The International Schools Review Forum

Thames Pirate wrote:
> Scenario 1: They don't expect a cover letter at a fair, but if you have a
> tailored one, it shows keen interest and initiative. They may not read it,
> but the effect is there. If they do read it, all the better. But that
> isn't the scenario we are mostly talking about.

Can confirm this, as it happened to me. They noticed it at the booth, and mentioned it during the interviews as a positive. I wouldn't have gotten the job if I didn't also meet their requirements, but lots of other teachers applying met those, and it definitely made for a good first impression from what they've told me.

PG - scenario 1 applies only if you intend on going to the fair. I wasn't. scenario 2 applies only if your sending your CV to those junior people. I wasn't. scenario 3 applies only if there isn't a timeline - there was - my self-imposed timeline.

Last round I had interviews with more schools than not that I targeted and responses from every school I targeted (some, sadly, declining, but that was OK).

My opinion - tailor your cover letter.

Just my 2 halalas

@Thames Pirate

1) No it doesnt, no one reads covers at a fair at signup.

2) Using maybe a lot doesnt change the system, it works how Ive described. They dont read the cover letter during screening. Its not more than likely, its for all practical purposes so minuscule, its comfortable to say it doesnt happen.
There is no leg up to get from a practical sense, your model is just the TPF lottery model, someone wins the lottery, so its worth it to buy a ticket because the cost is trivial compared to the reward. Which is junk statistics. If your @SJ and your applying to 7 ISs a year, okay sure, you have plenty of resources to spare, and if unsuccessful youve wasted maybe a half hour, you werent going to really do anything anyway.
By that logic if you rally ant the job you should spend thousands in coin to network and do an F2F in person interview out of season, you should move to your target IS location even if it means working in ESOL, if you really want the job, because no trivial edges, are trivial, costs dont change probability.
Yes thy are looking for groupings, thats how selection works. You have to take the candidate pile and reduce it to the list of those that get interviews, they do that by sorting.
Yes we do know how recruiters use resumes and cover letters. Your confusing ignorance with variation, absent causation does not mean there isnt reliable and valid predictability.
Again No, not everyone uses cover letters, only a very small and marginal amount of variance thats significant uses cover letters.
Again, your comparison is nutter talk, I may wake up tomorrow and their may be a bag of coin in my closet and there may not be, thats two possible outcomes, but in what bonkers reality is the probability of their being a bag of coin in my closet 50%, none. Your failed and erroneous assumption is based on a flawed understanding of predictive validity and probability.

3) No its, probably not, when there are urgent positions or early recruiting or other out of cycle factors application doesnt increase the probability of an appointment, you cant beat the recruiting game and apply early, or doing early recruiting to get an interview based on timing, all thats going to most likely happen is your application goes into the candidate pool, your resume (not cover letter) may get a cursory vie to see if it really stands out and hits the special boxes) but they arent reading your cover letter. For an urgent vacancy or an expected application for early recruiting hats happening is your shortening the recruiting chain from applicant to hiring authority, int hat case the recruiter or executive leadership is pressed for time and they arent going to waste time on a failed 30 minute or an hour interview for logistical factors when they can skim the cover letter in a minute to see if anything is an immediate deal beaker, and the executive leadership has to do all their own selection. '

@SJ

Self imposed timelines are not time limits, narrowing your focus doesnt actually remove the surrounding environment.

I mostly disagree.

Yes, yes, I know. You disagree because, well, because.

@Thames Pirate

....Because youre wrong.

Yes, yes, you are so great. We all bow to you. Well done, gold star, and a participation trophy.

*Passes sid the adult beverage and brings extra popcorn for all, including sweet popcorn for Illiane_Blues, then remembers that she cannot actually afford popcorn because PsyGuy is also more right about her finances and her husband's career*

They did glance over my cover letter at sign up, and since the first line was already tailored to their school, they noticed the effort and were curious. Not sure if it got me the interview and the job – I also ticked all their boxes, but many did, but it was me who received the offer, and not the others. Also, they mentioned it during the interviews as a positive.

Of course I wouldn't apply to a school if I didn't do some research on it first, so it's then easy enough to personalise the cover letter, instead of watching half an episode of whatever one is binge-watching.
It will not always work, but it only needs to work once. And it has, so I can't reconcile your claims with my experience.

@Illiane_Blues

We disagree, I am unable reconcile your experiences with the data.

Shall we ask about the data? I know it's an exercise in futility, but we should at least do our due diligence and ask.

So PsyGuy, would you care to tell us where you got this data?

*Heads to microwave for more popcorn*

@Thames Pirate

I only post from experience and research and highly reliable and trusted sources. Which, I have compared to yours and the other forum contributors and find their experiences unpersuasive and without merit compared to my data.

The usual blablabla about trusted sources from @PsyGuy, yet again refusing to present data and therefore remaining without credibility.

Regarding tailored cover letters:
Why would anyone NOT tailor their cover letter to the school they're applying to?
Only if you send out letters to 50+ schools I would understand if you didn't tailor them all, but then your chances wouldn't be as good as with a tailored letter.
I've never had an interview (at fairs and via Skype) where my cover letter WASN'T referenced, usually the parts that were about the school and how I linked it to my thoughts about the education. One interview it was the first thing they asked, and the rest of the interview was about that. Best interview I've had.

@Heliotrope

because your a primary It (or other IT) with a broad job search and your applying to a lot of ISs during the narrow band prior to peak recruiting, which amounts to a LOT of applications and thus the tailoring aspect of the application becomes a part time job, all for a benefit thats has such trivial benefit it may as well be zero.

The utility of application vastly improves probability of success just in doing it, 50+ applications has a substantial hit rate by itself.

Thats just a dynamic of the social contract, if you hadnt included a cover letter at all youd still be at the interview and the recruiter would have commented about something in your resume. The cover letter was just an object, it doesnt matter what it is. They could have engaged by commenting on your tie. Its just a bit of social lubrication. If it hadnt been that it would have been something else, you wouldnt have sat in the room and stared at each other.

Yep, why not give yourself every advantage? A well-written cover letter might even allow you to influence the direction of an interview a bit more toward your strengths. Incidentally, we have had similar experiences to Heliotrope's. Of course, if the only thing I want is hit rate rather than a good job, the numbers strategy is probably more effective. If I want a job worth having, I go with the best presentation I can make.

Thames Pirate wrote:
> Yep, why not give yourself every advantage? A well-written cover letter
> might even allow you to influence the direction of an interview a bit more
> toward your strengths. Incidentally, we have had similar experiences to
> Heliotrope's. Of course, if the only thing I want is hit rate rather than
> a good job, the numbers strategy is probably more effective. If I want a
> job worth having, I go with the best presentation I can make.

What she said.

But to repeat it in slightly different (and more) words:

If you're shooting for tier 3 schools, the numbers strategy might very well work, although even then a tailored letter might very well give you an edge. It would take 10 minutes to tailor a cover letter a bit, if you're in a hurry and don't get into too much detail, but it will still be obvious it is not a standard letter. And when you apply to 50 schools, you'll still have your favourites (either school or location), so you could tailor those letters at least. And in a weekend, you can easily tailor all 50 and still have time to go to the movies, shop for groceries, and rebalance your investment portfolio.

For the type of schools I apply to nowadays however, I can't afford not to do all I can to get an edge, as the competition is formidable.

And yes, they could have talked about my tie, but luckily I had written an intriguing cover letter, so we talked about my strengths instead, instead of the pattern of my tie. I'm quite sure which of these two interviews will give me the best shot at the job. To paraphrase a certain captain of industry: if the interviewer starts complimenting you on the font you've used, you know you're in trouble.

@Thames Pirate

Because its not an advantage. A well articulated conversation allows you to take the interview wherever you want to the entirety of your strengths. You dont need a dog whistle if you control the leash.

You can have a high hit rate and a good job, the to are not mutually exclusive, the high hit rate increases the probability of encompassing those "good" ISs.

@Heliotrope

Except there really isnt an edge to a tailored cover letter, because cover letters arent significant.
It takes 5 minutes, but okay sure 10 minutes is how long it takes you. 50 Cover letters at 10min/each is over 8 hours, thats a waste for something that doesnt matter. Sure youll have time because youll have half your weekend considering you spent 10 min customizing letters and the rest of the day actually doing the rest of the tasks involved with application.

Except there isnt an edge.

You choose the tie didnt you, thats a strength and probably way more an interesting story than your cover letter and a more viable strength.
Im sure which one is the better shot as well.
Exactly ties are fonts, cover letters contain fonts, and they meant the font of your resume, because captains of industry and everyone else dont read cover letters.