Cover Letter Guide

Cover Letter Writing - "How to Write a Winning Cover Letter" A cover letter introduces your resume and spells out your reason for sending the resume. It also presents your qualifications and availability to prospective employers. If written in a succinct, appealing format, it is your first opportunity to make an impression with the hiring authority or HR department. By sending a cover letter with your resume you tell the reader you are serious about your job search. It should entice the reader to review your resume over the many others received for each open position. Professional resume writers are regularly asked, “Do I really need a cover letter?” We always answer – yes – because sending a resume through the mail is like showing up at your physician’s office without an appointment – you will probably get nowhere. Your resume should arrive on the decision-maker’s desk with a cover letter that introduces you and presents your qualifications in such a manner as to entice him/her to actually read your resume. Cover Letters should be clear and to the point so that they can be quickly scanned by the reader. They should include the specific job title you are applying for. They should provided a list of reasons why your experience makes you a good fit with the position. They should provide a brief summary of your career highlights. Some resume writing firms and some Internet job search firms offer “Broadcast Cover Letters” where the cover letter is “canned.” Successful cover letters are personalized. A personalized cover letter shows that you are serious about working for the company. The letter should mention something specific about the company and should be address to a specific individual whenever possible. The cover letter is an excellent vehicle to brag about your special skills and accomplishments. Cover Letters can also be used effectively to make you stand out from the crowd and to show how you would be a valuable addition to the company. But the cover letter is no place for negative information – personality conflicts with previous managers, pending litigation, or knocking your previous employer do not belong in either the resume or cover letter. If the advertisement asks for salary history or willingness to relocate you can say something like “My salary requirements are in the range of $----- to$------, depending upon the duties and requirements of the position plus the overall benefit package offered” and “I am willing to relocate to the geographic areas of -------- and ------------.” If the advertisement is silent on salary requirement or relocation, never include such information.

One of the most effective tools of a cover letter is that it allows you to be proactive. You can state that you are available to fill immediate or anticipated needs; you can provide a variety of ways to communicate with you (home number, cell phone number, email address or even a friend if you are traveling). You can also note that you will follow up by telephone to provide additional information if necessary. You can even say “Please keep this resume and cover letter on your desk and I will call you Friday morning” (or other specific date or time). If so, don’t forget to call.

Cover Letter Article- "Winning Cover Letters " Your cover letter presents your intentions, qualifications, and availability to a prospective employer in a succinct, appealing format. It's your first chance to make a great impression, a personalized letter indicates you are serious about your job search. Your resume can give the nitty-gritty of dates, places of employment, and education but your cover letter must entice the reader to take the extra few minutes to consider you when faced with hundreds and thousands of candidates for any one job opening. 1. Do you really need a cover letter? You bet! Just as you would never just show up unannounced at a prospective employer's door, your resume should Never just appear solo on a decisionmaker's desk. Your cover letter is your first opportunity to introduce yourself, present your qualifications, and show the search committee you are a potential candidate for the advertised position. 2. Personalize it to the company. Anyone can reproduce a "canned" cover letter and hope for the best. Instead, take a few minutes to personalize your letter by showing that you are really serious about working for the companies you are contacting. State the reason that you are interested in working for that particular company. Mention a department, a new project the company is involved in, an acquisition the company has made. Show that you have done your homework. Address the cover letter to a specific individual whenever possible. 3. Why are you sending your resume and cover letter? Cover letters should be clear and to the point. Include the specific job title, two to three reasons why your experience makes a good fit, and a brief outline of career highlights. 4. Highlight your strengths! You may be a great person and never call in sick, but prospective employers really want to know why they should consider you for this position. Brag a little! Give a few facts, list relevant skills, and state accomplishments on your present

