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Quick question -- how necessary are cover letters? There was a very brief thread from last year where someone said they were writing cover letters for 5-10 they really cared about and did just resume uploads for the rest. Wondering how bad an idea this is.

Two parts to the question:
1) If you're applying for the 2011 fair, are you doing cover letters for every employer?
2) If you did the fair in past years, did you get any interviews without submitting cover letters?

I wrote cover letters for all of the PILC fair employers I applied to. Don't get my interview schedule until Tuesday, so no idea if it helped.

Does anyone know if we should have cover letters in hand for the employers we want to talk to at table talk?

democrattotheend wrote:Does anyone know if we should have cover letters in hand for the employers we want to talk to at table talk?

Last year, I think I saw everyone just give in their resumes. However, I don't see how it could possibly hurt (beside for lack of time) if you wrote cover letters to places you're really interested in.

LjakW wrote:

democrattotheend wrote:Does anyone know if we should have cover letters in hand for the employers we want to talk to at table talk?

Last year, I think I saw everyone just give in their resumes. However, I don't see how it could possibly hurt (beside for lack of time) if you wrote cover letters to places you're really interested in.

Yeah, I probably won't have time to do it for all of them. But there were a few organizations I already wrote cover letters for before realizing they were table only.

Since you went through the fair last year, do you have any advice on navigating it/getting in at table talk, etc? Is it going to be too mobbed to really get to talk to anyone at table talk, and even if you do, does not having applied originally (I got shut out of a few places) kill your chances?

Any other advice on what to expect?

democrattotheend wrote:Since you went through the fair last year, do you have any advice on navigating it/getting in at table talk, etc? Is it going to be too mobbed to really get to talk to anyone at table talk, and even if you do, does not having applied originally (I got shut out of a few places) kill your chances?

Any other advice on what to expect?

I'm pretty sure that Table Talk, when they also do interviewing, is specifically an opportunity for those who did not apply to that org or who did not receive an interview from that org.
It may be a little intimidating at first, but once you get into it, it's fun/not so bad. The way it generally worked was, there were either one or two representatives from the organization at their respective table. There are like three empty chairs across from them and people would come and chat for about five-ten minutes (could be longer or shorter, but this really depends on whether there are people behind you waiting not so patiently to get a seat at the table), you would have a short conversation and hand them your rezzy. Depending on the personal connection you made, the organization representative may make a notation and then you wait to hear from them...
I was there pretty much the whole day, so I don't remember exactly how crowded it was and whether there were specific busy times, but it was definitely manageable.

Thanks for the advice.

Last year, did they not have the interview schedules up when they said they would? They were supposed to be up no later than 3 PM today. I know I am being impatient but I've been eagerly awaiting them for weeks!

the deadline for employers to select interviewees and the deadline to post the schedules are at the same time according the website. actually before today the deadline for the employers was actually later than the posting deadline. so... i wouldn't hold my breath.

i think your school's career services office is supposed to send out an e-mail when the schedules are up

I just heard back from someone at PILC who said they anticipated running the scheduler Thursday morning. Don't know how long after that the schedules will be up, but I figured I would share.

OP here. Interview schedules are up. For what it's worth, I got a few interviews with places that I only sent a resume, no cover letter. This information will help exactly no one right now, but thought I would update anyway.