For example, when I was looking at jobs, I really relished the idea of the cover letter as an opportunity to talk about myself, my background, my experiences and why i wanted the job and what I could bring to the position. It might've spanned a couple pages. I'm seeing half page cover letters that don't really say anything you couldn't deduce from looking at their resume. It's...interesting. - Derrick

It's also hard out there, job market wise. I know I was grasping and applying for positions that I thought I might be able to handle, but we're seeing a wide range of applicants. WIDE. - Derrick

Well that's done. Went from 40+ candidates down to 10. Whew. - Derrick

Being on that side of the app pile does tend to change one's perspective. - RepoRat

Seriously. - Derrick

I never know what to put into a cover letter. - Yolanda

It got a lot easier to write a good cover letter when I phoned HR to ask what I thought was a simple question and they put me through to the university librarian and (me swallowing my wibbles and freaking out) we had a long conversation which I could then refer back to in the letter and sound actually interesting. Before then I probably was writing more or less a prose version of my resume. - Deborah Fitchett

Again, this is new to me, but I feel like the cover letter is an opportunity for us to learn about you. What makes you tick? What are you curious about? What interests you? Why do you think you'd be a good fit and why should we hire you? I look at the cover letter as something distinctly different from the resume but together the two should give us a complete and accurate look at who you are. - Derrick

That's how I see them, too. They're a great place to expand on a relevant aspect of what you do well that might not come across as clearly in the resume or cv, as well. On a similar note, based on grants I've looked over for people, there are a hell of a lot of people out there with grad degrees who write terribly. - Katy S

There's someone with a doctorate who...won't make it past the first stage. o_O - Derrick

I'm trying to do better this year about referring people to the Writing Center. It's a little harder for me because I tend not to assign Ginormous Writingz. But if I see multiple typos in a relatively short discussion forum post? Referral. I tell 'em librarians are persnickety and this will hurt them. - RepoRat

As for Ph.Ds, I've read library-school applications from them that just made me eyeroll. We Do Not Give The Ghost Of A Damn About Your Research, people. - RepoRat

This person regardless of their doctorate would likely not make it past the first round. No real talk of research, per se, but a very questionable, kind of uncalled for rant in their submission. Oh well. - Derrick

Was it at least an entertaining rant? - RepoRat

Dunno. I'm trying to find a new colleague. Didn't make my "next" pile. - Derrick

soon will be the interviews. Hopefully you wont have one where you walk out of the room asking 'did s/he really just SAY THAT?' - Hedgehog

Or the one where you walk out of the job talk feeling embarrassed that you brought this person to campus. #btdt - RepoRat

Looking forward to seeing what happens next. So interesting being on *this* side of the table. - Derrick

Well, there's so much weird/bad advice out there about how to do this. It is very easy to respond weirdly after seeing all the advice out there. On the occasion of having to write my first cover letter for a library gig I felt paralyzed with confusion. That I've been applying for jobs for the past 35 years seemed to go by the wayside as I recalled everything that I was supposed to do (or not supposed to do) for a library job application. - henry

Please submit all materials in hard-to-read fonts. And tell me about your hobbies that include chili cooking and how people just think your accent is so charming. SRSLY. - kaijsa

Is the hobbies section ever worth including? I've never had a hobbies section, or "other interests", or anything like that. I figure people don't really care. - Regular Amanda

Speaking for myself, I only care about volunteer work that's relevant to the job, which it sometimes is. Hobbies and other personal info is irrelevant. - kaijsa

^^ and then it should be categorized as community service/public engagement/orsomethingelse but not hobbies. - Lisa Hinchliffe

Just saw that NMRT Resume Review Service is recruiting for Annual: "volunteer to greet participants, and/or review resumes and cover letters of those who are undergoing a job search in this challenging economic climate." Or, as I'm thinking of it, help cut down on the o_O http://connect.ala.org/user... - Regular Amanda