Focus on your Cover Letter Writing

16Jun10

Woman mailing letter Lately, I’ve been finding more people that don’t measure up to their resumés.

Resumés are usually full of exaggerations, half-truths, embellishments, and sometimes flat-out lies and most hiring managers pay little attention to them. Anybody can look good in bullet points.

Unfortunately, many people looking for work are wasting their time and money hiring a “professional” to pack their resumés full of action verbs from standard position descriptions found online.

People are so focused on trying to “get an interview” that they are missing the most important part – the cover letter – and then wonder why nobody is calling.

Companies are judging the cover letters

Cover letters are like writing a great title to a book. People should be spending half their time creating them, because the phone interview is the third test.

The first test is “Did you follow the instructions to apply for the position?” No, goodbye.

The second test is reading the cover letter and determining “How well do you write?” and “How badly does this person appear to want the job?” Bad writer. Goodbye. Impersonal, form cover letter. Goodbye.

Cover letters indicate if the applicant can write or not

While spelling and grammar checkers can help find 80% of the errors – they can’t write.

And great writers quickly rise to the top.

When I’m choosing between two qualified candidates, I always hire the better writer.

Covers letters can show who really wants this particular job

They offer an opportunity to demonstrate the applicant did their homework.

Smart people will include specific knowledge of the company, mention the name of a contact or an event, and identify the hiring person by name “Dear Michelle Jackson:”.

We also look for effort and ask “How badly does this person want the job?” or “Out of this stack of resumes, What name do I remember and why?”

I notice when people go the extra step to build a special online portfolio pitching their skills.