ones. Craigslist is the worst, of course - not only do postings rarely divulge the name of the company or the field it works in, they generally seem to be written to avoid giving any useful information whatsoever about the company or even the job. Trying desperately to customize a cover letter for "a dynamic company" is a waste of time and energy that could have be spent sending out five generic cover letters to that company and four of its dynamic friends. Once you actually know anything about the company or job, then you can tailor your approach.