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The Structure and Psychology of A Successful Cover Letter
Posted on MAY 08, 2008 07:06 P.M.
Every resume should be sent with a cover letter. Ignoring this rule is one reason why you won’t hear back from an employer. Applying on the internet doesn’t make skipping the cover letter acceptable. Although there are those who wouldn’t dream of disregarding this necessity, letters sent by the vast majority of this group aren’t very effective either. The letter remains the same; only the company name information changes.
Generic cover letters are an easy but dangerous strategy virtually guaranteed to bring you silence, because they focus on you. A cover letter isn’t about what you want; it’s about what they want. Generic cover letters mention everything, and hope one of the items catches the hiring authority’s interest. The result is not only unimpressive, but it’s tantamount to shooting arrows into a dark closet.
Think of it this way. You want to buy a digital camera, and what’s important to you is great macro capability and bright, clear outside shots. But when you get to the store, the salesman talks about the memory card and how clear the indoor pictures are. Do you care? No. Because you’re the buyer, you want to know about what’s important to you, not what he thinks is important.
Sending a generic cover letter praising aspects of you that don’t mirror what the company is looking for is no different than listening to a salesman yammering on about what you view as unimportant aspects of the product you came to buy. It doesn’t matter how great those aspects are; they’re not what you’re looking for.
By contrast, an effective cover letter acknowledges what the company wants, ties that to the sender’s skills and accomplishments, and brings the equation to a distinct conclusion about how and why the company will benefit if they hire you.
That kind of letter shows time, thought, and serious interest in both the position and the company. Unlike a generic cover letter, it seriously attempts to answer the question, “Why should I hire this person?” The first rule of sales is that the seller needs to address the buyer’s questions, and the primary question a buyer, any buyer of any product, always has is, “What’s in it for me?”
Hiring authorities don’t want to think. They don’t want to go on fact finding missions to answer esoteric questions. They want to be sold. They want cover letters and resumes that say: You want this; I’ve done that and I did it successfully, so I can do it successfully for you too! And they’d like to see it said with enthusiasm. Use that formula with your own specifics, and you’re already further ahead than your competition.
Because you're not the only one responding to the ad. And if you want to distinguish yourself from the others, you need to stand out from the pack.
The salutation is equally important. If you have any information about the company - name, address, or phone - you can obtain the missing pieces with a phone call. When you address your letter to Dear HR Professional or use any other generic salutation, you’re no different than everyone else responding. And if you’ve added that generic salutation to a generic letter, you’ve done the minimum. Like everyone else. What makes you stand out?
Instead find out to whom the position reports and send that person your resume and letter. They’re the decision maker; human resources just screens. Better still, snail mail it. While everyone else is emailing HR with a generic cover letter, your resume will arrive in an envelope on the desk of the hiring authority and with his name on it. Now you’ve differentiated yourself from the rest of the group. Indicate when you’ll follow up. Show initiative and interest.
You're the product and you want them to buy. If you don’t have an interview, they haven’t “bought,” Probably because you had a poor marketing strategy. |
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发表于 2008-6-26 22:52
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