or most recent jobs that will be impressive. Increased overseas sales by 93%? Negotiated new financial leases/loans? Implemented new training programs which reduced staff turnover by 15%? 5. State your intentions and qualifications right up front. If you expect a senior personnel manager or recruiter to wade through a mishmash of information on your cover letter before understanding why you are sending your resume, chances are, it will never happen. 6. What makes you different? Emphasize your skills, talents, and experiences to show how you would be a valuable addition to the team. If you have relevant volunteer or professional experience include it briefly in your cover letter. Example: An accountant who serves as volunteer treasurer for a nonprofit community health organization; an international sales rep who has lived in Europe and Asia and speaks several languages. 7. No negative information! Never include personality conflicts with previous employers, pending litigation suits, or sarcastic remarks in your cover letter. If you are bad-mouthing your present place of employment, interviewers may fear a repeat performance if they hire you. 8. When should you include salary/relocation information? The rule of thumb is to always include salary requirements and/or salary history in the cover letter if a prospective employer requests it. For example: My salary requirements are $60,000-$75000 (negotiable). Or: My current salary is $53,000 at XYZ corporation. To eliminate this information from your cover letter may justify your resume getting tossed out. Never include salary and relocation information on your resume, only address this information in your cover letter. 9. Action Steps to Take Take a proactive approach in your cover letter. State the fact that you are available for a personal interview; give your home, work, e-mail, and/or cell phone numbers where you can be reached; note that you will follow up by phone (where possible) to provide any additional information required. 10. Be direct! A professionally written cover letter and resume can open the doors to your next position on the corporate ladder, as well as a new career in a different field. A clean, error-free presentation combined with strong phrasing and solid facts

will encourage the reader to review the attached resume and call you in for an interview.

What is so Important About Cover letters? In a word – EVERYTHING! It’s taking the best of your qualifications and characteristics and making them exciting and enticing to the prospective employer. It’s a carefully crafted letter that leads the employer to the resume to see why you are the best candidate for the job. The best news is that it isn’t that hard. Competition for Administrative Assistant positions is intense. You have to stand out from the crowd in a positive, exciting way to ensure you are the one employers are determined to hire. How do you make your cover letter “sing your praises”? If you have already written your resume, the words you need are already mapped out for you. It’s just a matter of weaving them in and out of a few paragraphs. Ok, so it’s a little more involved than that. At least you have the hardest part done – the resume. It’s much easier to pull from the resume and reflect on your character when you have put the time in to create a professional personal history. Not only that, but since you know about the employer from having written your targeted resume, you have much of what you need to target the letter as well. The cover letter builds on the resume and leads the employer toward it. Its goal is to get the employer excited about the resume. It is a sales tool, just like the resume is. Sell yourself in a compelling and exciting way. Inject energy and let your best qualities reach the employer through carefully written examples and anecdotes. Don’t just state what you are capable of, show the employer with vibrant language that attracts and invites the employer to want to know more. Let your personality show, but remain professional. Secretaries and administrative assistants held about 4.1 million jobs in 2002, ranking among the largest occupations in the U.S. economy. (Bureau of Labor Statistics) You are a part of a significant sector of the labor market. Are there a lot of Administrative Assistant positions available? Yes, there are probably a lot of positions you COULD get, but do you want just ANY old job? Or, do you want a job where you will have opportunities to succeed, make more

money and send your career to new heights? You have to be your very best to get the great jobs. What skills and abilities do you have that you can offer the employer – and – how can you do so in a way that makes the employer pick up the phone and call you for an interview? Start with your “marketing materials”. Your cover letter and your resume are your sales resources. Make them work for you. The cover letter is the first thing an employer sees. Make sure it is impeccable. Proofread it just as meticulously as you did the resume. No mistakes. Not one. State clearly what position you are seeking and tailor the cover letter, just as you did with the resume, to the specific position and employer. Have you read that before somewhere? Yes, you have. That’s because it is very important. Mass marketing general resumes and cover letters to a host of employers is a thing of the past. Targeting a resume and cover letter is essential in today’s competitive environment if you are to be successful. Look at it this way: Your competition is doing it. If you don’t do it, too, who do you think is going to get the interview and the job offer? A cover letter isn’t likely to persuade an employer to grant you an interview, but it is part of the whole package that WILL encourage an employer to want to get to know you better. Make it an exciting and enjoyable read and you will find yourself being offered the next Administrative Assistant position you apply for. Best of luck!

Writing a Cover Letter - The Cover Letter Checklist When you have completed the first draft of your cover letter, compare it to the list below. Some of the items on the checklist refer to content and other items refer to format. You may have even read some of these before. As you review this checklist, compare it to your letter and determine if there are any additional changes that need to be made before sending it ? and your resume ? to the employer. Yes, this is a bit tedious, but if you want to beat out your competitors, you have to do more than they do and you have to do it better. Here goes: 1. Use the same paper that you use for your resume. They should match. If the papers do not match (or if they are of poor quality), then you might as well not send anything at all. What you are telling the employer is that professionalism is not one of your strong suits.

