Page 6 - 201 Killer Cover Letters

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Introduction

Of course, writing is tough. And writing about yourself is even tougher. Assess-
ing your own strengths—honestly and accurately—is one of the most difficult
tasks you’ll ever face. When you’re unhappy at work or out of work altogether,
not feeling particularly good about yourself, it’s even harder to do. Even if you
muster up some terrific talents to talk about, like most people, you may be sur-
prisingly shy about “tooting your own horn.” You list your course work. You list
your jobs. You list your job responsibilities. You list your hobbies. Finally, all
you’re sending prospective employers is a list!
But employers don’t want to hire a list; they want to hire a person. They want
to hire a living, breathing human being. A personality. A humorous co-worker or
a serious one. A team player or a self-starter. An intuitive thinker or someone who
takes direction well. Sure, they want to hire a candidate with the appropriate
skills, but they’ve got to like that person (YOU) too. After all, they’ll be working
together on a daily basis—and the better everyone gets along, the more produc-
tive the work will be.
What this means is that you must project your personality, or some aspect of
it, from the very first ad you respond to and in the very first letter you write. The
reason is that, to make a hiring decision, your next employer is looking for an-
swers to three vital questions:
1. Do you have the skills this job requires?
2. Will you be compatible with my team?
3. Are you honest and willing to work, and do you have the right atti-
tude?
Your resume will answer the first question. Your letters, interviews, and ref-
erences will answer the other two questions. Thus, your jobhunting letters are an
essential opportunity to make yourself stand out as a unique and interesting per-
son, someone an employer would like to meet, interview, hire, and work beside.
To take advantage of this opportunity, you must write well. And to get an
edge over the competition you should not only write well, you should write often.
Why? Most job applicants—your competition—never follow up after an inter-
view. Of those who do, many write letters so inadequate that they actually impair
what might have been a perfectly acceptable candidacy. Furthermore, most job
search letters are forgotten after a quick review. What this means is that just writ-
ing your potential employer at all can put you ahead of other candidates. Writing

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