Cover letters for job applications

Getting Job Covering Letters Out the Door

Mar26
2011 Leave a Comment Written by admin

My History of Job Searches

Job hunting can be really tough. And it can take a long time to discover the best methods. You’re usually competing against 100s, if not 1000s of other applicants for a single position. I learned the hard way. You’ve got to have a great covering letter to get your foot in the door and start promoting yourself. 

Like most students in the States, I got my first jobs during high-school and college by visiting shops and filling out employment application forms. A few dozen applications, and voila, a job. A job that most people really wouldn’t want. Well, you have to start somewhere.

After college I was lucky and found a great job through my faculty adviser and another after that through networking with some business acquaintances. Then I went back to school for a graduate degree in engineering. After receiving my grad degree, I made some big mistakes in my job search. I hadn’t been networking at conferences, and my cover letters went something like this.

Dear Sir or Madam:
Enclosed is my resume in application for the xyz position in your department.
I look forward to hearing from you.

I can now spot 4 huge mistakes. Needless to say, it didn’t go well.

I’d completely missed the opportunity to use the cover to personalize my application and provide persuasive additional information. And a cover letter isn’t just for professional applications. Even if you’re just filling out an application form at the local fast-food shop, follow up with a cover letter. Then after an interview, follow up again with a thank-you “cover letter.” It’s important to be seen as interested and down-right eager. Not to mention persistent and thorough.

How did things eventually turn out? I landed a great job at a global aerospace firm, followed by a couple of jobs at small and mid-sized engineering firms. I’ve worked on some great projects, and now I’m looking forward to retirement.

Unfortunately, with hundreds or thousands of competitors for each position, it’s still largely a matter of numbers. You need to send out a lot of resumes to get a single interview. It can be a tough quality versus quantity tradeoff. For better or worse, I spend more time on the job opportunities that look really exciting, and may cut corners a little on the others.

Amazing Cover Letters… Really?

I’ve looked around for templates and tools to help with all this.  Here’s my uncensored review of the best tool I’ve found.  I’m writing this (and starting this website) because I know lots of people are looking for job-search guidance and most sites say little or nothing about cover letters. I’ve found a surprising number of resources that actually give bad advice. I’m pretty picky, so here comes both good and bad points

If you’re looking for the Amazing Cover Letters website, click here

“Amazing Cover Letters” (ACL)  is great for quickly writing great covering letters. Though I wish they’d stop mentioning “instant” and “3 ½” minutes though – your really should spend a lot more time than that. But that’s also what I like best about it; you can spend as much or as little time as you want on each letter.

ACL is more than just a set of example letters or templates. It’s a software package with some built-in guidance. Entering the software, you can first review a half-dozen or so 1-page summaries with resume cover letter advice and tips. At any time you can click on a few simple questions and the program will generate a template for your general situation. This includes cover letters plus follow-up, networking, and thank-you letters. You can then navigate though another half-dozen pages to further personalize you letter as well as make it more persuasive. Plus another dozen or so helpful “writing tools” pages. Finally, you can cut and past the draft letter into your word processor to edit and customize until your heart’s content.

With Amazing Cover Letters, you can automatically create a good-enough letter in just a couple of minutes, or you can spend an hour or more crafting a killer resume covering letter.

What’s not to like? Well, there are a few things that bother me. First, there’s not really a MAC version. If you have a MAC you can use a version of ACL that resides on the web. But personally, I’d feel a little uncomfortable depending on an internet connection and someone else’s web site to get important work done. Secondly, breaking the guidelines into little 1-page bits that you have to go through click-by-click is a bit irritating. This works well when you’re interactively editing, but I’d rather have something more like an eBook I could read through for the learning portion.

If you purchase ACL you’ll see several other offers before you get to the download link. I haven’t used them myself, so I can’t really say anything about them other than that they look promising. If you sign-up with your email address you’ll receive a few emails. Some are promotional, others have useful and interesting job-hunting tips. You can easily unsubscribe via the link at the very bottom of each email.

The full pacakge costs under $50, and comes with three bonuses. The first is 3 top “contest-winning” cover letter examples. The second is another software package that lets you go click-by-click through 10 job interview “secrets.” They’re great guidance for what hopefully comes after your cover letters. The third is a 14-page eBook on salary-negotiating methods. You’ll need Adobe and an un-zip program to use these bonuses. The ACL download page includes helpful links to this free software, plus good instructions for getting everything downloaded, installed, and running.

