Cover Letter

[mosesbotbol]

Lot's of good stuff so far has been mentioned.

What industry are you targeting? I can only speak from my industry.

Things like US Citizen, Secret Cleared, MBA, Medal of Honor, or stuff that immediately attracts attention to you vs. everyone else should be in the cover letter.

Your relevance to the company at hand is good too. Your skills along with something unique about their company catches the eye.

Keep it short. I never held much regard to cover letters, but in my industry the cover is not that big a deal. Other professions or entry jobs it may well be.

[pnoon]

Originally Posted by mosesbotbol

Lot's of good stuff so far has been mentioned.

What industry are you targeting? I can only speak from my industry.

Things like US Citizen, Secret Cleared, MBA, Medal of Honor, or stuff that immediately attracts attention to you vs. everyone else should be in the cover letter.

Your relevance to the company at hand is good too. Your skills along with something unique about their company catches the eye.

Keep it short. I never held much regard to cover letters, but in my industry the cover is not that big a deal. Other professions or entry jobs it may well be.

This is good advice. A cover letter should be tailored and customized for each application/position.

[M1903A1]

Thanks for posting this...cover letters have always been a major problem for me too.

[bobarian]

Originally Posted by pnoon

This is good advice. A cover letter should be tailored and customized for each application/position.

There is no such thing as a generic cover letter. Each time you send out a resume for a specific job, the cover letter should be made to show how your skills and qualifications fit that position. No two cover letters should ever be alike. Different companies in the same industry should receive different letters.

[floydpink]

A friend of mine in HR told me that above all, the cover letter should be completely free of errors. He said that when sorting through resumes, a misspelling gets you passed right over.

If you have any spelling or gramatical challenges, have someone proof read it.
(I think I may have made a gramatical error with proof read).

He went on to say that if your resume is the cake, the cover letter is the icing.

Of course, a proven track record or unique skill makes some spelling errors easier to overlook.

[montecristo#2]

Originally Posted by floydpink

A friend of mine in HR told me that above all, the cover letter should be completely free of errors. He said that when sorting through resumes, a misspelling gets you passed right over.

If you have any spelling or gramatical challenges, have someone proof read it.
(I think I may have made a gramatical error with proof read).

He went on to say that if your resume is the cake, the cover letter is the icing.

Of course, a proven track record or unique skill makes some spelling errors easier to overlook.

I couldn't agree with this more. We have been interviewing for several positions and one of the guys we brought in had one of the worst cover letters I have ever read. Spelling and grammatical errors, run on sentences. . .

Let's just say if it had been up to me, he would not have even brought him it. Strike 1 for sure.

In this economy, definitely spend some time on this one and if you are a little weak in grammar or spelling, have someone proof read it before sending it off.

[floydpink]

It's definitely a tough market and many overqualified people are taking less paying jobs to avoid losing their homes.

I'm not sure if it's going overboard or what, but my company puts you through a Gallup Poll where you have a few seconds to answer an array of questions that supposedly let them know if you will fit into the corporation's culture. I've heard these aren't cheap to do.

This is AFTER they read your cover letter and had at least 2 seperate HR people interview you and verified your background and sent you to pee in a cup.

A poorly put together cover letter is lucky to get a call back telling them they weren't hired, and I personally never heard of it.

If it were me, I would pay someone who is qualified to sit down with me and help me nail this thing.

[Volt]

We hire people for jobs in the 18K to 30K range for various positions. They take a total of 6 different tests/questionnaires prior to even getting a sit down with a human. Cover letters are very important as is the resume. People too lazy to even turn on MS spell check and grammar checker will NEVER be hired by us.

Many noted good points for the cover letter. Use their job description phrases in your cover letter, nice 20# paper or better (white or off white is best), tell them you WANT the job, etc. For the job I have now I had a professional interviewer look my paperwork over. One silly and simingly stupid trick she gave me. Paper clip the pages together with a colored paper clip. She said the secretaries and HR folks love them. Yours gets sucked to the top just so they can swap the clip out with a silver one. Go figure. Your name and address should be on every piece of paper you give them in case the package gets parted out.

As my post indicates, thank god my IT skills are better than my forum typing

Originally Posted by floydpink

It's definitely a tough market and many overqualified people are taking less paying jobs to avoid losing their homes.

I'm not sure if it's going overboard or what, but my company puts you through a Gallup Poll where you have a few seconds to answer an array of questions that supposedly let them know if you will fit into the corporation's culture. I've heard these aren't cheap to do.

This is AFTER they read your cover letter and had at least 2 seperate HR people interview you and verified your background and sent you to pee in a cup.

A poorly put together cover letter is lucky to get a call back telling them they weren't hired, and I personally never heard of it.

If it were me, I would pay someone who is qualified to sit down with me and help me nail this thing.

Originally Posted by pnoon

This is good advice. A cover letter should be tailored and customized for each application/position.

Exactly. Read the job advertisement and look for the key words in it, then tailor your letter to include that information:

"successful applicant will have outstanding research and writings skills"

don't say "I have excellent research and writing skills". Say " as a two year editor on Law Review....". Show them, don't tell them.

Do that for every key word you can pick out. If someone
is well qualifed for a job the cover letter is a piece of cake, it's your time to shine

[MajorCaptSilly]

I was just talking to my daughter about this. She was having me proof her resume and cover letter. I helped her write a resume that highlighted jobs she's had that gave her experience relevant to the internship she is seeking. Her cover letter expanded on the bullet points in the resume to show that not only did she have the experience needed but could adequately paint a picture of her experience and how it would benefit the potential employer. She also pointed out charitable projects she has organized or has helped with as a tram leader. She got the internship today so, I guess the old man still has some talent in that area!

MCS