stop telling me youre a great writer

stop telling me youre a great writer stop telling me youre a great writer Its not a great idea nor is it necessary to brag about your writing skills in your cover letter or on your resume, via subjective assessments of yourself like the following that Ive landseen recentlyOutstanding writing skillsHighly conceptual and great at expressing ideas in a fresh, new wayAble to present strategic concepts in clear, persuasive, technically sound writingHeres why. If you have great writing skills, Im going to see them in the cover letter. You dont have to tell me theyre there. If I care about candidates writing skills (and oh, how I do), Im going to be looking for them in your cover letter and other communications anyway.But all too often, candidates give me their own assessment of their writing skills. And when it doesnt match up with the not-so-great cover letter theyve written which is often the case now Im doubting the other subjective statements they have on their resume too. If theyr e wrong about their writing skills, why wouldnt I think they might be wrong about other skills theyre claiming for themselves?Frankly, I dont like any subjective statements on a resume. As Ive written before, resumes should present factual information about what youve done, not subjective self-assessments. Thats because I dont yet know enough about you to have any idea if yours is reliable or not.Telling me that youre a fantastic writer when I can see that youre not pretty much answers that question for me, and not in a good way.Now, you might think, But since I know that I am a great writer, its okay for me to do this. And maybe you really are (although a lot of people think they are when theyre not). But you still shouldnt do it. If youre a great writer and you want me to know that, write a great cover letter. Thats how Ill know.stop telling me youre a great writer Its Flashback Friday Heres an old post from March 2009 that were making new again, rather than leaving it to wilt in the archives.Its not a great idea nor is it necessary to brag about your writing skills in your cover letter or on your resume, via subjective assessments of yourself like the following that Ive seen recentlyOutstanding writing skillsHighly conceptual and great at expressing ideas in a fresh, new wayAble to present strategic concepts in clear, persuasive, technically sound writingHeres why. If you have great writing skills, Im going to see them in the cover letter. You dont have to tell me theyre there. If I care about candidates writing skills (and oh, how I do), Im going to be looking for them in your cover letter and other communications anyway.But all too often, candidates give me their own assessment of their writing skills. And when it doesnt match up with the not-so-great cover letter theyve written which is often the case now Im doubting the other subjective statements they have on their resume too. If theyre wrong about their writing skills, why wouldnt I think they mig ht be wrong about other skills theyre claiming for themselves?Frankly, I dont like any subjective statements on a resume. As Ive written before, resumes should present factual information about what youve done, not subjective self-assessments. Thats because I dont yet know enough about you to have any idea if yours is reliable or not.Telling me that youre a fantastic writer when I can see that youre not pretty much answers that question for me, and not in a good way.Now, you might think, But since I know that I am a great writer, its okay for me to do this. And maybe you really are (although a lot of people think they are when theyre not). But you still shouldnt do it. If youre a great writer and you want me to know that, write a great cover letter. Thats how Ill know.