You: The Brand | Part Five - Cover Letters

Gentle readers, no one likes to write a cover letter. No one.

And here's why: It's hard. It's hard to get all that awesome about you squished into a couple of short paragraphs, all the while also saying how amazing the company you're reaching out to is.

As part of this series on branding yourself (you can read the first post here), your MatchGirl wants to take you back to basics. Sure it's great to have yourself up-to-date on every social network and it's amazing if you work in a creative industry and can make a website or resume that gets you some press or attention. But all that means little if you can't do the work and if you don't cover the basics.

Just like when you are re-building your resume (though, really, you should have done that by now), you need to be very specific in your cover letter. A one size fits all approach does not work here.

Some tips to get you going:

1. Pull the key words out of the job description. These key words will become the basis for your letter.
2. What are the main areas of expertise the job posting lists? How do these fit with what you've accomplished. Use the top ones to form the meat of your letter.
3. What is the company up to? If the company name is on the posting, do a little legwork and find out what's great about the company - what you are interested in and think about how that applies to the job for which you're applying. 
4. Keep it short. You're not writing a novel , or even an essay, here. Three or four short paragraphs will do it. You need to whet their appetite for finding out more about you.

Writing a killer cover takes time. And the time is worth it. The more you write, the more you tweak them to fit each different application, the easier they will come. And, as always, like anything in your job hunt, there is no shame in asking a pal in the industry to take a look at it for you. That's what friends are for!

What are some of your best cover letter tips?

A Liberal Arts View of Technology

Your MatchGirl knows that everyone and their mother has been posting about Steve Jobs the past couple of days. And your MatchGirl, given yesterday's post, is no different.

Some posts have been received in controversy. Some have brought tears to people's eyes.. And no matter what you think of Steve Jobs the man, I don't think, gentle readers, that anyone can deny that his point of view changed the way that millions of people approach - and are able to approach - technology. And through that, the world.

A little story for you, dear readers: My grandfather owned a store in the White Mountains of New Hampshire - it was one of those stores where you could buy your groceries, your snow shovel and a new toy for your kid. It was three stories and served people from the many small towns in the area. And I remember walking into the office one day and there was a computer running the show. It was a Macintosh SE. And, while it didn't last long at the store (I can't recall what followed it), it came home with my family and I wrote term papers, mediocre short stories and my college applications on it over the next five years. I learned to play around on MacPaint and MacDraw and, later, on faster computers (with actual internal hard drives) got pretty good with Quark, too. I wrote my first emails on a Macintosh LC.

That's not really the point of this essay, though. So many of you have had a similar experience. So many of you have a first time-Mac story that is part of your personal history.

The point of that little story about the SE - that's more about my Grampa. He heard that the Mac was the best and he wanted the best. I can't recall why he gave it to us, and he's not around any longer to ask. But I do know that in 1998, when that Bondi Blue iMac came out, my Grampa, aged 78, drove two hours to the closest store selling them and took one home.

Listening to Fresh Air on NPR on Thursday night, they replayed part of a 1996 interview with Steve Jobs, where he said, to paraphrase, that he wanted to bring "a liberal arts point of view to the use of computers." He didn't want people to feel confused when setting them up or using them. He wanted them to be intuitive and part of the whole. A liberal arts education is focused on bringing all the parts of academia together to make a whole, a better, person, and, to me, it seems that's what Steve Jobs wished for Apple to bring to computing.

"In my perspective ... science and computer science is a liberal art, it's something everyone should know how to use, at least, and harness in their life. It's not something that should be relegated to 5 percent of the population over in the corner. It's something that everybody should be exposed to and everyone should have mastery of to some extent, and that's how we viewed computation and these computation devices."

It's too soon, in my opinion, to see what Steve Jobs' legacy will truly be. He's left behind some amazing innovation. He's left us looking at technology, and what it can be, in an entirely different light. But making computers something that almost everyone has, that everyone can figure out how to use, sometimes with just a swipe of their finger, that will be one of them. Making computers things that are not only great to know how to use, but a coveted and cool part of one's arsenal, that's another.

The ability to stay connected to what matters most to us - that's a pretty nice something to leave behind.

Work It Brooklyn

                                                           

Work It Brooklyn

February 24th

7 - 10pm

Arsenal

170 N4th btw Bedford & Driggs Ave

Free

Calling all freelance creative workers of Brooklyn!

Join us on February 24th for Work It Brooklyn, a networking event formed to connect inspired creatives working independently within the creative fields. Graphic designers, dancers, musicians, tech gurus, painters, and others are welcomed in this evening of productive debauchery. WIB is devised as a forum to connect folks working from home without the benefit of a network support system, opening up the opportunity to meet and forge partnerships, fine and create work, instigate healthy competition, and encourage the exchange of ideas and potential collaborations, all the while having a whole lot of fun.

It is no understatement that North Brooklyn is bustling with new initiatives at every turn, in food (Greenpoint Food Market, The Meathook, CSA's, Rooftop Farms), green ambitions (North Brooklyn Compost Project, additional Green Markets), art (3rd Ward, North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition), community and social issues (Williamsburg Walks, Northside Town Hall), and sports (North Brooklyn Runners, McCarren Tennis). WIB is an effort to connect the residents of this region, individuals already filled to the brim with activity, bringing them together for an evening of conversation and partnership.

The evening will be held in two parts. The Arsenal will be divided into six field-related stations, providing a hub for folks to gather within and outside their primary concentration. At the center of the space there will be Speed Networking. Think musical chairs meets speed dating, where attendees get to meet and speak through this spunky and time sensitive activity. We will also be raffling off tickets for a chance to win prizes provided by our proud sponsors, local businesses and organizations that believe that WIB rocks as much as we do.

There will also be a projection screen with a presentation of any attendants who wish to submit a page with a portfolio sample and contacts. That way if someone likes what they see in what you do on this screen, they can contact you once the evening is over, or serendipitously meet during the event and start what could be a beautiful collaboration between creative minds. Read the instructions attached and check out our blog for details on submitting templates for the presentation, due Feb 19^th.

This is a free event and pre-registration via eventbrite is required. Registration closes Feb 19^th or whenever we reach 100 attendees.

workitbrooklyn.eventbrite.com

^{Work It Brooklyn is produced by Aja Marsh (North Brooklyn Runners), Briana Campbell (Unemployed Brooklyn) and Joann Kim (Greenpoint Food Market). For full details and schedule for the evening, check out workitbrooklyn.wordpress.com}

^{Please feel free to contact us at workitbrooklyn@gmail.com}  

Work It Brooklyn is proudly sponsored by Brooklyn Based, The Arsenal, The Skint and Ladies Who Launch. Raffles graciously donated by Kombucha Brooklyn, WORD, Brooklyn Brewery, Ladies Who Launch, and more to come!

          

Design

©Briana Campbell, 2009

For a recent project in my textile design class at FIT we had to make a croquis (a tossed design), keeping in mind the fabric's use. I drew, using Photoshop, these vintage-inspired bicycles and scattered them over the page, on a soft green background. I envision this pattern being used on a mini-dress (think something like this from APC).

The next assignment, due tomorrow!, is to index the colors and re-color the pattern two different ways from a previously determined color palette.  I love the idea of getting an entirely different feel from a pattern using only a subtle change of color.