Job Discussion Forums

[CoolThailand]

I sometimes wonder whether composing a letter with any real depth or meaningful content is worthwhile in Thailand. The majority of Thais on the receiving end of the letter probably don't understand it anyway ... best to keep it simple stupid (KISS), I find.

[Justin Trullinger]

Can't decide if this deserves its own thread, so I'll try it here. Recently, rather than the merely boring application letters, to which I have become acustomed, I've received a rash of letters I find, frankly, a little too concise. Perhaps "blunt" or "to the point" would be a polite way of describing them, but frankly, I find them a bit rude. Have I been in Latin America too long? (Where everyone always enquires about the health and families of others before getting down to it) Or is there something a bit unsettling about these emails? (Examples below)



To whom it may concern:
I am interested in applying to your school. Please send me an application.

Sincerely,

John Doe



Dear School,
I am looking for teaching work. How should I apply?

Regards,

Jane Smith



And on and on it goes- I really appreciate concise. But there comes a point where being overly concise (to me) runs the risk of A) being rude, and B) not giving enough information. (For example, I receive emails several times a week asking for information about our "programs." As a mid sized organisation, we have a lot of very different programs. And I'm not going to clog the net by sending descriptions of them all. If they told me what they were interested in...)

[DNK]

Interesting thread. I have a question, or idea at least:

Would it be alright to include maybe a second, more in-depth personal bio/whatever as an attachment? Say, you'd have a CL with the usual, concise, get to the point but include the relevant information thing, and then a maybe one- or two-page letter that talks about past experiences, style, etc? The recruiter wouldn't have to read it off the bat, but if your CL made it through the first pass, and they read your CV and liked it, this might save some time with the back and forth.

I'm not aware of it being common practice, but I'm wondering if those of you who deal with this sort of thing would appreciate it or not.

[sigmoid]

No one seems to have mentioned that schools are often just as guilty when it comes to posting job ads: very little information or a lot of irrelevant information. Like most situations, it is a two-way street.

[merlin]

Hey - I just sent that letter of application!

Got the job, too. Great job, great school, great salary.

No BS, no jumping through hoops, no self-important "screener". They wanted me and I wanted them. What could be more simple?

I showed what they wanted through a teaching demo.

What I've discovered over 10 years is this: the harder the shool makes it to apply the worse it will be working for the organization. A 10-page application is just a preview of an organization where teaching will be controlled by people who have no idea what great teaching is (not that I claim to be a great teacher of course, but I CAN recognize its lack).

And all the great jobs I've had were just as simple as saying "I'm available" at the right place at the right time - whether I was there by by design or coincidence.

If I ever get into TEFL management the first neck under the axe will be the guy/gal who spends more than 10 hours a month hiring people.

[DNK]

Really? I would've expected the ones with the largest processes would be best since they cared for the best quality, but maybe it just means they're into lots of hoop jumping and have extremely high expectations, etc...

[Glenski]

Justin and other employers at large,

Do you prefer applicants to send you an attached resume, zipped or otherwise, or a resume embedded in the text of the email (to avoid viruses)?

Seems to me this could go either way.

1) A place with good anti-virus software would be able to avoid the majority of problems in attachments.

2) Text-embedded resumes lose their flavor and polish with the loss of formatting. I just LOVE using the right font, bold, and underlining and would hate to carve it out just because an employer doesn't have the sense to use an anti-virus software package.

[nomadder]

Given the way people are these days, who's going to send out a whole lot of info if A) you don't know if there are any jobs available
B) there may or may not be any jobs available but people respond only when it suits them

Why waste so much time and writing/reading on both sides? If on the other hand you know there is a position available, then is the time to make an interesting and informative cover letter. Even then, you can spend hours composing it and your resume only to hear back zilch. I still don't get the irony. It's never been easier to send a quick reply and yet...

Recently I tried for something else-not job related exactly-I was nearly touched that the woman called everyone back one way or the other. CALLED! It hardly mattered whether I got it or not. Just the decent gesture and nice message left. Leaves goodwill for that place and I'll go there in the future as a patron and maybe try again. As for the others... Bad karma!

Well done Merlin! I've had that happen sometimes too-great feeling to be looking in the right place at the right time and find a perfect match. About as rare as love at first sight.

Can I inquire as to which country and/or what may have helped you land the job besides timing?

[Henry_Cowell]

There's nothing wrong with creating a nice PDF of your resume. It will preserve all the fancy formatting that you give to your Word document. PDFs are readable by anyone with Adobe Acrobat Reader.

[Ahchoo]

Why are you contacting me? (presumably because you would like to apply, but at least please say so.)
Who are you?
Name?
Nationality?
Age?
Sex?
Where are you now?
When will you be available?
Qualifications? (in brief)
Experience? (in brief)
The basic terms are clearly (albiet briefly) stated in the ad, don't tell me what you 'require'.
Don't attach documents, I don't open attachments that may come from a virus infected staffroom computer.
Particularly don't send a stack of attachments without even a word of introduction.
Don't ask what the application procedure is, you're involved in it now, this is it.
Don't send an 8 word message like " I would like to teach English in China" and nothing else, I already assumed that when I saw your email in the inbox, more information please.
If you have questions ask them all at once, not one a day, I'm a little busy.
Please make sure your letter is coherent so I won't think it's someone taking the mickey.

[Stephen Jones]

[Ahchoo]

[MELEE]

[denise]

[ShapeSphere]