A cover letter is a formality, but not one to be ignored.
Do you really need to write a cover letter? Does anyone even read cover letters? Aren’t they a formality?
The answer is “yes” to all three. They’re a formality, but one you’re forced to address in every job application. Someone will read your cover letter.
Sure, you need to shine in an interview, and you will likely rely on your network to make introductions within a company, but for the human-resources representative or recruiter reading your resume, the cover letter is your first introduction.
“Like a good opening of a speech, you tell your audience what you are going to tell them. … You boil down what a reader will see in the resume in a quick, organized way,” said resume writer Andrew Pearl of Precision Resumes in the article “Writing a Cover Letter to Control Your Message.”
“Both the intro letter and the resume need to be emphasizing what you can do for an employer,” Pearl said. “And the best way to accomplish this is by reinforcing the main accomplishments as bullets in your intro letter, using an economy of language and respecting your reader.”
Pearl uses four to six bullets in the intro letter with only a few paragraphs surrounding them; this formatting makes it easy for a reader to scan the page for key terms and language.
“Bullets are hooks,” Pearl said. “Use them to sustain a reader, but balance them with easy-to-follow, short paragraphs.”
Pearl criticizes the abuse of bullet points in many cover letters.
“There is so much that is out of your control in a job search,” Pearl said. “But you can control that intro letter and resume by being smart and focused on the decision makers reading your resume. Every bullet point matters, so use them wisely. Not all things are equal. Some people place in their resume that they have competency in Microsoft Word right after a bullet on some major accomplishment. On some level, it can be read that these bullets right next to each other are of equal value.”
Knowing what to emphasize and where to put it on a cover letter or a resume can be challenging. Think of it this way: Resume and cover-letter creation is one of the most neglected parts of a person’s education. Did you have to take a course in college that taught you how to write a professional resume? There is a lot to know about capturing someone’s attention.
You must treat networking and your documentation — resume, cover letter and portfolios (if applicable) — as very important tools to get you the job you want. Strong references from your network are very important, but a great resume combined with that stellar reference can make or break your chances of employment.
(Cover Letter, by Muffet via Flickr, CC3.0)
Discussion
No comments for “Grab Attention with Your Cover Letter”