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What should you put in your cover letter? And, after sweating over each
word, do employers actually read cover letters?
As you can imagine, I get these - and many other - cover letter questions
all the time.
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First, what you should
include in your cover letter.
Paragraph 1:
Express your interest, state the position title
and how you heard about the opportunity. This paragraph should be quite
brief. If you wordsmith it right, you can include all of that information
in one sentence.
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Paragraph 2: Show why you're right for
the position. Avoid the rookie mistakes of repeating what's on your resume and
parroting the ad for the position. Show that you've done a little research
on this company and mention one or two of their products or services. Offer
a tidbit not on your resume.
Paragraph 3: Again
express your interest in the position. Tell them you'd be interested in
discussing this opportunity. Mention that your resume is included, as well
as, if you've included them, reference letters and/or samples of your work.
Feel free to also supply your contact information again.
The rest is your ending salutation.
Now that you've labored over your cover letter, ensuring the punctuation
and spelling are just right, that there are no run-on sentences or
fragments...will the employer read it past the first paragraph?
As always, there are two schools of thought, here. The first, obviously, is
yes. The second, just as obviously, is no.
I tend to fall into the "no" camp. Hiring managers are flooded
with resumes and cover letters, and usually only scan the top paragraphs in
the covers. Does that mean you can ignore all standard grammar rules? Ummm...no. It does mean, however, that you shouldn't
sweat the small stuff and re-invent the wheel every time you write a cover
letter.
Develop a template using the paragraph scheme above, then
plug in the information for each position. Given you're only applying for
two or three related positions, you most likely
will not have to change five or six easy things in each letter. After all,
why sweat over writing something brand new every time?
IN THE CARAVAN: Reduce
your cover letter stress by developing a basic three-paragraph template
using the structure mentioned above.
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bSafari.c
The Lion’s Pride: Resumes
