Creating a job search cover letter doesnt need to be a laborious process. Effective cover letters are short, skimmable and easy to read (a good rule of thumb no matter WHERE your cover letter is going) three to four paragraphs tops.
If you are answering an ad, address the requirements in the ad and speak to how your experience relates to each. If you are sending the letter cold, make sure your letter reflects some research on the company, how your background relates, and why you have an interest in that company.
But instead, what generally happens is this. Bob is looking for a job. He looks through the paper, finds a bunch of ads that sound interesting, and circles them all with red pen. Then he sweats out the cover letter, personalizes each address, attaches his resume, mails them out, and congratulates himself on a job well done.
Then nothing happens. He wonders why. He shrugs his shoulders and starts all over again. On the other hand, Bob could take control of his career and set out to find his perfect job.
First, he gives some careful thought to his previous jobs: which ones he's liked and why, which ones he hasn't liked and why, where did he excel - or not, and why he left each one, what his supervisors were like, what his job description was in each place. That begins to give him a clue about what motivates him, who he is, under what circumstances he functions productively, and what he's looking for in his next job.
Then he begins to look for companies that fit this profile - whether they have ads in the paper or not. Not all companies advertise their openings. Frequently openings are still in the contemplative stages, such as an expansion or confidential replacement. Then he sits down to write his cover letters.
Two would suffice, with a bit of personalization in each: one for companies actively advertising their openings, and one for companies that he's researched which sound appealing to him.
In the first paragraph, Bob says why he's writing to that particular company. Instead of "I am writing because I saw your ad," he writes, "I am responding to your ad because.....". For the letters he's sending cold: "I am sending you a copy of my resume because in researching companies that I feel I could be of benefit to...." (as opposed to "...companies I think I'd like to work for...") Emphasis goes on the benefit to the company. Not the benefit to you.
In the second paragraph, Bob personalizes it. This is the paragraph (or two) that varies with each company or ad. Two or three sentences will do it if there's one paragraph, or add another
paragraph of about the same length. This part comes from the heart. Why are you writing this company? What's it got to do with what you do and who you are? It needn't be a long introspective story - but if there's something specific in the ad or about the company that appeals to you, speak to it.
(And if there isn't, why are you writing them?)
The third paragraph winds everything up. And don't forget to be pro-active. Give the person to whom you are writing about 10 days to receive the letter and contact you (which probably won't happen because things usually don't move that fast), and then follow up. State the date you will be doing so, and then DO IT on that date!
Don't think you can get away with a generic cover letter. You can't. They're spotted at 100 steps, especially by recruiters and human resource people. And they don't put you to the top of the pile.
Is all this a lot of trouble? Yes, it is. But that's how you stay in control of your career: by going those extra steps. A personalized cover letter gets you remembered. Writing to the person by name gets you remembered. Saying you'll follow up and then doing so on the date indicated, gets you remembered.
That gives you much better odds than ending up at the bottom of some pile on a desk. Because if you're called in to interview, then YOU are part of YOUR deciding process. If you go generic, skip the salutation, and wait around, you blend into the woodwork. You won't even have a chance to reject the company if they've already rejected you.
In this day and age competition is fierce for a limited number of desirable positions in the professional world. The only hope that many job seekers have, no matter how qualified they may be for the position, is to create a cover letter that turns up the wow factor and impresses hiring managers as something a little above and beyond the others.
If you are wondering whether or not you should write your own resume cover letter the answer is a resounding yes. There are many reasons you should write your own cover letter not the least of which is the fact that no one knows your qualifications any better than you. Feel free to take suggestions and research the proper methods of doing so but do not fall into the trap of using a form cover letter for your resume that was written as a one-size-fits-all sort of cover letter or having a cover letter written just for you by someone else. The voice will not transfer well to the interview and you want perspective employers to resonate with you rather than someone else who filled in the blanks on your behalf.
Your cover letter is your first chance for a first impression with potential employers. It is the opportunity to highlight the skills and talents you can bring to the table or, more to the point, how you can help them rather than how they can help you. It is also the perfect opportunity for you to give them a small taste of your personality in action. Personalities are the ones that show up to the office day in and day out. Your personality is going to have a greater impact on your ability to fit in well with a particular corporate climate than your skills (unless you are grossly incompetent or some sort of prodigy). Use your cover letter to let a little bit of your personality shine through. This will make it a little more interesting than the boring just the facts maam approach that so many job applicants use when creating a resume. While it may have worked in Dragnet it isnt quite as likely to work in the corporate climate of today.
