The Secret to Successful Cover Letters

The Secret to Successful Cover Letters

The purpose of your cover letter is to introduce yourself to a prospective employer and articulate how you will add value to her firm. Many job seekers feel compelled to focus a meaningful part of their letters on what they hope to gain from the experience of working at a particular firm or in a particular role.

This is at best irrelevant information and should not be included unless it is explicitly asked for (e.g. some educational internships or non-profit opportunities, offering "an experience", may actually encourage this).

It is not that employers do not care about this information, but it is not relevant to the process of deciding whether you should be called in for an interview. It only dilutes your message and may introduce risk, i.e. "I hope to gain intimate industry knowledge so that I can start my own firm."

When describing their skill levels, I often warn job seekers to refrain from using words like "excellent" and "superior" for four reasons:

1. These words are their opinions not mine. I don't want to hear opinions. I want to see facts and examples and formulate my own conclusion.

2. Chances are I have a different, and likely higher, expectation of what it means to have "excellent communication skills" or "superior understanding of business marketing". If there is not corroborating evidence to support these statements, they are likely to go in the "no" pile.

3. These statements of opinion are extra words that make it harder for me to find their relevant skills.

4. If they do make it to an interview, you can be assured that I am going to drill down very hard on this area and see if they meet my interpretation of these words.

BTW, here is an easy fix. Change "excellent" or "superior" to something like "honed my". This simple change makes the statements actions not opinions.

For those of you struggling to formulate a cohesive message in your cover letter, try answering the following question. Generally, this is what recruiters are really asking you to tell them in the letter:

"Please describe for me in one or two paragraphs why you think you will add value to my team. Please give clear examples, not opinions, as to how:

1. Your skills will lead to success in the position we are offering.
2. Your strong character and intellectual capacity will propel you to future advancement."

Good luck!

R. Scott Morris has reviewed thousands of resumes and cover letters and conducted over 500 interviews. He is the author of Polished: Adding Shine to Your Resume, Cover Letter, And Interview Skills.

http://gethiredblog.blogspot.com/

http://www.polishedu.com/

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