Project: Get Ithermoss a Job

[Ithermoss]

Below is a cover letter I've drafted, as I'm really hoping for a job to come down the pipes. Any proofreading or suggestions would be fantastic.


<<My name>>
<<my address line 1>>
<<my address line 2>>

March 17, 2015

<<Manager HR full name>>
<<Hopeful employer address line 1>>
<<Hopeful employer address line 2>>

re: Assistant Project Manager

Dear Ms. _______:

I was working on an entrepreneurial venture and in discussing my long term professional goals with my associate, your company's name came up as a great next step in my pursuit of more project management experience. As a natural leader with a talent for managing efficient workflow with financial and regulatory stakeholders, I am confident that I have much to contribute to your firm's success.

I’ve cut my teeth on remote projects for RCB LLC, a bioethics firm in Ithaca, NY; I understand the many challenges that can impact a project and the balance that must be struck between time, cost, and quality. Coupled with my eight years of experience in international crisis management, the sense of urgency and ownership relayed in my work falls in line with the trust-building goals of <<potential employer's name>>. Additionally, my coding speed and pattern recognition both scored in the 99th percentile according to the Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery – which I demonstrated in my internship with the US Navy. I have no doubt that my skills will go far to produce smooth project operations.

Furthermore, my talent for managing several (around 30) projects simultaneously and ensuring timely and error-free completion has been vital when coordinating international crisis projects such as:

• Worldwide medical evacuations.
• Safely extracting petrol cleanup workers from embattled tribal territories in Africa.
• Population support logistics, relief, and recovery during major seismic and radiological events.

o Sichuan 2008, Santiago 2010, Haiti 2010, and Fukushima 2011
• Incident management planning at world sporting events.

o World Cup (2014) and Olympic Games (2008, 2010, 2012, 2014)
• Coordinating hazardous material recovery from disaster site and transport to owner.

My resume is enclosed with this letter for your consideration. I am very excited at the prospect of applying my project management skills at <<Potential employer's name>>. I will call you in a week in order to follow up on this letter and will be available at <<my phone number>> if you need to call me before that.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
<<My name>>

Enc. Resume

[Aurelianus Drak'shal]

Doing things like this is a major part of my job. If you like, I can have my supervisor take a look at it, if she has time, and let you know what she thinks.

[Hysteria]

Well, I imagine there might be some cultural differences, so please remember that in the following:

First point is to show and tell your skills:
A lot of people tell the employee about their skills without concrete examples or linking it to their roles. This means they can seem to be providing spin and talking themselves up. If however you just show what you've done and how that will help you achieve the new organization as goals then you come across a lot more matter of fact.

On that, you've talked about yourself and your experience but not the company your applying for. If this was in response to a job ad I'd say go and read the duties and weave those in. If it isn't then compare your previous roles' duties to what you might do for them.


urgency and ownership relayed in my work falls in line with the trust-building goals of <<potential employer's name>>.*

I don't know if this line makes sense, though it might if I knew the company. I'd use words for causality. For example, 'the urgency required in my previous roles in *blank* demonstrates *blank*'. Examples are good, if this place will need you to do project work for disasters, then directly say you have experience working in disasters, most notably X and Y where you did Z.

Create the links between your past jobs and this one for the HR person.

Good luck ^_^

[Erirag the Poet]

Pssst. Potential employer's name wasn't censored at the end of the application.

[Ithermoss]

Hysteria: Thanks for your feedback. I am ineed responding to a job ad. I tried to tie in my skills directly with the advert, though it's actually a poorly written job posting: the things they demand from a project manager is essentially textbook PMBOK: Project Management Body of Knowledge.

The job advert states the basic fundamentals of project management as job requirements: Project Development, Budgeting, Planning, Design, Milestone Scheduling, contracting, Conflict Resolution, Risk Management, Implementation, and Closure.

I almost feel like if I restate those specific things explicitly, I'll be just educating the HR lady re: "that's pretty much what all project managers do" which will come across as pompous. All of that can be concisely explained in "I manage projects, these are what kinds I've worked on that involved all of the fundamentals you've mentioned." Example: Extracting oil cleanup workers from Ogoni territory (and deal with their families) involved some rather heavy conflict resolution. They also stress "completion of timely and error-free work assignments," as if that's not valued virtually anywhere I apply. It's basically a pretty bad job advert.

No?


They did mention that coding and maintaining a filing system was critical to the role (i.e., what I did for the Navy, which is detailed in further depth on my resume.)


Pssst. Potential employer's name wasn't censored at the end of the application.

FIXED. Thanks bud. :P