Cover letters are becoming popular because they are more personality influenced (or they can be) than traditional resumes and they allow a good feel for the person on the other end of the paper without reading quite as many stale facts and figures as you will typically find in a resume. Many hiring mangers simply find a cover letter much more appealing than they find reading resumes and they can often skim cover letters initially and review those that they found compelling a little more closely.
Ultimately a cover letter is one of, if not the most powerful tools in your job application arsenal. An artfully written cover letter that remains positive, professional, and personable is much more likely to achieve the desired results than a resume that has been professionally prepared in hopes of gaining a foot in the door and that is no small accomplishment. The problem for most is that professional cover letter services cannot provide that personal touch that can only come with you. As I mentioned above no one knows the contribution you can offer by way of skills and personality better than you. This makes you your best advocate in the process of creating a killer cover letter for your resume.
Make sure that your passion for the position shines through when writing your resume. If you have a sincere passion for the work you do or the work you are hoping to do your words are the best in the world to get that message across. A passion for the job, product, or service is one of the greatest things you can bring to a company and hiring managers are well aware of this fact. If you write your own cover letter you can explain your passion, it might make the difference between being invited back for an interview or not and every positive edge you can find is an edge worth exploiting in todays competitive business climate. Most importantly, try to have fun writing your cover letter yourself. You may discover a hidden talent.
Here is a tip for cover letters to get more interviews. Use a bulleted format cover letter rather than a standard letter in paragraphs. The bulleted format is more eye catching, and is more likely to be glanced at by the hiring manager or other person assigned to sort through resumes. This format will help you get your resume seen by more people and as a result get more interviews and more job offers.
If you follow this advice and decide to use the bulleted format, make sure that each bullet point specifies a reason for the hiring manager to talk with you. This reason can be your number of years experience, your education, a personality trait that you have, or an accomplishment.
Examples of bulleted points would be:
* Over 20 years experience in Human Resource Management.
Or...
* Outstanding work ethic. Lead by example.
Or...
* Master of Science in Education. Currently enrolled in Doctorate program.
Or...
* Saved last employer $30,000 in revenue through modernization of accounting system.
Or...
* Increased sales by 25% last quarter.
This bulleted format allows you to toot your own horn, but in a way that does not seem egotistical because it is obviously part of a resume package.
Another tip that will increase the readability of your cover letter is to use bold faced fonts on occasion to emphasize points you want read. Bold face catches the eye, and is a common device used by graphic designers in advertising copy. Your resume and cover letter are marketing tools for you, just as a print media advertising piece is a marketing tool for a business. Consider using bold face as tip from the Fortune 500 ad agencies that you can use without charge.
The next piece of advice to consider concerns the final paragraph of the letter, and will help you in your follow up efforts. When following up often times the hardest thing to do is to get past the gatekeeper.
The secretary or administrative assistant that screens calls for his or her boss has an important job to do, but so do you, and reaching the decision maker will make you look good. The gatekeeper will try to stop you if the decision maker is busyafter all, he has better things to do with his time than speak with job seekers. So, in the final paragraph of your letter, before the sincerely and your name, simply state I will call you next week to check on a convenient time to speak with you in person. Youve told the hiring manager you will be calling.
Logically he should be expecting your call. For this reason you may tell the gatekeeper that Mr. HR Manager is expecting my call this week. This will increase your chances of getting through, and of getting the interview. This tip is a variation on techniques that good business-to-business sales people use, and will work for you as well, bringing you more interviews and more job offers.
Are you planning on writing a cover letter yourself but you dont know where to start? Do you feel a little overwhelmed by all that you might have already researched about cover letters? Try not to stress too much; writing a cover letter is really a piece of cake as long as you keep a few things in mind.
As you are more than aware, your cover letter is more or less a sales letter. You are the product that you are selling. In a nut shell your cover letter needs to show the employer why they would be crazy not to hire you. You letter will need to demonstrate your specific qualifications that make you better than any other candidate for that position. Your letter allows you to personalize your resume.
Another thing to keep in mind when writing your own cover letter is to keep it short and too the point. Remember you are not the only person applying for the position. Chances are the employer or hiring manager has a stack of resumes and cover letters sitting on their desk. It is unlikely that they are going to sit and read a long cover letter that goes on and on. They will more than likely get through a sentence or 2 and lose interest and toss your resume with your cover letter aside. Therefore your cover letter should never be more than a few paragraphs long and it should never, under any circumstances be longer than a page. Anything longer than a page is almost guaranteed to make a trip into the black hole of cover letters that never get a second glance.
Start your first paragraph off with your introduction. Address the letter to a specific person whether its the hiring manager or HR Rep. Its important to remember to have this name spelled correctly and their correct title. This is where you introduce yourself and your reason for contacting them. Its here that you tell them exactly why you want to work for their company. Its a good idea to have done some prior research of the company and include that in this paragraph.
