|
Cover letters are a great opportunity for to differentiate from the masses when responding to a job. If the opportunity is a “gold” target a great cover letter is all the more important. In a typical response to a job opening in a tight market, as most are experiencing now, a résumé must expressly address the employers’ value creating needs. The cover letter must, then, go a step further and proclaim, “I know you and your company.”
How does one do that? The following suggestions are offeredand they apply to all jobsto create a winning cover letter for a “gold” target; “silver” and “bronze” targets can be addressed commensurately:
1. Find out who the hiring manager is. Use your network, commonly available databases, or some research to find out the name and its correct spelling.
2. Research why the position is open. Also research what business cycle the company is in their industry and any particular challenges it is facing. For example, customer defections, product recalls, slow to market, quality problems, product costs, etc.
3. Talk to the company’s customers, suppliers, and alliances to learn more about how it does business and what perceptions those who touch the company have about it.
4. Learn how to read company financials and read the CEO’s annual/quarterly statement to glean what challenges the company is facing. Also learn how to interpret SEC filings, 10-K and 10-Q, which are available for a publicly traded company from its website. Ask your stockbroker for investor insights.
5. Use this research to draft a letter with a Point-of-View (POV) that clearly shows how, by hiring you for the open position, you will be a change agent and make the company’s pain go away.
6. Spend time polishing this draft and reduce your letter to about a ¾ page of cogent message. Show how you intend to create change that will improve things.
7. Send the letter, along with the résumé, in a differentiated way, as FedEx, in addition to Website submittal.
8. Follow-up with the person to whom you sent the original response with diligence.
9. If all this sounds like much trouble, it is. And, that is the point. Very few go through this effort to send a cover letter. Those who do get attention.
10. Yes, it is time consuming! But, then again, how many jobs do you need?
© 2004 Dilip G. Saraf: A career counselor at Career Transitions Unlimited, in the Silicon Valley, CA, Dilip has authored three books on career transitions based on research helping reinvent nearly 1600 clients since early 2001. A graduate of IIT-Bombay and Stanford, starting as an engineer, Dilip has changed three careers. For more information visit: www.7keys.org
Recommended Resources:
Resume Distribution: EmailRecruiters.com
Resume Posting: JobBoardGenie.com
|
