Cover letters
21/02/09 19:29
The cover letter is an important part of any job application, and can very often be the deciding factor between getting or not getting the interview. That said, here’s the dirty secret about cover letters: There’s a very good chance your cover letter won’t even be read. Here’s why: When an employer is faced with a stack of job applications, they need to weed through them quickly to make a very initial short-list. At this stage, usually the most important part of the application is the previous employment section of your resume. In the case of a new graduate with no previous applicable work experience, the school transcript often becomes quite important. But as with any situation when you have to choose between a large number of options, you have the ones you immediately like, and the ones you immediately reject, and then there’s the shades of grey. Maybe the person would be good, but you just can’t really tell yet from the resume. Quite often it’s here that the cover letter is at it’s most valuable. The person looking at the application will take the opportunity to search the cover letter for some redeeming features that might not be obvious in the resume. If you can make a positive impact at this stage, it’ll probably result in your getting the interview instead of a rejection letter.
So, let’s get started with how to write a good cover letter.
1. Be professional, but not stilted. Your letter should be fairly easy to read and shouldn’t sound like a formal wedding invitation or legal document. It’s the first point where the interviewer gets a glimpse of your personality. If your cover letter is entirely too formal, you’ll end up coming off as a person with very little personality. Remember, they’re looking for someone who’ll fit in well with their team, so you should try to come off as you really are, while keeping it professional.
2. Don’t go for the gimmick. I’ve seen a few cover letters where the applicant seems to think they can stand out by going for something a bit on the crazy side. Fair enough, if you want to try it, feel free, but you’d better do it incredibly well, because what you’re really saying here is “I think I’m a genius. Look at my art.” If your cover letter isn’t truly magazine-publishable quality, forget about it. It usually just makes you look like you’re full of yourself, and that usually doesn’t make for a good team player.
3. Personalize it! I’ve seen far too many cover letter that were very obviously cut and paste jobs where just the employer’s name had been changed. This doesn’t really help you at all. It makes it look like you have no specific interest in the company and you’re just fishing for work. The cover letter should contain specifics about the company you’re applying for. First of all, you should be able to show that you know a little bit about the company. Specifically, if there’s something about the company that excites you, by all means mention it here. Employers are always looking for people who really want to work at their company (as opposed to people who are just looking for work, or fishing around). If you can prove that you have a real interest in their company, it WILL help.
4. Don’t make demands. Demands will never help you get an interview. If you have specific requirements that limit you in some way or the other (such as you can’t work overtime because you’re a single parent), then you can mention it here up front, if you know that it would be a waste of time interviewing with companies who can’t work around your requirements. But realize that this will be very limiting to your chances of getting an interview. Beyond that, if you have “wants”, rather than “needs”, these should very definitely NOT be mentioned until later in the application process, such as in the interview. As an example, I once saw a cover letter that ended up reading more like a manifesto than a cover letter. The applicant had very specific requirements about the people he worked with, and the hardware he would use at work. While not unreasonable demands, the net effect was that he came across as being an extremely difficult and picky person, and did not get an interview. Remember, the interview is the best time for you to scope out any “wants”, and even then, they shouldn’t be phrased in the form of demands. If your wants are really important to you, have the company write them into your employment offer letter, because it’s only at that stage that you have any bargaining power.
5. If you have relevant industry experience, it’s fairly normal to mention it. That said, if you do have the experience, it’s going to be fairly obvious from your resume, so while it’s normal to mention it, it won’t specifically help you. In fact, there’s a good chance if you do have relevant experience that your cover letter won’t even be read anyway.
6. If you have relevant extra-curricular experience, definitely mention it here. For example, if you’re a computer programmer applying for a position doing something that you’re already doing for fun in your spare time, talk about it! This is the sort of thing that you wouldn’t normally go into detail on in your resume, so the cover letter is the perfect place to talk about it (as is the interview).
7. If you’re switching industries or you’re a new grad, you have some explaining to do. If you’ve never worked in the industry before, the cover letter is the perfect place to talk about why you want to do the work the work that you’re looking for, and why you think you might be good at it.
That’s pretty much it. There are plenty of good online resources available describing the basic structure and format of a cover letter. Within that framework, follow these guidelines and you’ll have a cover letter that will help you get that all-important interview.
So, let’s get started with how to write a good cover letter.
1. Be professional, but not stilted. Your letter should be fairly easy to read and shouldn’t sound like a formal wedding invitation or legal document. It’s the first point where the interviewer gets a glimpse of your personality. If your cover letter is entirely too formal, you’ll end up coming off as a person with very little personality. Remember, they’re looking for someone who’ll fit in well with their team, so you should try to come off as you really are, while keeping it professional.
2. Don’t go for the gimmick. I’ve seen a few cover letters where the applicant seems to think they can stand out by going for something a bit on the crazy side. Fair enough, if you want to try it, feel free, but you’d better do it incredibly well, because what you’re really saying here is “I think I’m a genius. Look at my art.” If your cover letter isn’t truly magazine-publishable quality, forget about it. It usually just makes you look like you’re full of yourself, and that usually doesn’t make for a good team player.
3. Personalize it! I’ve seen far too many cover letter that were very obviously cut and paste jobs where just the employer’s name had been changed. This doesn’t really help you at all. It makes it look like you have no specific interest in the company and you’re just fishing for work. The cover letter should contain specifics about the company you’re applying for. First of all, you should be able to show that you know a little bit about the company. Specifically, if there’s something about the company that excites you, by all means mention it here. Employers are always looking for people who really want to work at their company (as opposed to people who are just looking for work, or fishing around). If you can prove that you have a real interest in their company, it WILL help.
4. Don’t make demands. Demands will never help you get an interview. If you have specific requirements that limit you in some way or the other (such as you can’t work overtime because you’re a single parent), then you can mention it here up front, if you know that it would be a waste of time interviewing with companies who can’t work around your requirements. But realize that this will be very limiting to your chances of getting an interview. Beyond that, if you have “wants”, rather than “needs”, these should very definitely NOT be mentioned until later in the application process, such as in the interview. As an example, I once saw a cover letter that ended up reading more like a manifesto than a cover letter. The applicant had very specific requirements about the people he worked with, and the hardware he would use at work. While not unreasonable demands, the net effect was that he came across as being an extremely difficult and picky person, and did not get an interview. Remember, the interview is the best time for you to scope out any “wants”, and even then, they shouldn’t be phrased in the form of demands. If your wants are really important to you, have the company write them into your employment offer letter, because it’s only at that stage that you have any bargaining power.
5. If you have relevant industry experience, it’s fairly normal to mention it. That said, if you do have the experience, it’s going to be fairly obvious from your resume, so while it’s normal to mention it, it won’t specifically help you. In fact, there’s a good chance if you do have relevant experience that your cover letter won’t even be read anyway.
6. If you have relevant extra-curricular experience, definitely mention it here. For example, if you’re a computer programmer applying for a position doing something that you’re already doing for fun in your spare time, talk about it! This is the sort of thing that you wouldn’t normally go into detail on in your resume, so the cover letter is the perfect place to talk about it (as is the interview).
7. If you’re switching industries or you’re a new grad, you have some explaining to do. If you’ve never worked in the industry before, the cover letter is the perfect place to talk about why you want to do the work the work that you’re looking for, and why you think you might be good at it.
That’s pretty much it. There are plenty of good online resources available describing the basic structure and format of a cover letter. Within that framework, follow these guidelines and you’ll have a cover letter that will help you get that all-important interview.