2. Proofread. Proofread. Proofread. 3. Keep the letter to one page. You are not writing your life story. 4. Ensure the name of the person addressed in the letter is spelled correctly and that you have his/her correct title. No one likes to have his/her name misspelled. 5. Demonstrate that you have researched the company by including some information in one or more of your sentences. 6. Sign the cover letter with a blue or black ink pen. This is an old standard, but it is still true today. 7. Use clear and concise sentences. Be professional, but also conversational. 8. Sell yourself. This is not a license to use "I" at the beginning of every sentence, but you can state in clear and well-defined language what you can do to assist the employer in reaching specific goals. Use active language to engage the reader in wanting to know all about you. Generate excitement. When you speak convincingly, your reader will find it easy to agree with you. 9. Ensure your letter is an original and not a copy ? and printed on good/quality printer. Copies are a waste of time.. It reflects poorly on you and it sends a clear signal to the prospective employer that you didn't care enough to create a letter specifically for them. 10. Use the traditional business letter format. Do not get cute in the hopes of standing out. Let your words stand out as they create a picture of your abilities and accomplishments. Don’t use more than one font and keep your statements easy-to-read. 11. Explain anything in your resume that might concern the employer, such as gaps in employment history. Be brief with your explanations and spin them in the best possible light. 12. Identify the specific job that you are seeking to be hired for. If you let the employer guess what you want to do for them, they'll probably guess something that you weren't expecting, so make it clear for them. 13. Request an interview and let the employer know that you will follow up at a certain time on a particular date. Simply state that you would like to meet face to face to further discuss the mutual benefits of a potential working relationship. Add that you will follow up in a few days to ensure your letter was received. 14. Grab the reader’s attention and don’t let it go. Be positive and enthusiastic. Show the reader why you are better than the other candidates seeking the position. Enthusiasm is contagious. Infect someone with your positive attitude.

They’ll like you before they ever meet you. 15. Focus on the employer. What can you do for the company? How quickly can you add to the bottom line? Be dynamic and express your desire to work hard to achieve results. 16. Quantify your experiences rather than rehash them. Instead of saying you helped the distribution center organize its processes, state "HOW" you helped them do this. Be specific and use numbers whenever possible. It means more. It is relevant. It is definable. Your statement might read, "Increased efficiency in the distribution center which resulted in a 15% reduction in employment costs. That is a measurable difference. 17. If you fold your letter and resume, put the cover letter on top and fold them in thirds. Better yet, mail them flat in a larger envelope. Your resume will look better than the others from the start because it won't be creased. Everything matters. 18. Keep a copy of the cover letter for your records. It is also wise to track the letters and resumes you send out. Keep a copy of everything including newspaper clippings or other job-related information. You never know when you might need to refer to something. Writing an exemplary cover letter requires attention to detail ? the very thing that most employers are craving in their employees. If you can show them in your letter why you are the right person for the job, you will get the interview and be well on your way to the job you want.

If Your Resume is the Cake, Your Cover Letter is the Icing The following cover letter sample gives an idea of what most job hunters should do when composing these. It consists of only a very few paragraphs, and is therefore short and easy to read. The reason for this sample being short is simply because hiring managers are extremely busy and will not read long letters. They may glance at them, or skim them for statements that jump out at them, but they probably will not have time to read them. Use this sample when composing your own cover letters, and you’ll save time and get more interviews.

Date HR Manager’s name Company Name Address City State Zip RE: Job Reference number (if one is available) Dear Mr. Blank,

I’m writing to introduce myself in hopes of joining your organization, and have enclosed a copy of my resume for your review. My background, skills and talents are in all aspects of veterinary medicine, with a particular emphasis in embryo collection and transplant. I also have strong skills in general veterinary practice, management and business operations. I would appreciate the opportunity to meet with you and exchange ideas. I will call you over the next several days to make an appointment. If you prefer, you may reach me at the phone number or email address listed above. Thank you for your time. I look forward to meeting with you soon. Sincerely, John R. Doe, DVM Enclosure This sample was obviously for a veterinarian, but anyone in any profession can use it and customize it to suit their own needs. This is a traditional letter done in paragraph style. Another option that is gaining in popularity is the bulleted letter. A cover letter sample in the bulleted format follows.

