Introduction

You are on the job market. Chances are you have either spent a significant amount of time on your resume or have paid a significant amount of money for someone else to write it. If you are like most prospective employees, however, you have spent little or no time thinking about cover letters. Most professional resume services throw a form letter or two in with the cost of preparing your resume. If you prepared your resume on your own, you may have even created the infamous “to whom it may concern” form cover letter. This strategy will not get you very far on the job market. The problem for most job-seekers is that it is difficult and often time-consuming to write a good cover letter. The purpose of this entry is to demystify cover letters, as well as to teach you to write the type of letter that will make a solid first impression.

Why you Need to Include a Cover Letter with All of Your Resume Submissions

There are two basic reasons for including a cover letter with any job application package. First, it is expected. You may think that because a job posting does not ask specifically for a cover letter that you do not need to send one. This could not be further from the truth. Most employers assume that they do not need to tell you to send a cover letter because it is part of business etiquette. In this context, failing to include a cover letter with your resume is one way to guarantee that you make a poor first impression.

Perhaps you believe that proper business etiquette is of little importance compared with other facets of the application process. If you are tempted to skip the cover letter, think of the following: Your potential employer receives three hundred applications to fill two positions with their company. The human resources department needs a good way of narrowing down the number of applicants to a more manageable figure. It is not a good idea at this point to give human resources an excuse to put your application in the recycling bin. After all, unless you are applying for a job in human resources, the human resource department will not be able to evaluate you based on your full qualifications. You need to get your application through this gate and into the hands of someone who can evaluate your talent and experience.

Second, cover letters are superior to resumes when it comes to demonstrating that your skills and the company’s needs match. Most resumes are written in chronological order. However, there are elements of each of your previous jobs that may be of interest to your prospective employer. Cover letters are the perfect instrument for you to demonstrate that you are the one exceptional candidate in a sea of mediocrity who can meet and exceed your potential employer’s expectations.

Steps to Follow when you Prepare you Cover Letter

Begin with a formal greeting

If the job posting provides a contact name, start your letter with a simple “Dear Mr. or Ms. Contact name.” Avoid using first names, since this is not professional. If your contact is a woman, do not use Miss or Mrs. You should always use Ms. Do everything in your power to avoid using the dreaded “Dear Sir or Madam” or the “To Whom it may Concern” greeting. Generic greetings are a great way to show that you don’t care enough about the job to include a real contact name. The only justification for using a generic greeting is if you absolutely cannot find a contact name. Responding to a blind box posting is one example of when this might happen.

If the job posting does not provide a contact name, it is usually easy to find one. Your first step should be to call the company (unless the job posting prohibits this) and ask someone in human resources (HR) for a contact name. The HR department should expect these types of inquiries anyway. When you call, tell the HR department your name. There is always a chance that they will remember you, which is a good thing. If you are unable to secure a contact name by calling, try to find the name of the head of HR on the company’s website and use his or her name as the contact name. It is always better to call first, however, because you are more likely to get the specific answer you need.

Start the body of your letter with specific details about the job for which you are applying

You would be surprised at how many people send in a cover letter without any information about the job they want. Most large companies will need this information. If there is a specific job code, you should reference it in your first sentence. In addition, you should include information about how you found out about the job. Most companies post jobs in multiple locations. They will appreciate it if they are able to track the effectiveness of their advertising. If you have been referred to the job by an existing employee, make sure to mention their name within the first two sentences.

Use two columns in the body of your letter to make a great impression

Getting a job is all about matching your skills to your prospective employer’s needs. If you could include a recording or video presentation with your cover letter it would probably talk about how your skills and experience make you the perfect candidate for the job. You can enjoy many of the advantages of a visual presentation by breaking the body of your letter into two columns. Column one should talk about what the employer is looking for in an applicant. Column two should talk about how you have what the employer is looking for. Here is an example of the basic set up with two job requirements included.

“While reviewing your job posting, I noticed several attributes and requirements that you seek in an employee. I believe that your requirements and my skills form an excellent match.”

Your Needs | My Skills

Five plus years of experience | Five plus years of award-winning experience

Proficiency with MS Office | Experience and coursework in MS Office

Bilingual (English/Spanish) | Fluency in both English and Spanish

The power of this format should be apparent. Most cover letters in simple paragraph require the reviewer to search for your qualifications and draw his or her own conclusions about how well your skills blend with the job’s requirements. This format takes out all of the guesswork and demonstrates that you alone are the perfect candidate for this position.

Some cover letter guides suggest that you use a series of bullet points that highlight your skills in place of columns. In my opinion, this is not a good idea. Bullet points tend to lead you to talk too much about yourself and not enough about the needs of your potential employer. If you have ever been on a first date, you know that it is never a good idea to talk too much about yourself (or your ex-girlfriend or boyfriend for that matter). Instead, it is better to highlight your skills in the context of your prospective employer’s needs. The two column format is a perfect way to let the employer know that you are thinking about what they want.

Of course, there will be times when your skills may not match as well as in the example above. Usually, this happens when the employer lists some preferred attributes in addition to the basic requirements. You can still use the two column approach to demonstrate that you meet and exceed the basic requirements of the job.

In addition, make sure that you carefully match your skills with the company’s needs. For example, if the job requires two years of experience and you have ten, it may be a good idea to simply say that you meet the requirement. You could say that you have over two years of experience. In the age of corporate down-sizing, there are plenty of reasons why you might apply for a job that requires much less experience than you have.

Conclude with a reference to your resume and some optimism

Your cover letter should transition nicely into your resume. This means two things. First, your cover letter should not be a simple rehash of your resume. The two column method allows you to highlight key qualifications (which are what the employer is really looking for). Second, it means that you need to mention the enclosed resume. If you do this correctly, the logical next step is for the reviewer to look at your entire resume right away. If the reviewer reads your entire resume before moving on to other cover letters, you have won a major battle.

You should also conclude with some optimism. Let the contact know that you look forward to hearing from them soon with regard to an interview. Depending on your level of assertiveness, you can also inform the reviewer that you will call in a week to set up an interview time. Make sure, however, that you actually call if you say you will. Finally, it is a good idea to end with something a bit more meaningful than “sincerely.” I have used the line “thank you for your time and consideration” with great success. After all, you want the reviewer to take a significant amount of time considering your qualifications.

Writing good cover letters takes time. Your spelling and grammar on each cover letter, as well as your overall design, must be impeccable. It is much easier to write one form cover letter, and one resume. If you think about it, however, your cover letter and resume are your way of asking an employer to potentially spend hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars on you over the course of a career. Viewed in that light, the investment of time and effort required to write a superior cover letter is small indeed. If you follow some basic steps, you can maximize the return on your investment by landing an interview.