Body of E-mail when sending a Resume

[Cschaeffer]

I've always had a hard time wording e-mails when sending out resumes to different production companies. When a company is actively seeking someone on different websites I usually refer to the job postings, but when there is no posting I don't really know how to word the e-mail. I feel weird saying entry level work, even though that IS what I am looking for.

Any suggestions?

 

[Footer]

Few things here. Personally, all the email I send says is "Hello, saw your post on ______ (or ______ said your hiring). I have attached a letter and resume' for your consideration. Thank You.

You should always send your resume' with a cover letter. That cover letter should not be in the body of the email. Instead, it should be the 1st page of the PDF of your resume'. When I get a resume', it gets dropped into a folder on my computer... and the email gets filed away. It is pretty easy for me to open that folder on our network and see all of the resume's, its a bit harder to find that email. While I tend to skip over a cover letter and read a resume' first, I will always give a cover letter a read of a good resume'.

 

[rochem]

I agree, except that I separate my Resume and Cover Letter into two different files. Naming structure is also important. A Production Manager friend of mine once showed me his Resumes folder after a hiring season, and he must have had a dozen files named "Resume.pdf" (and a few "Resume.doc" - ouch). I always put my name first, then whether it's a Resume or Cover Letter, so that they sort right after each other when sorting alphabetically.

The body of my application emails generally just talks about what job I'm applying for, and then who told me to apply or where I got the contact info or where I saw the posting, and then finishes up with a simple "please find attached my cover letter and resume, with references, for your review."

 

[soundman]

I always put my name first, then whether it's a Resume or Cover Letter, so that they sort right after each other when sorting alphabetically.

I think it is important to have a naming convection for anything you send out. I use first initial last name document title like S Man Reusme, S Man Cover Letter hopefully followed by S Man I9 and S Man Direct Deposit.

 

[Footer]

I think it is important to have a naming convection for anything you send out. I use first initial last name document title like S Man Reusme, S Man Cover Letter hopefully followed by S Man I9 and S Man Direct Deposit.

Put your full name in there, first and last. You don't want someone to say "give Dave a call, I hear he is decent", and then find out that you now have to dig through every resume' with a D in it. First name, last name, resume' is all you need. I sort everyone based on first name because rarely does last name come up on deck... so most faces are attached to first names only.

and on that point... DON'T EVER MAIL PAPER. PERIOD. I have no way to file paper resume's without scanning them... so therefore they get filed under the desk. Added to that, I check my mailbox in front our office less then once a week.

The reason why I have always gone and prefer to get the cover letter on the same document as the resume' is that they are permantly connected. If I send a resume' to one of my co-workers, they have the cover letter too. I don't have to remember to attach both. It is also less to get lost in my files.

 

[rochem]

The reason why I have always gone and prefer to get the cover letter on the same document as the resume' is that they are permantly connected. If I send a resume' to one of my co-workers, they have the cover letter too. I don't have to remember to attach both. It is also less to get lost in my files.

Doing this, do you put your resume or your cover letter first? Most PMs I know work like you, in that they first scan the resume to determine if it's worth reading the cover letter, but the cover letter feels like an introduction to the applicant, so I could also see that going first. And also, I would guess that you'd only read the cover letter once, but you could go back to the resume a few times, and it would be annoying to constantly need to scroll to the second page. Do you have a preference?

 

[Footer]

Doing this, do you put your resume or your cover letter first? Most PMs I know work like you, in that they first scan the resume to determine if it's worth reading the cover letter, but the cover letter feels like an introduction to the applicant, so I could also see that going first. And also, I would guess that you'd only read the cover letter once, but you could go back to the resume a few times, and it would be annoying to constantly need to scroll to the second page. Do you have a preference?

I always do first simply because that is carry over from when I used to mail the things. Personally, I look at cover letters as a level of respect... IE they at least took the time to punch something out to say that they could know what in the hell we do. With that, I don't really do any type of interviews or anything like that with my crew. Everyone is overhire, so your interview is on site during a show. If I like you, you will get called back, if you stick your thumb up your butt when asked to go to the dock, then your not coming back. I touch resume's twice, first when they hit my email, second when I am filling a call. After that, I rarely pull them back up. I'm sure if you were doing some big search for a seasonal or full time position having the cover letter in the way could get annoying. At the same time though you don't want to be the once guy who gets a resume' forwarded to the dept. head who gets the final call without a cover letter because the PM or HR guy forgot to attach BOTH documents.