In your second paragraph you should incorporate some highlights from your resume that demonstrate how qualified you are for the position. Its key here to keep in mind that you dont need to write your resume word for word. Only highlight those parts that pertain to the job. This is where you really sell yourself. This is the paragraph where you should dress it up to impress. Put yourself in the employer shoes, and ask yourself if you meet the companys needs and how you meet them. Chances are this will be your longest paragraph but dont get too carried away. There is no need for the employer to know that you volunteer at your local community center every weekend teaching young kids how to play ball. Remember, these employers are looking for that one person who best fits their needs. Use this paragraph to show them that you are exactly what they are looking for.
Your final paragraph or your closing paragraph is where you make yourself readily available for that interview. After all the whole purpose of the cover letter is the land the interview. A good idea is to tell the employer to expect a call from you in a specific time to discuss the opportunity further. End your letter thanking them for their time and that you look forward to meeting them.
You might be tempted to use one of the free samples of cover letters that you can find anywhere online. I dont recommend this. Writing the cover letter yourself is much more personable than a generic sample letter. A cover letter written by you is customized by you for that specific company and position. If you were to send a basic letter, chances are it will just be tossed aside. One last thing to remember is to keep the page itself simple. Make sure your spelling and grammar are all correct. There is no need to go crazy with funky fonts and strange margins. Its key to keep the cover letter neat, basic and easy on the eye.
Writing your own cover letter is nowhere near as hard or as intimating as it seems. Keep in mind these simple tips and your cover letter will be opening doors for countless opportunities.
Anything being sent to a decision-maker should sell you, not just state facts. When conducting a job search, your cover letter and resume are in a pile for the decision-maker to review, one by one, along with a vast number of other documents submitted by other hopeful individuals. The odds that YOUR document is the very first ones on the pile are about a zillion to one! This means the decision-maker has probably read X number of cover letters (and resumes) before reaching your set of documents. With that in mind, I never recommend you start the cover letter with the sentence used in so many other letters:
"Pursuant to your recent advertisement in the New York Times for the position of Staff Accountant, I am enclosing my resume for your review."
B-O-R-I-N-G!! Plus, the decision-maker probably just read this same (or very similar) sentence about five dozen times. Remember, you want to GRAB the decision-maker's attention and SELL yourself to them.
Since the cover letter is designed to market you to potential employers, don't state the obvious. If the cover letter does not create a sense of excitement and entice the reader, it is a waste of your time for writing it and a waste of time for the reader reading it.
Keep track of how many times you use the words "I" and/or "my". After you write the letter, take a pen and circle all the I's and my's in the letter: more than five? Time to re-write some of the sentences.
Here's an illustration of how to do that: instead of writing "I am looking for an opportunity for advancement with a new employer. My background is in retail management and I feel well-qualified for the Store Manager position with your company" you can write, "A background in retail management and proven record of obtaining results as a Store Manager are key elements in qualifying me for consideration as part of your team."
Remember the PURPOSE of the cover letter: to highlight your background in the right light, sell your skills, and show the potential employer you are worthy of an interview. Explaining what you WANT throughout the letter doesn't tell the reader the BENEFIT of what you can offer, which is imperative for you to be successful.
One of the techniques I like to use in cover letters is to pull out the top 4 or 5 achievements and mention them in bullet form with the letter. It serves as a wonderful focus point for readers' eyes and draws their attention immediately to your strengths.
Here's a brief highlight in what would naturally be a longer cover letter:
...Recognized as a top-performer and dedicated professional, my record of achievements include: · Generating a 58% increase in new business during tenure as Regional Advertising Manager · Boosting client media coverage 50% and developing partnerships with previously unsecured media contacts
There are many ways to say things but, as you can see, some words have a stronger impact on readers than others. In cover letters, e-resumes, and traditional resumes, you can change the reader's perception in a heartbeat by substituting various words or phrases for more traditional (and outdated) verbiage.
See the outline below:
NON-AGGRESSIVE VERBIAGE
* Set up entire department from scratch
* Worked closely with department heads
* Helped produce $3 million in sales
* Helped new employees
* In-depth knowledge of capital markets and corporate finance
* Assisted marketing department in strategies and bids
* Reduced expenses by 10%
AGGRESSIVE VERBIAGE
* Established department from inception through successful operation
Fostered relationships with department heads
* Instrumental in generating $3 million in sales
* Aided new employees
* Expertise in capital markets and corporate finance
* Actively participated in formulating marketing strategies
* Slashed (or cut) expenses by 10%
In short, aggressive writing makes you SIZZLE, while passive writing tells your "story." Remember your goal is to effectively market yourself, not to author your employment biography.
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