Hello Everyone,

I’ve been getting a lot of letters from people who read my “Your Career” column on MSNBC.com and one of the biggest issues that keeps coming up is how important is a cover letter.

From the many human resource experts I’ve interviewed over the years the answer seems to be a resounding “it’s very important”. But what makes a great cover letter? You definitely want to toot your own horn, and also make sure the letter is targeted to the actual job you want. Sending cookie cutter cover letters to hundreds of job openings on Monster.com is probably a bad idea. HR folks say they can tell a form letter from one that has been crafted for a particular position.

So what else? Should you be funny? Should you print the letter on funky paper? I once printed my cover letter on red paper. (Ok, ok, I was 19.)

Do you all have examples of great cover letters or cover letter ideas?

Would a quote from a great philosopher help?

How about this:
“Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy. For if you break bread with indifference, you bake bitter bread that feeds but half a man’s hunger. And if you grudge the crushing of grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine. And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man’s ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.”
~ Kahlil Gibran

Hey, I’d hire him!

(And don’t forget, if you read my book From the Sandbox to the Corner Office and enjoyed it remember to write a review on Amazon.com.)

Hey Everyone,
Check out the story below. A court finds that Wal-Mart forced its employees to toil when they were off the clock.
This is among the most basic of labor rules — workers get paid for the work they do.
What’s your take?

Jury finds Wal-Mart violated labor laws
Pennsylvania jury found the discount retailer violated labor laws by forcing employees to work during off hours and breaks.
October 13 2006: 11:28 AM EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) — A Pennsylvania jury found that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. the world’s biggest retailer, violated Pennsylvania labor laws by forcing employees to work “off the clock” or during rest breaks, the discounter and a court official said.

A state jury in Philadelphia on Thursday found in the favor of Michelle Braun and Dolores Hummel, formerly employed by Wal-Mart.

They sued the retailer on behalf of current and former hourly employees, charging that it violated labor laws by having employees work during rest breaks or when they were “off the clock.”

But the jury found in Wal-Mart’s favor on the charge that it denied workers meal breaks.

The jury has not yet ruled on damages in the case, and a Wal-Mart spokesman said it would not be appropriate to comment before the jury reached a decision on damages.

The decision comes after a California jury in December ruled that Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, pay $172 million in damages and compensation to about 116,000 current and former employees for denying meal breaks.

Plaintiffs in the 2001 California lawsuit claimed that Wal-Mart had failed to pay hourly employees for missed or interrupted meal breaks.

Wal-Mart has said it took steps to ensure meal breaks for its employees, including deploying technology to shut down cash registers if cashiers do not respond to alerts for breaks.

On another note: If you read my book “From the Sandbox to the Corner Office” (www.sandboxbook.com) make sure to post a review on Amazon.com.

Cheers!

Today my new column “Your Career with Eve Tahmincioglu” debuted on MSNBC.com and the topic is paying dues.
eve’s column

Ok, so you’re wondering what the heck does this writer know about paying dues.

Well, I actually had to pay some.

When I first got out of college, ready to embark on my journalism career, I had visions of working in the newsroom of a big city newspaper. I ended up writing about underwear and bras for a small trade magazine.

I held out for a while before I took the gig, waiting for my “dream job” but nothing, just a stream of rejections. I realized I had to get writing and reporting fast, so I could get my feet wet and at least be in the profession I admired from afar.

Now, I’m not knocking it. Not totally. I did get a lot of discounted intimate apparel samples and did write news stories, albeit about foundations. While my lingerie drawer was bulging, I was, however, embarrassed to tell people where I worked.

Looking back, taking a job at the underwear magazine was the best career decision I ever made. That job got my foot in the door at fashion powerhouse newspaper, Women’s Wear Daily, which gave me the opportunity to write about labor and workplace issues, and set the stage for my whole career.

Today, I am a regular contributor to the New York Times business section and BusinessWeek’s SmallBiz magazine. My articles have also appeared in Salon, iVillage, Workforce Management magazine, Kiplinger’s, Newsday, Working Mother, Pink Magazine and Time. I was also a staff business reporter for UPI and the St. Petersburg Times. My book, called “From the Sandbox to the Corner Office”, came out last week.
(check out my book, and also, if you missed it, USAToday did a story on my book that deals with CEOs and how they were spanked as kids — CEO spanking)

So tell me your story, or if you think paying dues is indeed a good idea when it comes to career advancement.

Hey Everyone,

Check out USAToday today. My book is mentioned in the Money section in a story about CEOs being spanked.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2006-10-08-spanking-ceos-usat_x.htm

Turns out Bill Gates and his buddy at Microsoft Steve Ballmer, both saw their total compensation decline last year.

I know, I know. You guys are very upset.

Microsoft Chairman Gates saw his total take for the year drop to $966,667 from $1 million. And Balmer, the computer software giant’s CEO, experienced a shrinking paycheck – down to $976,149 from $1,009,073 in the prior year.

But just in case you’re worried about whether Gates will able to pay the big bucks for his shnazy designer duds or trendy hairstyle don’t. Gates still ranks as the richest man on earth to the tune of $53 billion. Yes, I said billion. And Ballmer comes in number 15th on the Forbes list with $13.6 billion.

Hey, they’re still rich beyond comprehension, but at a time when executive compensation is mushrooming and wages for the rank and file are stagnating, it’s at least a little token for the daily grinders wondering if they’re going to be able to make the mortgage this month.

For years Wal-Mart has come under fire by economists, government officials and labor rights groups for not paying their employees enough or providing enough health benefits.

But guess what company officials want to do now? According to a New York Times report today, Wal-Mart is looking to double its ranks of its part timers, and workers there tell the Times they are being forced to “make themselves available around the clock, and assert that the company is making changes with an eye to forcing out long time higher-wage workers to make way for lower-wage part-time employees.”

For business owners, having a lot of part time employees can be both good and bad. In the good column is you have a much more flexible workforce and you typically don’t have to offer them any benefits, including health insurance. In the bad column is the unpredictability that comes from a part time work force that will probably drop you like a hot potato if they find a gig that pays more.

Wal-Mart officials say they have no specific targets when it comes to the make up of their part time staff but with the announcement yesterday that the retail giant had weaker than expected sales in September Wal-Mart, just like any other company, wants to help boost their business, and what better way than cutting employee costs, which represent a huge chuck of any company’s expenses.

The question is, what will it mean for the long-term health of the nation’s economy? Since Wal-Mart has one of if not the biggest workforce in the land, what they do impacts the whole country’s wallet. But Wall Street is breathing down their necks, and come on, let’s face it, if you have Wal-Mart stock in your portfolio you’ll be pretty blazing mad if your shares decline.

Companies like Costco, for example, have come under fire from Wall Street for having high labor costs but the firm doesn’t appear too rattled even though their stock could be even higher if they started tightening their labor belt.

So what’s the answer? Is it okay if a company’s stock offers a steady, solid performance and not the everybody-get-rich-quick returns so many expect today? Or do we stand by all the labor-reducing decisions company’s make in the name of profits, profits, profits?

As consumers, stockholders, workers, we all have a say. What’s your vote?