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Change anything aside from the firm specifics?

Aston2412 wrote:Change anything aside from the firm specifics?

I didn't include a date on the OCI cover letters since they aren't submitted immediately. They were put into a database and then sent to the firms via the school, so the date I wrote/sent it is irrelevant.

I also did a bit more tailoring for the mass mails. A mass mailed application could very well be just tossed aside given the sheer volume of resume bombs people will be doing. So I wanted to make it particularly tailored to stand out. But the OCI ones I didn't tailor all that much since my grades are pretty high at my school, and I figured they are sort of obligated to at least go through the resumes submitted through OCI programs.

Instead of the normal requesting an interview, I referenced that I would be speaking to them at OCI.

OCI cover letter? This is a thing? Oh crap.

Helmholtz wrote:OCI cover letter? This is a thing? Oh crap.

I've noticed that this is mostly for secondary markets. Only a couple of Chicago firms (not any of the big ones) and no NYC firms have asked for them.

ndirish2010 wrote:

Helmholtz wrote:OCI cover letter? This is a thing? Oh crap.

I've noticed that this is mostly for secondary markets. Only a couple of Chicago firms (not any of the big ones) and no NYC firms have asked for them.

Oh thank you baby jesus. Was scared for a minute there that I had somehow completely ignored a major component of OCI/Symplicity.

GW told us we were highly advised to include cover letters for OCI though they were NOT REQUIRED.

As a result me and all of my friends spent hours writing 35 cover letters for our OCI bids.

Aston2412 wrote:GW told us we were highly advised to include cover letters for OCI though they were NOT REQUIRED.

As a result me and all of my friends spent hours writing 35 cover letters for our OCI bids.

I have walked through the OCI process and gotten various resume advice from numerous people spending their summer at V10s. Not a peep about cover letters, but plenty of advice about ignoring OCS advice.

Helmholtz wrote:

Aston2412 wrote:GW told us we were highly advised to include cover letters for OCI though they were NOT REQUIRED.

As a result me and all of my friends spent hours writing 35 cover letters for our OCI bids.

I have walked through the OCI process and gotten various resume advice from numerous people spending their summer at V10s. Not a peep about cover letters, but plenty of advice about ignoring OCS advice.

Oh well, don't think it can hurt. I saw another thread about someone's cover letter for OCI.

That said, I've been using standard formula. However, in my targetted portion I've only been including reasons why I want to work for that firm, not in that region specifically. Do you think I should change this for mass mailings, especially to cities I have no ties to?

Aston2412 wrote:

Helmholtz wrote:

Aston2412 wrote:GW told us we were highly advised to include cover letters for OCI though they were NOT REQUIRED.

As a result me and all of my friends spent hours writing 35 cover letters for our OCI bids.

I have walked through the OCI process and gotten various resume advice from numerous people spending their summer at V10s. Not a peep about cover letters, but plenty of advice about ignoring OCS advice.

Oh well, don't think it can hurt. I saw another thread about someone's cover letter for OCI.

That said, I've been using standard formula. However, in my targetted portion I've only been including reasons why I want to work for that firm, not in that region specifically. Do you think I should change this for mass mailings, especially to cities I have no ties to?

Let this be a lesson: career services offices are always well intentioned but often horribly out of touch and wrong. I analogize a lot of their efforts being like a small child trying to help cook dinner. It's cute, and maybe they'll lend you a hand or save you a bit of effort, but they might also dump boiling pasta sauce all over the cat and then just giggle.

thesealocust wrote: Let this be a lesson: career services offices are always well intentioned but often horribly out of touch and wrong. I analogize a lot of their efforts being like a small child trying to help cook dinner. It's cute, and maybe they'll lend you a hand or save you a bit of effort, but they might also dump boiling pasta sauce all over the cat and then just giggle.

lol true

Helmholtz wrote:OCI cover letter? This is a thing? Oh crap.

I think an "Oh Shit" is warranted here. At least that was my thought.

I had to submit a bunch of OCI cover letters. They seem silly because OCI-participating firms are basically soliciting our resumes and transcripts- so why write a letter explaining why you're submitting a resume/transcript? Oh well.

Heartford wrote:I had to submit a bunch of OCI cover letters. They seem silly because OCI-participating firms are basically soliciting our resumes and transcripts- so why write a letter explaining why you're submitting a resume/transcript? Oh well.

I didn't say that it made sense!

It was advised and I thought I'd give CDO the benefit of the doubt.

Aston2412 wrote:

Heartford wrote:I had to submit a bunch of OCI cover letters. They seem silly because OCI-participating firms are basically soliciting our resumes and transcripts- so why write a letter explaining why you're submitting a resume/transcript? Oh well.

I didn't say that it made sense!

It was advised and I thought I'd give CDO the benefit of the doubt.

I also spent a few late nights writing stupid, targeted cover letters for GW's 35 bids. I also focused on the firm in particular, not on the region (since I have the personal ties, I didn't feel it was necessary). That said, are people writing cover letters for any resume collects. There's a few I would like an interview at, but I don't if it's just that: a resume collect.

Side note, I'm out of the country for a couple dates that overlap with interviews, so I could not bid on them. Anyone else in a similar situation, and/or is it too late to direct mail and explain my situation and say I would like to interview with them? I imagine that they are quite busy with OCI alone, so I don't know if this is worth it...

EDIT: I also gave CDO the benefit of the doubt

Some 2ndary market firms at our OCI wanted CLs. And Cadwalader for some reason. My guess is that they solicit CLs because of the half-preselect component of OCI.

Aston2412 wrote:GW told us we were highly advised to include cover letters for OCI though they were NOT REQUIRED.

As a result me and all of my friends spent hours writing 35 cover letters for our OCI bids.

How do you submit them? At least at my school, on Symplicity, the firms pick what documents they want and you can't send anything else in.

kalvano wrote:How do you submit them? At least at my school, on Symplicity, the firms pick what documents they want and you can't send anything else in.

I've heard tell of people including it with their resume.

darklighter13 wrote:

kalvano wrote:How do you submit them? At least at my school, on Symplicity, the firms pick what documents they want and you can't send anything else in.

I've heard tell of people including it with their resume.

I suppose that would work. Though it seems like a bad idea to include something they didn't ask for when given the chance.

kalvano wrote:

darklighter13 wrote:

kalvano wrote:How do you submit them? At least at my school, on Symplicity, the firms pick what documents they want and you can't send anything else in.

I've heard tell of people including it with their resume.

I suppose that would work. Though it seems like a bad idea to include something they didn't ask for when given the chance.

+1. It's not like they weren't aware that they could request a cover letter. If you're sneaking it it with your resume, you're probably just giving them a document which they've already decided they don't want. Probably not the best way to stand out.

If you're at a restaurant and you order the pasta but specify that you don't want the starter salad, even though it's in included in the price, how do you feel about the waiter who brings you the starter salad anyway? Would you want to hire him?

Our Symplicity had a drop down menu specifically to include cover letters. As such we all included resumes, transcripts and cover letters.

Simplicity requires cover letters for our OCI's. Mine were very similiar to my mass mailers.

For our OCI, some employers request cover letters and some do not. Just to be clear, my above comments (about including cover letters being like bringing an unwanted salad) only apply to those situations where employers don't want a cover letter, simplicity doesn't ask for a cover letter file in order to bid, and you try to upload your cover letter as part of the same file as your resume.

Oddly enough, some of the larger firms coming to our OCI ask for cover letters, and a lot of the small local firms don't.

Not one employer asked for a CL for Michigan OCI. Unless I'm missing something.