Good cover letter tips to better sell you
By Neil Kokemuller, MBA
www.professionalresumeorder.com
Marketing yourself during a job search is virtually the same as a company marketing any product or service. You select the target audience, or preferred employers. You then decide the best approach and message to communicate your benefits, as the product, to the company. Essentially, you present to the company reasons they should hire you. The cover letter is typically one of the most common marketing tools used by job prospects to communicate their benefits to employers. It is important to review some common cover letter tips to best market yourself.
While many people understand the purpose and need for a high impact professional resume, many job seekers underestimate the value of a high impact professional cover letter. Many employers do not tell prospects, but often they do not consider candidates that do not include a cover letter with their application and resume. In fact, some employers have suggested that a professional cover letter has more impact on their interest in interviewing a job candidate than a resume. Obviously, the resume is an important communication of necessary skills, but the cover letter offers the candidate an open opportunity to communicate their selling points to the employer. The following are some key cover letter tips to better sell you.
Answer key questions: An effective professional cover letter should answer the employer’s key questions as they consider whether to call you for an interview. They want to know why you are interested, why they should hire you, why is now the right time for you and what make you the right fit for their needs.
Target the job: One of the best, under-utilized cover letter tips is to target the specific job with your letter. Too often, job seekers develop a generic letter and submit it (with minor tweaking) to several employers. Each letter, while consistently formatted perhaps, should be target to a specific job. In fact, the most high impact cover letter is one that identifies how your skills and experiences match the required and desired qualifications of the job. After all, this is what the employer needs to know!
Sell yourself: Do not just submit a cover letter that is generic because the employer requests it. Many employers do not even bother with your resume and application if your letter does not sell you. A short letter that says “call me” does not effectively sell you.
Use content: I am surprised how many people mistakenly believe a cover letter needs to be extremely short. While there is some truth to the fact that a cover letter, like a professional resume, needs to be efficient and to the point, a one page letter is perfectly acceptable. The formatting of addresses and closings take up a good amount of space. A 3-5 paragraph (short paragraphs) letter that directly states your benefits to the employer can only help. If you look at most professional cover letter templates, they are nearly a page.
Check grammar and
spelling: Communications are
generally regarded as the most impacting professional skill that leads to
success. In fact, research regular
reveals this. One particular study of
professionals making over $250,000 showed that they generally agreed their
communication skills contributed most to their success, much more so than
technical knowledge. Your letter is your
chance to demonstrate your great proficiency with written communication, an
important skill in many industries.
Check your grammar and spelling and pay attention to detail.
Invest in a professional cover letter – Cover letter writing is a very specialized skill. While there are some high priced cover letter services, there are also high impact professional cover letter writers who offer great value for the money. One service provider, www.professionalresumeorder.com offers a high value service that includes a package with a resume. Investing a modest fee for a great selling tool is a great investment. Cover letter tips are great, but so is a quality letter. Do not be afraid to get help from a professional people marketer!
The author of this article is a college marketing professor. He holds a MBA from