Speculative letter and CV

SPM1959

I'm thinking about sending a letter/CVs to some companies to advise I'm looking for work and would be interested in discussing any potential roles with them.

What do people think of this approach? Has anyone ever been successful in gaining employment from it.

Can someone give advice on how I should structure my letter?

Fr Tod Umptious

Hi OP
I think its a very good idea.

The last few jobs I have had over the years I have got by sending speculative CV's.

Make sure your cover letter explains where you found out about the company and why you would like to work for them.

Also be very positive in your cover letter, explain what you can offer the company.

Faith

I'm currently working part time with an amazing company from that approach, and I hopefully have more part time work lined up to begin in mid-January. Meanwhile, I'm also developing my role at the first company, and still get occasional calls from other places I sent my CV to last August. So yeah, I think it's a good approach. It shows initiative and determination, and my experience indicates that they will remember you for upcoming positions if your CV is strong. For instance, I sent my CV to a department of the HSE in August and they rang me in early December to offer me an interview in January.

sarahrichard

I have been taking that approach for the past 3 months, and although some companies where nice enough to write back, I have not been offered or told there are any jobs? I have applied for over 50 jobs and contacted about the same amount of companies. I have been told its a bad time of year or I have too much experience etc. But maybe try it, the above people seem positive towards it.

SPM1959

Maybe a simple question but do people email or physically post their letter/CV.
I remember reading some advice where it stated to post the CV as it can't be as easily deleted as an email.

sarahrichard

I would email it, I have worked for many companies that look more at the email then a letter. Letters get lost in an office, emails dont

sarahrichard

Do you mind me asking what industry you are looking for a job in?

Fr Tod Umptious

SPM1959 wrote: »

Maybe a simple question but do people email or physically post their letter/CV.
I remember reading some advice where it stated to post the CV as it can't be as easily deleted as an email.

Hi OP,
Email is probably more convenient for getting CVS out there to a lot of companies, but there is no harm in posting or handing in a CV in person.

Either way it's a good outgas to change up aster a week or so just to remind the company that you contacted them.

SPM1959

sarahrichard wrote: »

Do you mind me asking what industry you are looking for a job in?

I've always worth in the financial services but have had a number of roles so plenty of transferable skills so not limiting myself to one particular industry.

Faith

SPM1959 wrote: »

Maybe a simple question but do people email or physically post their letter/CV.
I remember reading some advice where it stated to post the CV as it can't be as easily deleted as an email.

I've done both. It's been a while but I think I got about a 50/50 response rate between the two. The job I'm currently doing was the result of an email, the upcoming one was a letter. I will say that I got very positive responses from letters, where applicable - people phoned and actually talked to me. With emails, I got a couple of "sorry, no jobs" emails in return, along with some "we'll keep you in mind if anything comes up". But in both cases, I'd say at least 50% of both letters and emails were ignored at the same time.

SPM1959

What is the best way to get contact email addresses for their recruitment departments. Struggling somewhat finding them on their websites.

SPM1959

Three emails sent today. Will send more by the end of the week.

micromary

I have not sent a letter for a while if I'm honest. I think that emails are the modern, quicker & more convenient way of getting your message across. However I honestly don't know if they are more successful. I sent a few speculative CV's in December by email and got no response back. Again it might have been the time of year that was in it!

starlit

I've found very few get back to me when I send out speculative CV's. If you can go to them directly is best or go to an agency but not always recommend you need to find a good one and know what you want too from your job search. Sometimes they are not always helpful. Sometimes find you do a better job yourself in the job hunt even if it takes longer! Have you tried linkedin? A professional job coach be worth looking into but avoid the likes of FAS/solas their advice is rubbish it not different to what you think/do yourself.

I could send out so many CV's and might only get a response from half but might only get offered one or two interviews max from each batch of CV's sent out.

SPM1959

In a lot of ways I think it's a numbers game - more you send, better chance of a response/discussion/interview.

I'm on LinkedIn. Have a pretty good profile (I think..) however don't get much interest on it so need to utilise the site a bit more.

I have dealt with career coaches in the past. Were good but they are also expensive.

micromary

SPM1959 wrote: »

I have dealt with career coaches in the past. Were good but they are also expensive.

I was considering going to a career coach. What did you find that was good about them? What are the costs involved?