TABLE 2.4 Experts’ Comments That Reveal Their Decision Criteria for Making Staffi ng Decisions
Comments on an MBA’s Cover Letter
by an HR DirectorComments on a Consulting Firm’s Project Proposal by
an MIS DirectorKnowledge of
organization’s
objectives
- This letter appears to be a form
letter. No indication is given that
research was done on our fi rm. The
person does not appear to be very
knowledgeable.
10. There’s nothing specifi c to what they are
working off of or how much they know about Bell.
26. I feel that they had no idea about Bell in the
slightest before they wrote this thing. That’s deadly.
They are not interested at all.
Knowledge of
requirements
- What specifi c job are they
applying for? As the HR director
at my fi rm, I need to be able to
determine if openings are available
for that position.
11. They haven’t given me a clue to that they know
what’s going on and that they are responding to
what I specifi cally want and what we’re all about.
24. I want to see them telling me “Yes, we know
you have this request for proposal. We know
generally what you are trying to do.” I want to see
their approach build off of this base.
Proposed
action plan
[Note: Entry-level managers are not
ordinarily expected to provide a
plan of action in their cover letters.]- They’ve been talking in general terms of
what they’re going to do and what we are going
to get out of this. The essence of this is how
are they going to do it? How long? What type
of staffi ng? What’s it going to cost? What is the
involvement of Bell’s general management and
the other functional areas? How are the heads of
marketing, fi nance etc. going to be involved in
this and what type of effort do they have to give?
Where’s the structural approach in how they’re
going to conduct this study and what the impact
is going to be in these functional areas? What is
MIS’s involvement? Role? Looks like MIS is on
the sideline. Again no specifi cs.
Fit with
organization’s
culture
- I don’t get any sense of the
person, their skills, experiences,
interests, etc.
28. I want to know: What are they doing in these
phases? How they are going to do it? How is their
staff going to be doing this? How are they going to
be interfacing with MIS and user communities?
31. They’re setting a tone that’s so bad that it will
screw up the morale of the entire MIS department.
They’re not working with me. They’re just going to
come in and rip the guts out of my company because
they know better. They’re going to run this and then
hand it over and say, “Now you can run this thing.”
Qualifi cations 4. Where are all their relevant
experiences, qualifi cations, and
achievements?
- Some experiences have been
listed, manufacturing, marketing,
consulting, etc. But this is too broad,
no focus.
3. I want to see a profi le on the [consulting]
company, sales, the types of things they have done,
their types of clients, etc. They are not specifi c to
what Bell is wanting. I want to know background
but this section has nothing to do with the
proposal.
39. I want to know who they are putting in
charge of this project. What kind of structure
they’re going to have in your organization?
Analysts? Principals? What level? Don’t just
throw me a wrath of resumes.
Steps for
engagement
- When do they plan to contact us?
I hope they’re not counting on us to
contact them. - Overall, this cover letter needs
a lot of work to be effective in
securing an interview.
36. I come away with no confi dence that this
company knows what they are doing, or how to
organize it, or how to organize the attack.