Speculative approaches
As around 70-75% of jobs are never advertised, it is important to target the hidden job market. This means speculative approaches to employers can be an important part of your job search.
To do this you need to produce an effective CV and an equally effective accompanying letter. The following points are worth remembering when writing your covering letter.
- Make sure your letter targets the organisation. Companies don't want to feel they are one of many being sent the same standard letter, with little thought or attention.
- Target suitable companies to make the most of your approach:
- those which are currently recruiting (not necessarily in your chosen field)
- expanding or moving into your area
- those which can use your skills and experience
- Use all your information sources e.g. the internet, newspapers; trade journals; business and personal contacts, to identify a list of targets.
- Always try to write to a suitable named person. Personnel Officers or Human Resources staff are not always the best contacts, department heads and site managers may be best in some situations. Remember, you want your letter to land on the right desk.
- You might want to approach the employer speculatively by e-mail. You can usually find the right contact details from the company’s website, if it has one. If it doesn’t, then letter is probably safest. Check sections like ‘Careers’, ‘Vacancies’, ‘Jobs’ if the site has these – and if no other details are obvious, look for ‘Contact Us’.
- Whenever possible, your letter should be word-processed. If this is not possible, write clearly in black ink on good quality plain A4 paper.
- Put your address and telephone number at the top right of the letter. The date, name and address of the organisation should be on the left hand side.
- Keep paragraphs short and don't start every paragraph or sentence with 'I'. Use straight forward language - letters should be clear, concise and easy to read.
- Your opening paragraph should explain why you are writing and mention that your CV is enclosed.
- Follow this with one or two short paragraphs drawing attention to particular skills and experiences relevant to the employer's needs. At this stage you should also state the area of work you are interested in. Be specific, but not so narrow as to mention only a single job title.
- The last paragraph should say that you are available for interview or further discussion at any time. You might want to suggest positive follow up action on your part e.g. telephoning in a week's time.
- When writing to a named contact, end your letter "Yours sincerely". If you have been unable to find a named contact, begin "Dear Sir/Madam" and end "Yours faithfully".
- Under "Yours sincerely/faithfully" leave a space for your signature and print your name underneath.
If you are e-mailing, don't make the mistake of being less formal. In this case, your e-mail is what creates the first impression - and you need to impress the company! Keep things as formal as possible and never use "text" language! - If you are applying for an advertised job using e-mail, rather than putting the covering letter in the body of the e-mail, it's best to attach your covering letter as a file.
- Also, make sure you look at your e-mail settings and make sure that you have disabled any funny e-mail footer that you use when e-mailing friends. Employers aren't interested in lots of pictures, ‘smileys’, or jokes. Pretty e-mail template styles are also not appreciated as they can look different when received and not impress the person who is reading it. Keep things professional and simple.
- A sample speculative e-mail is provided below.
- Make sure the employer can contact you easily. If you tend to only use the initial of your first name, it may be worth indicating your preferred title e.g. Mrs/Mr/Ms/Miss. Alternatively give your first and surname.
- Always check your letter and e-mail for spelling or grammatical errors, and ask someone to double check it. If you find any mistakes, do it again - don't score out or use correction fluid.
- Remember to keep copies of everything you send and note the date sent and any follow up action to be taken.
- At the bottom of the letter put "CV enc".
PDF files require you to have Adobe Reader, which is free to download from the Adobe website. Download Adobe Reader
