Cover Letters

Here's the study that USA Today refers to in Snapshots (7/17/08, p. B1). Briefly, 86% of the executives surveyed said that a cover letter was very valuable(23%)or somewhat valuable (63%)to accompany the job application resume.

Communication on the Job

Here is some excellent advice on getting a promotion--to bridge the gap between academic and workplace communication theory. There is also much of interest under "Also see related WikiHows"--getting a pay raise, writing a resume, and interviewing for a job.

Resume

In most of the interviewing books I've read--including my own little Interviewing Guidebook--the suggestion--either explicit or in the examples--is to keep your employment resume to one page. But, according to today's USA Today snapshot two page resumes are increasing in popularity. For example, in 1996 73% said the preferred length was 1 page but in 2006 only 52% felt this way. And the percentage of those favoring 2 pages increased from 25% in 1996 to 44% in 2006. No distinction was made in this little graphic between hard copy and e-copies but it's obvious that online submissions are increasing and, it's likely, that length would matter a lot less with online resumes due, in part, I assume because the pages won't easily become detached (as they might in hard copy), the find feature would enable a personnel officer to locate crucial information, there is virtually no storage problem, etc.