In brief, I really like it. It gets me past any “blank-page block” and into a great draft amazingly quickly. From there you can further craft your cover letter, or just give it a through proofing and send it out.

Everything is delivered over the web, so you can get the tool and start using it within minutes, any time of the day or night. The package comes with an 8-week guarantee. You can get a full refund anytime within that period, and still keep the bonuses. It’s hard to loose with this one.

Click here to visit the Amazing Cover Letters site　

Note: I’m an affiliate for ACL. That means that if you purchase it via my website, I’ll get a commission. You’ll pay the same, maybe even a bit less, than going directly to the ACL site. I’ve purchased and used itmyself, and wouldn’t be an affiliate if I didn’t like it.

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A Video from Me

Mar24
2011 Leave a Comment Written by admin

I was poking around YouTube and was a bit pleased to find a fair number of videos on how to do a resume cover letter.  But then I was surprised by the portion that gave bad advise, like closing with “Please contact me at your earliest convience.”  So I made one myself.  ‘Hope you like it.  It’s the first video I’ve made myself, so any comments good or bad are greatly appreciated.

Don’t forget to start by researching the company and department.

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Cover Letters for Resumes, Finding Contacts

Mar16
2011 Leave a Comment Written by admin

It’s tough looking for a job, especially after you’ve gone through the leads from your friends, family, and co-workers. It can feel like grinding out a numbers game – X resumes per day to get Y interviews.

I recently ran across a helpful tip in Barabasi’s book “Linked” (a book about general connections, not networking for employment). He reported a study revealing that more people found jobs through casual acquaintances than close friends or coworkers. His explanation is rather involved, but here’s the gist of it. You, your friends, your coworkers, and your family all move in pretty much the same social circles. So you know pretty much the same set of people. If any of them knows of a job opening you’ll probably already know about it yourself so asking around won’t add many opportunities to your list. But a casual acquaintance will have a significantly different circle of contacts – you’ll be exploring new waters. So even if it feels awkward, as just about anyone you know if they’ve heard of any job openings. Even your barber and current cab driver.

Whether your lead comes from an acquaintance or a job posting, you’re essentially contacting a stranger. So the covering letter for your resume is essential for making social contact and getting noticed. You’ll need to research the company and position you’re applying to, and if possible the contact person you’ll be mailing. The the second biggest mistake you can make is not personalizing that cover letter. (The biggest is not including a cover letter at all.) It’s your chance to explain how you meet the job requirements and will fit in, or better still enhance, the department. It’s also the place to explain any irregularities (such as a gap in employment or change in the career path). Don’t just repeat information already in your resume; relate them to the job requirements in a way that suggests you may well be the most qualified candidate.

Unfortunately, it’s still a numbers game. With great cover letters you’ll get many, many more interviews, but it’s likely you’ll still have to send out many, many applications. I’ve always had to remind myself not to stress out. There’s no perfect cover letter (nor perfect resume), so seek a balance between how much you customize and how many resumes you’re sending out. After researching the company and position, I find myself spending a lot more time on the jobs I think I’d really like and going much faster on the others.

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What’s Job Covering Letter.com?

Mar14
2011 Leave a Comment Written by admin

 It’s my new blog where I’ll be collecting tips and information on cover letters for resumes.  I expect it will soon include some examples, and definitely lots of info.

Covering letters, also called cover letters, are almost as important as the resume itself in landing a job interview. I learned this the hard way, and probably missed some great job opportunities. It’s a big mistake not to spend time on your cover letter… lots of time.

The letter should be addressed to the appropriate contact person, and mention the position you’re applying for straight away.

But a cover letter should be a lot more than just a “routing slip” when you mail in a resume. It’s your opportunity to be personal and mention information not really appropriate for a resume. You should customize each and every one for the particular position and company you’re applying to, and highlight how you fit the position and how you can help their company. But in a professional, modest way.

Do some research into the company and position for which you’re applying. Understand the company, the industry it’s in, and especially what the job you’re applying for involves.

I think about it this way. A resume needs to be factual, follow one of only a few formats, and pretty much stick to a standard set of information. Your resume cover letter needs to grab someones attention and predispose them to reading your resume favorably. It’s also the place to explain special circumstances like gaps in employment or making a significant career change. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it gives you the opportunity to discuss how you meet the job requirements (backed up by job experience and other facts in your resume) and that you understand their company and the industry it’s in.

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