Job Application Letter -  Marketing Techniques

To test benefit statements the marketing method is to say "so what".  Only when the writer satisfies the "so what test" can the writer claim a benefit.

The statements below are taken verbatim from past resumes. Past tense and present tense are retained in original form as many people were still employed when the resume was written. Further, statements will vary depending on the level of the jobseekers responsibility and experience. An executive's statements will be stronger and more sophisticated. A blue collar worker's statements will be different again. This is just a guide.

Computer skills - Excel and MYOB

·        Use excel spreadsheets and MYOB accounting package to organise account and job orders, to save time and increase productivity.

·        Extensive use of Excel spreadsheets for opening and maintaining customer profiles.  No benefit statement needed - as the emphasis is on using Excel.

Merchandising

·        Apply merchandising skills to constantly review and change displays to maximise impulse buying and increase profits.

Performance Appraisals

·         Implemented KPI indicators and conducted performance appraisals in order to measure performance and identify areas of staff development, training and discipline.

      Note: Here you could have the final benefit or measurable outcome, but most companies do not  follow up and measure these type of changes. Once again if you want to advance in your career you could put something in place yourself to give these figures.

See if you can recognise a feature and benefit.

Prepared rosters

·         Reduced the wages budget by $120,000 in 2005 by restructuring rosters

      to coincide with high demand periods.    

Repaired and maintained mining equipment

·         Repaired, overhauled and serviced a  range of mobile and stationary        

      and heavy industrial mining plant and equipment to ensure proper   

     performance and safety to meet company standards. 

Attended meetings

·         Contributed to weekly management meetings, and verbally presented 

      forecasting sheets to the duty managers, in order to assist them to make

      decisions on staffing levels and general catering preparation.         

Health and Safety

·         Supervised the storage of equipment to ensure occupational health and

      safety principles were adhered to in order to reduce risk  (and save the   

      company money on compensation payments).

Accounts

·        Maintained both accounts payable and receivable ensuring all accounts paid within supplier’s terms and conditions to avoid excess fees for late payment.

Stocktaking

·         Implemented stock control for 70 departments, sourcing new product lines to replace low profit generating items resulting in faster turnover of stock - directly contributing to higher sales and profit margin by 24%.

Assist the Store Manager in the office (Present tense)

·        Calculate and prepare monthly and seasonal accruals for the store manager for purchases between $65,000 to $100,000 each month with 100% accuracy.

Performed the full range of library duties

·        Successfully applied for funding to connect the library computers to the Internet and to purchase new computers to support the new technology.

Liaison with other departments

·        Relationship building with other relevant company personnel for      

     communication of competitor activity, credit, inventory management and

     market intelligence.

The most important step in writing letters is in the planning. Know what you want to accomplish and keep this in mind. Your goal will be different for each type of letter. It was stated earlier that each method will require you to  communicate verbally and in writing to using vastly different job applications.

So you need to be clear on:-

• Who you are targeting

• The purpose of the letter

• What you want the reader to do

Go through this exercise on paper and ensure it answers all these questions.

Before you can write your dynamic letter you must research the company so that you can clearly see how you can write your job application to meet their needs and value add to their company. Often you can find information to demonstrate to the employer that you have other skills that may suit the position based on what you have read about the company.

Any formal business letter, whether it is in marketing or job search, has a beginning, a middle and an end

This is the attention paragraph. The beginning of the letter is used to state the position you are applying for (if advertised) and is reserved for the impact statement - the opening statement or headline sentence. In a cold calling or networking letter it will include a reference to the person who introduced you to the reader, or the reason why you are writing.

The middle

In marketing, this is the "interest" section. This section is used to address the employers needs and demonstrate that the applicant has all the criteria the employer requires. Don't be put off if you haven't got all the criteria. (See further on). Personal attributes play a big part in the selection process.

The middle can be up to three short paragraphs or preferably, about 5 bullet points. The length depends on how many criteria the employer requests. Spend a lot of time making this information short and precise.

Applicants can also give any other experience, knowledge or skill relevant to the job that has not been advertised. This is called "value adding". 

Go to Resume Cover Letter - for more information on the beginning the middle and the end.

A cover letter for an advertised position

• Look carefully at the criteria advertised and write each one down leaving space for your notes.

• Under each point write down your experience in these areas.  You may want to do this on the computer and cut and paste from your resume. Group them together into logical order.

• If you haven't been able to meet all the criteria there are example phrases you can use to show you are highly motivated to learn.

• Analyse what you have. Can any of this combined information be summed up into an opening statement (see below) Your benefit statement is probably in your resume if it is outcome based. As stated earlier, the middle of the road jobs may find this task a bit more difficult. Work with what you have.

• Once you have your opening statement you can see what is left to address or to expand upon. The criteria is the features as already decided by the employer, now you must provide a benefit statement.

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 this section, these are:-

• Job Applications - Letters  ***** 

• Resume Cover Letter (invaluable letter content) 

• Sample Job Application Letters

• Letter Writing Guide (Business Letter Format and Reading Principles)