Resume Cover
Letter
In order to
produce a winning cover letter that will land you your dream job,
you need to read all 5 sections on letter writing.
In addition to Resume Cover Letter, these are:-
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How to write content for a resume cover
letter
This section
relates to a resume cover letter. However, it contains
valuable marketing content for all job application letters.
Your cover letter must have a logical format
-
the beginning, the middle
and the end;
and the
content needs to make effective use of marketing techniques.
Marketing
letters use headlines that have impact to capture the attention of the
reader. In job search, the goal for an application letter is to get an interview.
If your opening statement does not capture the reader's attention, the
impact of the rest of your application letter can fail. Marketers can afford to
test different headlines in their ads or opening statements for sales
letters. You have only one shot at it.
The headline/opening statement. It has
to be interesting to the reader so they will read on as well as
demonstrating a few features and benefits. The problem is that
you have to identify the position you are applying for. These become the
first written words. So how do you get around this?
This method has been tested by the author
who found that most recruiters or people involved in receiving
the application in response to an advertised position, know what to
expect when they open a job application. They know that they will see the
position title. So psychologically they are prepared to see it in written
form and will filter it out. They just briefly recognise it like a picture.
Their brain is still open to be influenced by the opening sentence.
This is how you get the reader to filter out the information they expect to
see.
Firstly, you should put the position title on the envelope, to
reinforce what they expect the application to contain - i.e. an application
for a Accounts Clerk to assist the company accountant.
Secondly, centre the position so that it is not in the in the eyes
vision when applying the reading principle that the eye starts to read from
the top left and corner and fans out to the bottom right. See more on
reading principles in
Letter Writing Guide.
Accounts Clerk to Assist the Company Accountant
Remember you won't know if this example is effective
because you haven't seen the advertisement. So for this exercise, imagine
that these examples exactly reflect the employer's stated
criteria or needs. They are for middle of the road jobs, to demonstrate that anyone
can use them. They get more powerful at higher management levels. They
have to because the employer expects it. So they have to really deliver and sell
themselves in a dynamic way appropriate to the level of the position. The
principles are the same.
This is a random
example taken from the profile of our sample
resumes.
One has to imagine that these are based on the stated criteria. It is an
example of how easy it is to write opening statements for a professional
occupation if your resume has been constructed correctly.
Or equally, if appropriate, this second part of the sentence can be used.
This
would have been better with a measurable outcome stating what the revenue
growth was. This is for a higher level manager or executive.
Here is another one, based on
one of the accountabilities in the same resume. Despite the
unfamiliar wording could easily be used by any other occupation as an
example to customise. This is how it appears in the resume.
When taking from a resume be sure and
personalise it so it is not stilted. For example, this company
may be going
through change and want someone to help them to set up a branch office
in a different state or country. They need to develop systems that are compatible with head office
mainframe computer,
and at the same time adhere to local standards that differ from those
required by Head Office. In this scenario an opening
statement such as the following can be used.
I
created templates for system documentation and user manuals that were
adopted as an OMAM standard within South Africa. This was part of a similar
project to the one you are undertaking. I was a valuable team member,
undertaking the following tasks:-
A benefit statement has
now been given for the whole job. The applicant has addressed this early, by
saying she has already been through the process. So this is the benefit.
This leads logically into the
middle of the application and will address criteria in the
advertisement.
Do not just paraphrase the
criteria.
Examples are difficult because each job
advertisement will have its own, sometimes complex, criteria or the
applicant may be short
on experience and skills and place importance on criteria such as
organisational skills, a good communicator, highly motivated individual.
These criteria are harder to demonstrate.
This following example
demonstrates how to address the above criteria in the opening statement.
The position
is an accounts clerk to assist the accountant.
Here is a possible part of the job advertisement. "This is a busy position and
you will need to have good organisational skills and work with minimum
supervision."
So an
opening statement for an accounts clerk could take in all of the above
criteria.
I have a
successful track record of prioritising and controlling accounting work flows in
a fast paced environment, assisting
the company accountant to perform all accounting functions.
The assumption is that the bolded words have
been part of the criteria. "prioritising" could be "able to work with
minimum
supervision" or "good organisation skills", so can "controlling". "Fast
paced environment" may answer the criteria, "a busy position".
The applicant will then
go on to the middle of your application and mention the salient points in the rest of the
criteria in point form. If not stated, they should pick out what they see as the main
points and use one or two outcome statements if possible.
For
example, most companies want to know what you can do for them.
