lots to do today

I was trained in the dark arts of the cover letter by my mother, who is a hiring manager. And her training has paid off: I've been consistently told my cover letters are excellent. Let me pass on the wisdom.

The job of a cover letter is to give a prospective employer strictly more information than is on the resume. This is where you take the resume contents and put them into context. You look at the job requirements (you are looking at the job requirements before applying, right?) and look at your resume and ask the question (in your head) "why would a person think this candidate would be good for this job?" and your cover letter is the answer to that question. If you don't answer that question, the hiring manager is going to have to do it themselves, and you have way more information to work with than they do.

This is especially important if you're moving from one industry to another, because then the relevant connections aren't obvious. It's also very important if you're overqualified, because then you can use the letter to say "I know it looks like this job would be too entry-level for me, but I'm interested to pursue it for reasons x, y, and z". You can also use this space to explain away something that might otherwise be disqualifying, like job-hopping or a long break in employment. The tone to strike here is always matter-of-fact and constrained to topic - don't go into detail about health stuff or personal tragedy, just tell them what they need to hear: that this period of your resume was affected by [bad thing] but that it's now in the past and you're looking forward to the next chapter. Remember, one of the things they're trying to learn is whether you'd be content in this role, or whether you'd be miserable and leave after 2 months, which would force them to do all the work of hiring again. You're trying to establish that you will fit right in and not cause problems. Knowing what drew you to this job in particular (and don't just say 'money', that's true for everyone) helps with that.

-not allowed on furniture. remain standing or kneel on the floor, no sitting

-not allowed to make eye contact 

-being silenced immediately every time they try to speak 

-casual manhandling, being dragged alone because they’re not trusted to move by themselves 

-casual, nonconsensual touch. randomly pulling them closer, absently playing with hair, manually adjusting their posture

-giving orders without explanation 

-giving orders they know are arbitrary, just to exercise power

-talking about them like they aren’t even in the room 

-authorizing other people to monitor and control them

-being kept in restraints 24/7, with movement restricted even further in their downtime 

-degrading their natural behaviors and reflexes. stare is creepy, smile is ugly, flinching is disrespectful, etc…

-putting down their hobbies/interests

Also Rocky stayed home and Adrian (a scientist) was on the blip-a

BUT I feel like I have a very different take than I normally see on how Swap!Grace would act—

I feel like Grace definitely would be all scared like I've seen at times, but I feel like we forget how smart he is!!! He would put that calculating brain to use!!! His whole thing is he’s a coward bc he doesn’t want to die so he’d definately use his brain all he can to keep himself alive.

Personally, I think he would be cold, reserved, very careful with his words but also maybe stutters? (bc | think Grace was born to be a motormouth and having to restrain himself brings Issues) but also extremely manipulative and sneaky.

Like, imagine, maybe threeish days after Simon rescued him (they're on Erid) Grace gets up early to make them breakfast. Simon is delighted, obviously (both bc brekkie!! And!! Grace is warming up to him!!) and scarfs down the (honestly less that stellar but hell if he’ll complain about it) meal and the coffee Grace also made for him.

As Simon down the last drop Grace stares coldly at him. Simon chuckles nervously "...What?"

Grace is silent for a moment, then, "The poison will have you dead in approximately twenty minutes unless I tell you the chemical compound of the antidote.

You will escort me to the nearest spacefaring ship and then and only then will I give the formula to you. Do you understand?"

Just things like that :3

Like LET HIM USE HIS SCIENCE BRAIN!!!!! HE DOESN'T NEED TO BE VIOLENT OR PHYSICALLY STRONG LIKE SIMON IS!!!! BUT HE CAN STILL ACT NEGATIVELY!!!! HES A DIFFERENT PERSON AND CAN BE TERRIFYING IN DIFFERENT WAYS!!! :DDDDDDDD

LET ME HAVE SCARY SCIENTIST GRACE!!!!!! LET 👏 ME 👏 HAVE 👏 HIM 👏

EDIT: SOMEONE’S WRITING IT DHJVFDDSSSSSSS GO READ IT RIGHT NOW

(Also additionally after the scene I mentioned I think the rest plays out like this :)))

Simon tells Grace that “uhhhh sorry there aren’t actually any ships that can fly rn 😅 Mary is still being fixed up”

But Grace is like “bs take me to a ship right now. I will not tell you the antidote without one and I can promise you that it will work and it will be painful.”

And Simon’s like “… uuuuhhhhmmmm well I can’t but it’s actually fine bc Adrian can just figure out how to reverse engineer at least a semi permanent antidote real quick she’s smart like that :)”

And Grace (in his head) is just like “……CRAP I just threatened to KILL my captor I am SO dead he’s gonna kill me! Nononononono—“