Date Manager ABC Company Street Address City, state, zip code RE: (reference position applied for) Dear (ad name) With over 20 years of experience as a military officer, I can make an immediate contribution to your organization. Highlights of my background include: • Experienced as a pilot, flight instructor, security officer, and operations officer in charge of millions of dollars in government property and responsible for hundreds of personnel. • Skilled in staff management, project management, security & safety, executive management briefing, and leadership of highly skilled technicians and professionals. • Demonstrated ability to handle multiple tasks concurrently, and lead by example. Utilize sound decision making judgment as evidenced by increased

levels of responsibility and professional commendations. I would like to discuss in greater detail the valuable contributions I would make at your organization. I can be reached at (555) 555-5555. Your time and consideration are most appreciated. Sincerely, John Doe Enclosure

This sample was for a retired military aviation officer, but the basic format would stay the same for a teacher, CEO, salesman, firefighter, accountant or almost any other profession. There are two or three bulleted paragraphs that repeat qualifications, accomplishments or other highlights from the resume. The bulleted format makes them easy to see, and the bold facing on key points draws the attention of the reader to what the writer of the cover letter sample wants the reader to see, and read. Use the sample above, or the first cover letter sample, depending on your own needs, and customize them to your profession. Sample Cover Letter - Business / Referral Your Name Your Address Your City, State, Zip Code Your Phone Number Your Email Contact Name Title Company Name Address City, State, Zip Code Dear Mr./Ms. LastName: Please accept the attached resume for the position of Technical Business Analyst as recently advertised on Monster.com. I've had the pleasure to review CompanyName's web site, and to speak with Jane Doe, a colleague at CompanyName, and am very enthusiastic about the position advertised. I believe that my combination of technical skills, consulting experience, and business sensibilities would serve CompanyName well in this position. My foundation is as a developer, in multiple languages, on many platforms. If the situation requires getting code done, I deliver high

quality, clean, working code, quickly and correctly. I'm comfortable with structured code, databases, OO programming, and "specialty" languages such as might be found in workflow or business rules systems. I have every confidence that to the extent the position requires actual coding, I can sling code with the best. To the extent that the position requires analysis of business rules and processes, I have specific experience in two main areas that are closely related. On the analysis side, I was the Product Manager for a large system. In that capacity I was responsible for extracting functional requirements from end users, customers, marketing, etc., and translating those requirements into detailed requirements. On the business rules side, as the Product Architect for a suite of enterprise systems I led the requirements definition and vendor and partner review for a collaboration system that included a business rules engine component. While I was not involved as a developer in these systems, I am quite familiar with this class of products and the salient features that define their value. On a more general level, I believe I bring the broad "soft" skills you can have confidence in with a candidate that will represent CompanyName to your customers. I trust you would find me to be well-spoken, energetic, confident, and personable, the type of person on whom your customers will rely. I also have a wide breadth of experience of the type that gives you the versatility to place me in a number of contexts with confidence that the level of excellence you expect will be met. In most situations technical decisions must be made within the context of larger business constraints. Throughout my career I have strived to keep business issues in the forefront, be it as a developer implementing a test framework to capture defects as early as possible, or as the Product Manager for an enterprise system, allocating resources and prioritizing enhancements to meet strategic objectives. Focusing on business imperatives is a core value of mine, one that I bring to every project on which I work. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to review my credentials and

experience. CompanyNames' blend of Business Strategy, Market Analysis, and Information Technology is very exciting. I hope that you'll find my experience, interests, and character intriguing enough to warrant a face-to-face meeting, as I am confident that I could provide value to you and your customers as a member of your team. Sincerely, FirstName LastName

Your Name Your Address Your City, State, Zip Code Your Phone Number Your Cell Phone Number Your Email Manager,

Date

Dear Hiring

I was excited to read about the Administrative Assistant job opening at XYZ company. I have several years of experience in a variety of fields including insurance and finance.

In addition to my extensive office experience, I have strong communication, customer service, and administrative skills. My broad background makes me an excellent candidate for this position. Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you to arrange an interview. Sincerely,

Your Signature