{"id":7467,"date":"2018-10-15T11:54:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-15T17:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/?p=7467"},"modified":"2018-10-15T11:54:00","modified_gmt":"2018-10-15T17:54:00","slug":"writeastellarcoverletter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/writeastellarcoverletter\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cover Letters That Make Hiring Managers Smile (Then Call You)"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article originally appeared on The Muse and can be found here.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

You know that next job of yours? Yes, that\u2019s right, the really amazing one with the brilliant co-workers, cool boss, and fresh, free snacks in the office vending machine? That one.<\/p>\n

You know how you\u2019re going to land it? By quickly showing your future employer that:<\/p>\n

a) You\u2019re going to perform incredibly well in this job.
\nb) You\u2019re insanely likable.
\nc) You\u2019re really going to fit in around there.<\/p>\n

These are the three primary factors that influence the selection process. The person who wins that great job will be the one who shows the decision makers, quickly, that he or she is all three of those things. And you have an amazing opportunity to begin planting these seeds right from the introduction, \u00e0 la your cover letter.<\/p>\n

Most people\u00a0squander the opportunity<\/a>. Instead of using their cover letter real estate to their massive advantage, they toss over bland, cliche-filled, or completely-redundant-to-the-resume clunkers. Or worse, they showcase all the things that they want out of the deal, without pausing for a moment to recognize that the company cares a heck of a lot more about what it\u2019s going to get from you.<\/p>\n

As a recruiter, it pains me to read most cover letters, because the vast (and I mean\u00a0vast<\/em>) majority of them stink. Knowing this should inspire you even further to\u00a0create a brilliant one<\/a>. Because, let me tell you, on those rare occasions an amazing cover letter crosses my desk?\u00a0Mamma mia<\/em>. It makes my day, and it most certainly influences my interest in its author.<\/p>\n

So, how do you pull off a killer cover letter, one that conveys passion and talent and that makes the recruiter or hiring manager\u2019s day? Make sure you do all of these things.<\/p>\n

1. Tell Them Why, Specifically, You\u2019re Interested in the Company<\/h2>\n

Decision makers never want to feel like you\u2019re wallpapering the universe with the same pathetic cover letter. They want to feel special. And so, you need to make it clear that you\u2019re approaching this organization for very specific reasons. And ideally, not the same very specific reasons that everyone else is giving.<\/p>\n

Example<\/h3>\n

Try a high-personality lead in like this: \u201cHaving grown up with the Cincinnati Zoo (literally) in my backyard, I understand firsthand how you\u2019ve earned your reputation as one of the most family-friendly venues in the State of Ohio. For 20 years, I\u2019ve been impressed as your customer; now I want to impress visitors in the same way your team has so graciously done for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Outline What You Can Walk Through the Doors and Deliver<\/h2>\n

This isn\u2019t you making a general proclamation of, \u201cHey, I\u2019m great. I swear!\u201d You need to scrutinize the job description and use whatever other information you\u2019ve gathered about the opening, determine the key requirements and priorities for this job, and make it instantly clear to the reviewer that you can deliver the goods on these key things.<\/p>\n

Example<\/h3>\n

Consider crafting a section within the letter that begins with, \u201cHere\u2019s what, specifically, I can deliver in this role.\u201d And then expound upon your strengths in a few of the priority requirements for that role (they\u2019re typically listed first on the job description or mentioned more than once).<\/p>\n

3. Tell a Story, One That\u2019s Not on Your Resume<\/h2>\n

As humans, we love stories far more than we love data sheets. (OK, I speak for most humans). So, what\u2019s your story? What brings you to this company? Did you used to sing along to all of its commercials as a kid? Did the product make some incredible difference in your life? Do you sometimes pull into the parking lot and daydream about what it would feel like to work there? Tell your story. Just make sure you have a great segue. Random trivia can come across as weird.<\/p>\n

Example<\/h3>\n

Say you\u2019re applying for a marketing job with a baked goods company known for its exquisite tarts and pies. You may want to weave a sentence or two into your cover letter about how you took the blue ribbon in the National Cherry Festival pie eating contest when you were 10, and that you\u2019ve been a pie fanatic ever since. (Yes, this was me, but I actually came in second place. Sigh.)<\/p>\n

4. Address the Letter to an Actual Person Within the Company<\/h2>\n

Not one employee at your future new company is named \u201cTo Whom it May Concern,\u201d so knock that off. You\u2019ve got to find a real person to whom you can direct this thing.<\/p>\n

This seems so hard or overwhelming, but it\u2019s often easier than you may think. Just mosey over to LinkedIn and do a People search using the company\u2019s name as your search term. Scroll through the people working at that company until you find someone who appears to be the hiring manager. If you can\u2019t find a logical manager, try locating an internal recruiter, the head of staffing or, in smaller companies, the head of HR. Address your masterpiece to that person. Your effort will be noted and appreciated.<\/p>\n

And a last, critical factor when it comes to delivering a great cover letter:\u00a0Be you<\/a>. Honest, genuine writing always goes much, much further than sticking to every dumb rule you\u2019ve ever read in stale, outdated career guides and college textbooks.<\/p>\n

Rules can be bent. In fact, if you truly want that amazing job with the brilliant co-workers, cool boss, and fresh, free snacks? They should be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article originally appeared on The Muse and can be found here. You know that next job of yours? Yes, that\u2019s right, the really amazing one with the brilliant co-workers, cool boss, and fresh, free snacks in the office vending machine? That one. You know how you\u2019re going to land it? By quickly showing your…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1145,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-job-info-advice"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p79l8e-1Wr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1145"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7467"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7468,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7467\/revisions\/7468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}