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How To Write A Cover Letter And Get A Job Faster
There are well over 300 million people in the USA today. Looking for a job as one of them can prove to be no easy chore...in fact, according to national statistics, you could be at it for nine months or more! Chances are good that you're going to need a serious edge over the competition if you want to get a good job.
There are well over 300 million people in the USA today. Looking for a job as one of them can prove to be no easy chore...in fact, according to national statistics, you could be at it for nine months or more! Chances are good that you’re going to need a serious edge over the competition if you want to get a good job.
Such an edge does exist. It’s not a sure-fire employer snare, but it can drastically raise your chances of getting a better job and cut down your time spent out of work. It’s all about the cover letter.
Turning in a resume without a cover letter is like showing up naked to an interview. Most businesses frown upon nudity in the workplace, so you can imagine that you wouldn’t do too awfully well in that interview. Having an excellent cover letter, however, is like wearing a fine, expensive suit...it creates a stunning first impression, gives the employer an idea of the hardworking, responsible person you are, and paves the way to a profitable business relationship. It makes them want you in their business.
Your first round to get through is the cover letter round. It’s the first thing they’ll look at, and it’s the first chance for you to impress them. In the initial culling, the Armani cover letters keep going, while the ragtag and nonexistant cover letters get thrown in the incinerator where they belong. Clearly, a good cover letter is important.
So how do you write or improve your cover letter? Well, one of the best ways is to learn by example. Look at some sample cover letters that have worked for others in the past, and learn. Copying someone else’s letter would be stupid, but copying someone else’s technique would be genius. Why did this cover letter work? What makes it different from mine? How can I use this to improve my cover letter? These are all questions you need to ask yourself as you read others’ cover letters.
And another good thing about taking this particular road is that you’ll also be building important critical thinking and analysis skills. That sounds boring and difficult, but it’s really not a big deal, and it looks really good to employers. Skills like that make you valuable as an employee, and that means job security.
And if you pay attention to nothing else that I say in this article, pay attention to this: the cover letter has two very important key purposes, and if they aren’t met you should consider it a failure. It must both outline your qualifications for the job, and above all push for an interview. Now, the first is fairly obvious. A cover letter goes with a resume, so of course it’ll want to describe your skills and qualifications.
Most important, however, is that a cover letter MUST pave the way for an interview. If your cover letter doesn’t broach the subject of an interview or even flat-out try to set one up, you’re not achieving the full effect of what a cover letter can do for you. It’s the job of the cover letter to make an employer stop seeing you as just another sheet of paper in an endless stack cluttering up his desk, and get you in front of that person as one of the few well-qualified people for the job. The cover letter is the conduit for you to move from textual communication to face-to-face communication. If your cover letter can get you into an interview, you can finally call it a success.