COVER LETTERS
Cover Letter “Do’s”
- Address your letter to a specific individual.
- Send an original letter to each employer.
- Use simple language, action verbs, and keep it brief and to the point. Eliminate all unnecessary words and be sure to check for any repetitive wording.
- Write targeted cover letters that are unique to each situation.
- Refer to the job requirements and relate them to your skill set.
- Keep your letter brief and never go beyond one page! Each paragraph should have three to four sentences at the most.
- Tell the employer how you can meet his or her needs and contribute to the company.
- Refer to specific achievements and accomplishments and set yourself apart from other job seekers.
- Make sure your letter answers the question that the employer will be asking while reading your letter: “Why should I hire this person?”
- Never bring any negative tone into a cover letter.
- Be sure you are providing all contact information, such as home phone, cell phone, and email address.
- Keep any e-mailed cover letter shorter and more concise than a letter being postal mailed.
- Don’t send a resume without a cover letter.
- Don’t use a sexist salutation, such as “Gentlemen” when answering a blind ad.
- Don’t waste your first paragraph by writing a boring introduction. Use the first paragraph to grab the employer's attention; give the employer the reason s you are qualified for the position.
- Don’t use such clichés as “Enclosed please find my resume” or “As you can see on my resume enclosed herewith.” Employers can see that your resume is enclosed; they don’t need you to tell them. Such trite phrases just waste precious space. And don't use pleonasms (wordy phrases), which also waste space.
- Don’t depend on the employer to take action. Request action. Request an interview, and tell the employer when you will follow up to arrange it. Then, Do So. It is imperative that you follow up. You will greatly increase your chances of getting interviews if you call the employer after writing instead of sitting back and waiting for a call. Those who wait for the employer to call them will generally have a long wait indeed.
- Don’t send a cover letter that contains any typos, misspellings, incorrect grammar or punctuation, smudges, or grease from yesterday’s lunch.
- Don’t rehash your resume. You can use your cover letter to highlight the aspects of your resume that are relevant to the position, but you’re wasting precious space and the potential employer’s time -- if you simply repeat your resume.
- Don't forget to personally sign the letter, preferably in black ink.
- Simply put, your letters should tell the reader why you are writing, what position you are applying for, what you have to offer, and why this organization is of interest to you. You should close any letter by advising them of your intention to call them in several days, to arrange further discussion of employment opportunities.
Why are you writing - Let the reader know what has prompted you to communicate with them. Was it something you read or heard, if so, paraphrase the content. If your correspondence is in regards to an advertisement, clearly indicate what position you are applying for and where the advertisement was found.
Promise a benefit - Specify special skills, training, or educational experience that may increase the reader’s interest in you. Cite a particular example of a recent accomplishment in a way that will wet the reader’s appetite and help him/her see the benefits that you can bring to the company.
Refer to your particular interest in an organization - Here is an opportunity for you to tell them where your special skills can best be put to use. Through the use of words, create a picture that will actually assist the reader in imagining you as a member of their team.
The closing - This area provides the writer with an opportunity to control further communication and follow through between the writer and the recipient. Always make certain to request an interview. Give an approximate time in which you will contact the company. Never ask them to contact you at their convenience (with exception to executive recruiters and blind ads). Although a cover letter is not intended to land you the job, it most definitely can either increase or hurt your chances of your resume being read.
TYPES OF COVER AND FOLLOW-UP LETTERS
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When responding to an advertised position, spell out in the first sentence where you learned about the job opportunity. List the exact name of the advertised job title, the name of the newspaper the ad was in (or which web site it appeared on) and the day and date the ad ran. Because companies often run several different ads at once or ads for more than one position within a department, writing "I'm responding to the advertised marketing position" may not be enough.
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Be sure to demonstrate your interest in a company by presenting your knowledge about that company's history, current projects, and business plan. Once you know its plan for the future, you can tell the company how you will contribute to that strategy.
Make sure you're addressing an individual. Call reception and ask for the head of the department in which you're interested. Hiring decisions are made by the people within the department, not Human Resources, so if you have a choice, avoid HR. Contacting an individual can also create a feeling of personal responsibility in the reader that might save your documents from the shredder. Seeing one's own name creates a sense of accountability that an anonymous posting doesn't inspire.
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Not only will a Thank You Letter bring your name back to the top of the pile, but it will make you more memorable – and often will be the deciding factor if the employer is trying to decide between two or three candidates.