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Subject:Re: Interview Etiquette From:Stephanie Holland <SLHOLLAND -at- MICRONPC -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 1 Jun 1999 11:05:20 -0600
Hi, all.
I thought I'd offer my two cents from a hiring manager's perspective.
Eric said:
<snip>As far as mailing a thank you note I would find this an odd practice.
I
thank the interviewer at the end of the interview for their time and they
thank me for coming in. ... While Andrew may have a point about cover
letters et al. I'd have to say
that personally, depending on circumstances, cover letters are a big waste
of time. ... Even the layout of your resume often doesn't matter one iota.
If
you are applying through an HR department, I've found the cover letter is
discarded and your well designed resume is retyped by some secretary into
an ASCII database of candidates.<snip>
I appreciate thank-you notes from people I've interviewed. I don't expect
them, but if only one person out of 10 sends me a thank-you note, that one
person stands out from the crowd (if the note is error-free).
I always expect cover letters from applicants because it's another way for
me to review their writing, editing, and layout skills before I decide
whether to interview them. A well-written cover letter also shows me that
the applicant is interested in the job. Yes, I know applying for jobs is
time-consuming, but you've got to do what you can to get an interview.
Otherwise, why bother applying?
I'm fortunate that our Human Resources Department lets hiring managers see
each job candidate's application materials. A poorly designed resume tells
me a lot about the candidate's design skills. And, if I decide to interview
a person who submitted an ugly resume, it gives me a chance to ask about it
during the interview. (For example, "What software did you use to design
your resume?" "How did you create this hanging indent?") It's just another
opportunity for me to determine a person's skill level.
Stephanie Holland
Technical Communication Manager
Information Technology Department
Micron Electronics (Nampa, Idaho) mailto:slholland -at- micronpc -dot- com http://www.micronpc.com
