Write a Cover Letter That Managers Will Actually Read
Posted November 5, 2013 & filed under Job Search
Your cover letter is the single most important part of the pre-interview job hunt. While your resume has all your technical specs and qualifications, your cover letter will demonstrate to employers how you will employ those skills on the job. Furthermore, it allows you to add personal experiences that will set you apart from the group. Following these tips will help you write a cover letter that will impress any hiring manager.
Less is more
The only thing that spamming out cover letters will get you is rejection. It is not, as some argue, a numbers game. One well thought out, well researched cover letter will be more beneficial to your job hunt that 100 carbon copies with the company name swapped out for another each time.
Write the cover letter to someone
“To whom it may concern” and “Dear Sir of Madam” are outdated and trite. Your cover letter will have the greatest effect if you can find the name of the hiring manager. Search the company website, LinkedIn, or contact someone in human resources (either via email of phone) to find out who your cover letter will be going to. You may even score an email address to send your application to directly instead of having to go through human resources first.
Tell your story… briefly
The average hiring manager only looks over a cover letter for 25-30 seconds before moving on. This leaves you with as much time to impress him or her as the average television ad spot. It should include three major points:
• Your skills: Everything you say should be relevant to the job in which you are applying; nothing you say should waste the hiring manager’s time. There is no need to point out that you can use Microsoft Word.
• Your greatest accomplishment at work: Make sure this applies to the job that you will be performing. Do not attempt to beef up your cover letter with minor or irrelevant accomplishments. Impress the hiring manager with as few words as possible.
• How you can help this company reach their goals: Most importantly, know where the company wants to be in a few years and highlight how you can help them get there. This is the section that can make or break your cover letter. Make sure you sell yourself as the person that the company cannot afford to pass over.
Add keywords
Like internet search engines, a hiring manager’s eyes scan cover letters for specific keywords. Because of the speed in which they read, keywords are necessary to draw attention to the important parts that contain your skills and accomplishments. Try to put yourself in the shoes of the hiring manager. If you were looking for someone to fill a certain position, what skills would you be looking for? Those skills should act as your keywords and be used throughout your cover letter as beacons to hone in on. If the hiring manager can’t find them quickly then you risk being passed over.
Edit, revise, rewrite!
Just because the hiring manager will be reading your cover letter quickly does not mean that you shouldn’t write every word with care. A single spelling or grammatical error could be enough to send the person reading it on to the next application.
The best tip for editing a cover letter is to give it time to rest before reading it over again. Do not read what you have just written the second you finish the letter. Instead, take a break, eat lunch or run an errand. Let your cover letter (and your mind) sit for a while and come back to read it later. You will be surprised at how different you feel about it several hours later. Never send out a cover letter unless you are absolutely sure you have put every ounce of effort possible into creating it.
By Kevin Withers