These should be in your resume. if you are telling an employer
that you "control accounting work flows in
a fast paced environment,
you should say that you have accurate data entry skills at x words
(or figures) per minute.
In one
resume I prepared, a new employer actually eliminated the need for
casual staff at the end of the month, which the company had been
doing for years, because of her excellent data entry skills. This
was an outcome that went into the resume. In another resume example, a good data entry
person left as company, and she found out they had to fill the position with two
people. So the accuracy of the work and the typing speed can
actually have great benefits to the company and should not be
underestimated.
Your
proficiency in the way you approach your workload, i.e. setting
priorities, streamlining systems and a skill such as your high
typing speed can actually create a $ benefit for the employer.
Value added sentences.
"In addition to your stated criteria, I have assisted the
accountant by.... Here you state the accountabilities in your job that
assisted the accountant that are not in the criteria.
Stronger value added statement would be. "In
addition to your stated criteria I can bring to the job a sound knowledge of
XYZ."
Impressions are about expectations.
An employer who is looking for an accounts clerk will not expect to see to a
powerful cover letter. On the other hand, an employer
advertising for a manager has higher expectations. They will expect a dynamic letter because this fits
the
profile of the person they want.
The position or level of
skills required is important, only insofar as the employer who receives a
strong application letter with an opening statement that is backed up with content
to reflect the employers needs, and maybe exceed them in some way, will
create a very favourable impression with the employer. Why? Because they did not expect it. The
applicant has talked
directly to the employer by addressing his/her needs and shows the promise
of being able to deliver extra benefits.
How to use effective word selection for maximum
impact
After the opening statement the applicant will now have to deliver the
goods.
Still using the Accounts Clerk
job, the applicant should now state what they actually did to assist the accountant as
per criteria.
I
assisted the accountant by:-
-
Taking his suit to the
dry cleaners (feature) so he wouldn't come into work looking like he has
slept in his clothes which made him look more competent than he is
(benefit).
-
Making him coffee (feature) so that he
could get up the energy to get off his "but" and do some work (benefit)
Ok so don't tell the truth, but
the applicant should say what he/she did to assist him run the accounting department as stated in
the criteria.
Using another example, an accounts payable person
may do the wages. just stating "experience in payroll", for example,
is not enough information It
needs substantiating and show the level of skill.
If any of the experience used in the cover letter was gained in a job
further back you need to say:-
It is important that the employer can see in your resume the claims made in
the cover letter.
The application should not leave any criteria unanswered or leave the
employer to try and sieve through the information. Why should they bother.
There will be other applicants who have written a better application letter.
Here the applicant expresses their interest in the position and ask for an appointment
Now is the time
to close the sale. Applicants should not go overboard or too pushy. However, they need let the employer
know how interested they are in the position. They need to say where, when and what time
they
are available for an interview. If this information is not provided, and
the applicant is still working, an employer will be uneasy about contacting
them.
Language
and tone of letter
The
language and tone will not be the same for an unskilled job and a
highly skilled position paying the top dollar.
The language
used by a highly skilled professional will be different to the
language used by a person with a much lower level of skill.
If a professional's salary
is over, $65,000, for example, the language of the letter should
reflect a high level of writing. It should create an image of the
applicant that fits the position and salary.
Many jobseeekers on a lower
skill level make the mistake of copying example letters shown
by the thousands on the net or get a professional to write it. It
can create an image that is actually detrimental to your
application. Employers may get the impression
that you are too ambitious for them, or that you may not "fit in".
If you do get a professional
to write your letter, remind them that the literacy standard should
not be the same standard of a highly paid executive. Keep the
language simple. Otherwise when you meet the employer it
will become obvious that you did not write the letter
Your tone
should be
confident but not boastful or arrogant. This applies equally to all
jobseekers. If you use sales
techniques you are creating features and benefits and these are powerful in
their own right.
If your
skills do not match your tone you can come across as boastful or
arrogant . So you need to be careful you do not overdo the
marketing technique, or the tone does become arrogant.
your sales pitch should match the position. If you are answering the
client's needs then you should be able to strike the right note.
Salary questions
This
is a tricky one. If employers have specifically asked you to give a
salary range you must do so. Applicants should read up on the various ways
of asking for salary and put it in the end of the letter, when
they have created interest and desire. Never in the beginning.
Let them see what you are worth.
Remember, in order to gain the top salary
your resume needs to be very focused and powerful because the employer may
have a salary in mind before the interview.
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