Job Seeker Mysteries: Cover Letter Blues – Part 4

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By my count I have spoken to nearly 10,000 Job Seekers and Recruiters in the past year. In this Job Seeker Mysteries series, we are exploring the most consistent misunderstandings about the job search process, and today we are focusing on one of my pet peeves – weak cover letters!

There is great debate about the validity and necessity of a good cover letter today, given all the electronic connections between job seekers and hiring managers. Let me state as loudly as I can – I am a hiring manager and have been for over 20 years. If I open an email and the cover letter is incomplete, incorrect, or poorly written, I DON’T EVEN OPEN THE RESUME!! Get it?!

Your cover letter is the entry way, the foyer to a beautiful home. You can’t skimp on it, short cut it, or crank out the same one a hundred times in an effort to send out “as many resumes as possible.” Take your time and craft each one by hand – they cannot be mass produced on an assembly line!

The cover letter gets a hiring manager’s attention – for good or bad! In my book, I give readers several of the worst cover letters I have ever received, and the all time champion best cover letter I have ever gotten. The pitiful ones were so bad I didn’t even open the attached resume. However, the all time champ was so good that I called and booked an appointment to meet the candidate WITHOUT EVEN OPENING THE RESUME!

We don’t have the time or space here to go through what makes the horrible ones bad and the all time champ so amazing, but let me give you some basic do’s and don’ts in cover letter construction.

1. Use the hiring manager/recruiters NAME in the salutation!! If I receive a cover letter addressed to “Greetings” or “Good morning”, I almost always delete the letter and the attached resume. If you are as lazy and sloppy as to not even know to whom you are sending your work background, I don’t want you on my team. It’s very easy to find out who the hiring manager – you may have to use LinkedIn, Google, or “phone a friend” but you can find out. Address this letter to a real, live, breathing person!

2. State your purpose quickly and concisely, but in a creative way! This is one of those “feast or famine” problems. I usually see things like “I’d like to submit my resume for the position of x” – very basic, boring, and shows a huge lack of uniqueness (one of the VOWELS!). The flip side of this one is the seven sentence diatribe in paragraph one about someone’s background and why they have dreamed about working for my company. Between those two is what I’m after – tell me something about you, tell me why you are contacting me, and tell me why we should meet and discuss it further.

3. Sell me – don’t tell me! As most executives are, I’m busy working during my time in the office. I often read emails from job seekers at lunch, on my iPhone. That is a very small space in which you have to grab my attention. You must tell me unique things about you and then back them up with brief but specific examples. The cover letter should be an appetizer – the resume should be the main course. They work together and each should enhance the other. Give a great example of something you are proud of and say “for more info on this, see my resume.” Use the cover letter and the resume as two tools necessary to complete the job of getting an interview!

4. Finally, don’t grant me permission to call you! This one might just be a personal pet peeve, but I cannot stand the following line, and I see it at least once a week on a cover letter: “Feel free to contact me with any questions or to set up an interview.” Are you freaking’ kidding me?! You want to give me permission to call you to ask you questions?? Uh, no – you need to be showing me why a conversation would be beneficial for each of us, not graciously allowing me to call you. You want me on that call – you NEED me on the call! (Ok, that’s my A Few Good Men reference for the day!) Seriously, you have done more with this line – something like: “A personal interview would give us an opportunity to further discuss this position and learn more about one another. If I don’t hear from you in a day or so, I will follow up with you to schedule a meeting.” That is much stronger, less condescending, and I know that you will be calling me if I don’t contact you first.

This is a huge topic and we’ve only scratched the surface. I spend a good deal of time talking about this in my live presentations and in my book. For more info please visit my website at www.BradRaney.com or www.ImproveYourVowels.com

Sincerely,

Brad Raney (www.BradRaney.com)

Brad Raney is a motivational speaker, life coach, author and sales trainer. He has over 25 years of experience in sales and sales management within the broadcast industry. Brad developed the VOWELS program in 2009 and the success it brought his sales team has spurred keynote speeches, workshops, seminars, a website, and his first book “Improve Your VOWELS, Improve Your Career!” which was released in July 2010.. Click here to order “Improve Your Vowels, Improve Your Career!: The A, E, I, O, U’s of Finding Your Perfect Job!” — Available Now!

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