Personally I think that would be something that should come up during the interview.

 

hmm... so I should remove it from the cover letter then? I was thinking it might not be something that could be overtly discussed in an interview due to fair hiring practices or something similar.

 

Remove it. Puts the HR person in an awkward position. They can't ask you about health but when the travel discussion comes up during the interview you can volunteer whatever you want even though there are questions they cannot ask. They probably wont be making notes in their file about your excellent health either. Focus on being able to do the job.

 

Could be your right.

 

I would tell.

We used to have employees.

I would love to hear that my future employee is very healthy, had a good work ethic, no dramas that would interfere with work.

Example: one of our worst employees was always having dramas, took very frequent smoke breaks (in a food service job), was always literally sitting down on the job, got into arguments with the other employees, called in a lot, and took 2 weeks off after her daughter had a miscarriage at 6 weeks because "My grandbaby died".

She quit after that. About a year later she called us, thinking we'd want to rehire her. My husband sadly told her it was just the two of us now, but he wished her luck.

Another time an employee didn't show up because she'd been arrested for tickets. I had to work over a double and was Not Happy.

 

I don't think you need to be so detailed and explicit about it.

Try something like this instead.

I'm in excellent health and can handle the rigors of rough traveling very well.

 

I would ditch the cover letter entirely. Prepare a copy of your resume in a brown envelope instead, and bring it along...

Walk into the building of whoever it is you're trying to get a job with, and introduce yourself to the top dog. Let them put a face to the name.

Don't bull**** them, tell them exactly what you're after and why you're the best man/woman for the job.

And then keep on them. Stop in once a week or so. Talk to them. Get to know them and their business.

Eventually, they'll call you up.

I've never filled out a job application in my life, and I've never struggled to find work either.

 

Walk into the building of whoever it is you're trying to get a job with, and introduce yourself to the top dog. Let them put a face to the name.

Try that in most modern corporations and you'll be facing a wall of private security.

Most companies now require an electronic mail meeting before they want on their premises.

You can only follow your suggestion by limiting your employment opportunities to small businesses.

 

It's a requirement for the application. Haha walking into this one would be somewhat problematic.

 

Can't help ya then. Never worked in a place like that.

 

Generally a cover letter echoes all the keywords the employer is looking for. You can add your flair, but the idea is to be the best qualified based on the position requirements.

The health stuff seems more like a personal qualification that should be on the resume if anywhere at all.

 

These days I don't even see resumes used nearly as much anymore.

Curriculum vitae is what many companies now want first. Your life on one page.

I've had to turn to a smaller print font just to keep mine current.

 

I would not offer them any more information than they ask for aside from saying that you can pass a physical, you can pass a background check and pass a drug screen.

If they want to know the condition of your health, they will send you to be checked, it will be a provision of the job!

If not, don't worry about it, they probably won't either

 

Too many details in a cover letter are extra, they make it sound too informal. The problem with cover letters and resumes is that people are often misled by the confusion over their similarities with motivation letters and CVs correspondingly. I didn't know the differences either until I prepared my own resume for a position of a TV script editor. Now, I'm writing a motivation letter for an internship.
A cover letter is obligatory, when it's an official requirement. However, in most cases a resume or a CV is enough. A couple of references about crucial discrepancies:

https://icc.ucdavis.edu/materials/resume/resumecv
http://ecs.ihu.edu.gr/co/employment-business-letters/what-motivation-letter

 

5 years later....

I certainly hope he isn't still job searching!

 

Long-term unemployment's a bitch :xeye:

 

Don't waste the ink, if your being sent outside CONUS your employer will send you for a medical.

 

A cover letter should reflect your experience with the items and qualifications listed in the job description, why you want the job and what you can bring to it, and a brief overview of your professional experience and qualifications. It’s not a prose version of your CV and resume. Health issues are not to be disclosed at that time.

 

I think it would be weird to mention a strong immune system and good health in a cover letter. It might even raise red flags.

If the job requires world travel, you could mention that you are an experienced traveler. (If that is the case.)

 

Since this person asked the question in 2015 I'm sure he could tell you and ol' asag if your advice today worked or not :thumb:

 

This reminds me of something that happened with my husband.

When he entered the training program for blind vendors, the program was cheap and rented "doubles" at an extended stay hotel. He was housed with another guy from Houston. The other guy was drunk, cheated, ruined an expensive braille display of my husband's "by accident" when my husband refused to let him copy homework, etc. He lied, cheated, etc.

He was finally let go from the training program. He then got an advocate to turn around and attempt to sue the program, stating that they had discriminated against him because he was black. The program was able to respond, the head of the class (my husband) is black and thriving. Your guy was just a loser. So he lost that.

My husband graduated top of the class, applied for, and won his location. We had been in business for a month or two when my husband's old roommate called "I heard you got the Post Office, when can I start?"

At no time had my husband EVER said this guy could come work for him. We already knew he was lazy, a liar, a cheat, and a drunk. He did not have reliable transportation. So my husband very sadly told him sales were not as expected and we didn't have the budget to "pay you what you deserve". :rofl: I think he called another couple times but eventually he got the message.

 

You just never know with hiring managers. I’ve seen some pretty silly things put on resumes and cover letters, and sometimes, when your options are your options (as the one hiring), you (the applicant) need something to stand out from the pack. Sometimes, seemingly silly things put you in the running.

Just the other week I was asked to sit in for some resume reviews for an open role on a co-worker’s team. The applicant put “I have a great sense of humor” under skills/summary and the hiring manager really liked it and offered the guy the job. Inevitably it was his hard skills that got him the offer after lots of tough questions (in addition to coming prepared with prior work neatly organized, being professional, and a normal person), but he was in the running because of an attention getter.

For your question specifically, it sounds like more of something you would just bring up in convo than put on paper though. Thinking creatively you could put something as an attention getter up top as it pertains to your fitness, if pertinent, just don’t overdo.

I suppose it also matters how badly you want the job or whether a CV or cover letter is truly “required.” I have never been a cover letter guy (always ignored it when prompted via online app interfaces) and have gotten interviews and offers despite that fact.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk