No, the cover letter is not dead. Yes, online submissions and networking sites have adjusted things. However, don’t be so hasty to ditch that one document that can give you a little bit of personality. If you want to just stuff it with fluff, then yes, it is a waste of time. But if you really want a specific job, your cover letter could be your ticket to snagging an interview. So, if it’s not just a formality and it’s not supposed to be fluffy, what do you need to write?
- Error-free paragraphs
- Job-specific content
- To-the-point information
The cover letter may not be dead, but it doesn’t get a whole lot of view time. So, if you’re going to include one, it needs to pack a punch. Get to the point quickly. Make a connection by showing that you have done your homework. And review multiple times to make sure you haven’t missed any grammatical issues. It’s easy to miss things – it happens to me all the time. But this is that one time to bring in a trusted grammar nerd friend to give you another set of eyes on the letter. Your goal is to show you’re thorough, you have personality, and you are the right candidate for the job. Don’t skip this opportunity, but if you write the cover letter, don’t waste it either.
Contract Opportunities to Watch: SpaceX
NASA has awarded five additional missions to Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, California, for crew transportation services to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract. The CCtCap modification brings the total missions for SpaceX to 14 and allows NASA to maintain an uninterrupted U.S. capability for human access to the space station until 2030, with two unique commercial crew industry partners.
This is a firm fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract modification for the Crew-10, Crew-11, Crew-12, Crew-13, and Crew-14 flights. The value of this modification for all five missions and related mission services is $1,436,438,446. The amount includes ground, launch, in-orbit, and return and recovery operations, cargo transportation for each mission, and a lifeboat capability while docked to the International Space Station. The period of performance runs through 2030 and brings the total CCtCap contract value with SpaceX to $4,927,306,350.
The award follows the agency issuing a notice of intent in June 2022 to purchase the additional missions. The current sole source modification does not preclude NASA from seeking future contract modifications for additional transportation services, as needed.
Key Employer in the Cleared Industry: Clearancejobs
Cleared Opportunities
Aerovironment has acquired Planck Aerosystems, Inc. an advanced unmanned aircraft navigation solutions provider.
Founded in 2014, Planck has worked closely with customers from the U.S. Department of Defense, security agencies, allied governments, and offshore industrials to develop customer-centric unmanned aircraft solutions. Planck’s products include embedded technologies and fully integrated unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and leverage their deep technical expertise in UAS guidance and navigation, autonomy and artificial intelligence.
Planck is a small technology company based in San Diego, California and will be acquired by AeroVironment’s Petaluma-based medium unmanned aircraft systems (MUAS) business segment to focus on integrating its flight autonomy solutions, such as ACE™ (Autonomous Control Engine), into AeroVironment’s offerings to enable safe, autonomous takeoff and landing from moving platforms on land or at sea in GPS-denied environments. Other solutions include AVEM™, a fully integrated mobile tethered sensor platform designed for persistent autonomous operation from moving vehicles and vessels in any environment, and a suite of machine-learning object detection and tracking systems that are customized for specific end-user needs.
“Planck has a compelling product and technology roadmap with valuable capabilities that we plan to deploy and integrate with AeroVironment’s existing portfolio of intelligent, multi-domain robotic systems,” said Wahid Nawabi, AeroVironment chairman, president and chief executive officer. “The Planck team has developed advanced unmanned autonomy and navigation solutions for various defense and commercial customers and by working together, we believe we offer more compelling and differentiated solutions to our customers moving forward.”
“This transaction accelerates AeroVironment’s innovation in flight autonomy, increasing the effectiveness of our solutions in contested environments and reducing the cognitive load of operators, and adds a tethered SUAS to our portfolio of systems, creating exciting opportunities for upcoming programs of record,” Nawabi added.
