01225 571 707

I received an email last night completely out of the blue. I have no idea where the guy picked up my email address so dropped a quick reply to let him down and ask how he came to email me. Since he replied quick to me I knew he was real and wanted to help him if I could.

I am supportive of people who try hard to find work so gave him some tips to make sure his email is not deleted and his CV hits the top of the pile... hope they are useful to someone else as well!

Hi Neil,

I hope you take the following as constructive advice. I wish you luck in your search.

Research who you are writing to:

• Mail merge in a real name (not just "To whom it may concern" which would indicate you haven't bothered to look them up on Google first).
• Google the organisation, it might be applicable to mention a recent event or news story relating to them.
• Look them up on Twitter (Facebook, etc), see what they have to say. If it's "Had to let another of our team go today" then don't bother writing. If it's "Interviewing for such and such" then sod the email, get on the phone immediately!
• If they are advertising specific roles in the business, mention the roles you think you could fulfil.

Come up with a compelling opening statement:

• Something like "I am writing to introduce myself in the hope that you will consider me for any suitable opportunities you may have in your organisation. I have read about your business on-line and it sounds like an [interesting / engaging / exciting] place to work. I would welcome the the chance to speak with you and introduce myself personally..."
• Only use positive terms (i.e. don't apologise for bothering the reader).
• Bulleted lists don't work well in a covering letter / email. Keep it shorter. 3 paragraphs max.
• Work on an 'assumptive close' (assume that they will contact you) such as "I look forward to hearing from you this week" rather than "I hope to hear from you" which gives more room to put off ringing you.
• Always get someone to read, and re-read, your email before you send it.

Attach your CV as a PDF rather than a Word doc:

• Make sure your CV looks really good - better than all the others people will see.
• If you have access to Office 2007 (or even 2003) then consider using one of their CV templates. Most are pretty good.
• Have you got a friendly designer? It's worth their opinion for best first impressions.
• Name the file "Neil Roman's CV, Jan 2010.pdf" so it's clear it's yours and has been updated recently. If it ends up in a temp folder somewhere it's still got your name there to see.
• Always get someone to read, and re-read, your CV before you send it.

 

Hope it the advice helps.

 

Kind regards,

Jeremy

---

Jeremy Burgess
075 333 88 961
http://www.goldfigure.co.uk