Your
application, or cover, letter is one of your most important job-search
documents. An effective letter can get you an interview response,
but a poorly written application letter usually spells continued unemployment.
Because it is your prospective employer’s first impression of you, it should
be as favorable and represent as accurate a picture of you as possible.
It should make you stand out as unique so the employer will remember your
letter among the dozens—or possibly hundred—which are received in application
for the given position.
COVER
LETTER = SALES LETTERS
|
Application letters are, in every sense, sales letters. You attempt
to sell yourself (the product) to a prospective employer (the buyer), by
highlighting the ways in which your education, experience, and attitudes
can fulfill company needs.
Your application letter should:
1. State what
you can do for your prospective employer
2. State why
you feel you are qualified for a specific job
3. Interpret
important points in the résumé as they relate to job requirements
4. Focus on
what you can contribute to employer rather than vice versa
5. Ask specifically
for an interview
In just a few paragraphs—three to five—you must sell yourself to your reader
to the degree that s/he wants to know more about you and, therefore, schedules
an interview. The difference can be a matter of how you handle a
few key points. The following are some tips to help you develop the
perfect application letter. |
PRE-WRITING
ANALYSIS NEEDED
Letters that personnel/human resources managers receive from job applicants
are frequently characterized by incomplete content and improper tone.
Such letters lead prospective employers to form negative conclusions regarding
applicants.
Therefore, BEFORE you begin
to write your application letter, you should:
- Analyze personal
characteristics
- Evaluate general
knowledge and abilities
- Register specific
skills and competencies
- Examine the job
to discover its component parts
- Match your skills
and attitudes to job requirements
-
[Such
matching requires creativity, especially when applying for a position for
which you are not specifically trained. The more skills you
can transfer to the job, however, the better your chances for an interview
!!]
-
IN
THE CREATION PROCESS
Individualize
Your Letter
Give your readers some insight into you as an individual. Draft
your letter to show how your individual qualities can contribute to the
organization in question. While you are attempting to set yourself
apart from the crowd, you need to be aware of the importance of using standard
business letter conventions when developing your cover letter. Do
not guess at where to put the inside address or how to fashion a correct
closing. Seek out a Business Writing class, a cover-letter samplebook,
or handouts from the A&S Careers Program to guarantee the correctness
of the form. Prospective employers DO pay attention to these things!
Address
Your Letter to a Specific Person
The person you write to should be the individual doing the hiring for the
position you are seeking. Look for this person’s name in company
publications that you receive directly from the company, that you find
at the A&S Careers Program, the Center for Career Management, the Reference
Desk in Bierce Library or public library, or that you locate online
at the company’s website. If the name is unavailable in these
places, phone the organization to ask for the person’s name or at least
the name of the personnel/human relations manager. Include title
(Dr., Ms., Mr.) and position (Director, Manager, etc.)
Catch
Your Reader’s Attention
Your introduction should get your reader’s attention, stimulate interest,
and be appropriate to the job you are seeking: a reference to an advertisement
which prompted your application or a reference to the company's product
showing your knowledge of the company are possible beginnings.
State
the Desired Position Early
Make your goal clear:
- If you are answering
an advertisement, name the position stated in the ad and identify the source,
as in “ . . . your advertisement for a copywriter, which appeared in the
Akron
Beacon Journal, April 28, 2004, . . . .”
- If you are prospecting
for a job, try to identify the job title used by the organization.
- If a specific position
title is not available or if you wish to apply for a line of work which
may come under several titles, you may want to adapt the professional objective
stated in your résumé.
Additionally,
in your first paragraph
You will want to preview the rest of your letter. This tells your
reader what to look for and lets him/her know immediately how your qualifications
fit the requirements of the job.
CONSTRUCTING
YOUR QUALIFICATIONS TO MEET THE ORGANIZATION'S NEEDS
Because you have between just three and five paragraphs, you cannot afford
to repeat basic information listed on your résumé.
You need to pinpoint specific listed information, then emphasize and expand
on its key points, considering carefully every word and idea you include.
Therefore, these middle paragraphs should be tailored to the prospective
employer’s needs and to the role you would perform in the position you
seek, if hired.
Organize the middle paragraphs in terms of the qualifications that best
suit you for the job and the organization. That is, if your on-the-job
experience is your strongest qualification, discuss it in detail and show
how you can apply it to the needs of the company. Or, if your college
or community extracurricular activities are relevant, use them. For
example, if you were President of the Literary Guild and are applying for
a position in publishing, elaborate on the valuable experience you gained
and how you can put it to work for the company.
If special course work projects you have handled apply directly to the
job you are seeking, explain them in detail. Be specific. Use
numbers, names of equipment you have used, or features of the project that
may apply to the job you want.
For academic input, select and specify distinctive accomplishments rather
than merely listing courses you have had. Demonstrate what these
accomplishments will enable you to do for the prospective company.
For personal qualities, emphasize those which apply to professional
roles.
[Remember, most hobbies are
irrelevant; supporting yourself in college is not!]
One strong qualification, described so that the reader can picture you
actively involved on the job, can be enough. You can then refer your
reader to your résumé for a summary of your other qualifications.
If you have two or three areas which you believe are strong, you can develop
additional paragraphs. Make your letter strong enough to convince
readers that your distinctive background qualifies you for the job—but
not so long that length will turn readers off.
Refer
to Your Résumé
Be sure to refer to your enclosed résumé at the most appropriate
point in your letter. This may be in the discussion of your qualifications
or in your closing paragraph.
Conclude
With a Clear, Courteous Request For an Interview
The
closing paragraph has primarily one
function—to ask for
an interview. So you must
confidently present a procedure for setting up a mutually acceptable interview
time. The date and place for the interview should be convenient for
you as well as for the interviewer.
It may be quite beneficial to suggest a range of dates and places convenient
to you, especially if you travel at your own expense or have a restricted
schedule. Be specific on how your reader should get in touch with
you.
Mention that you can be reached “at the above address” or “by email at
. . . .” If you ask for a phone call, give your phone number (including
area code) and days of the week and times you can be reached if you do
not have an answering machine available at all times to pick up messages.
When relying on an answering machine, always use a professional tone in
your message.
POSSIBLE
COVER LETTER OPENINGS
|
These can be adapted to your needs whether you write a ”prospecting” (unsolicited)
letter to firms that have not announced an opening or a “solicited” letter
about a publicized opening.
SUMMARY:
This
is a summary of your two or three outstanding qualifications. Like
the first paragraph of a newspaper article, the summary gives, in
capsule form, the important points you will expand in the message, such
as “My classes/past work experiences/volunteer experience has prepared
me for. . . .” Then you would use the next one or two paragraphs
to talk more fully about the things just mentioned.
NAME:
If someone such as "Mr. Jones, Vice President of Marketing" has suggested
you apply to particular firm, you can use that person’s name (unless s/he
has asked you to keep it confidential). The ultimate value of such
beginnings depends almost entirely on the named used; but the fact that
a friend, business associate, or customer is mentioned invariably wins
consideration.
QUESTION:
This type of opening has the desirable effect of forcing the applicant
to plunge into his/her most salable qualities without slowing down the
message by introduction. An opening of "Does your company need a
motivated self-starter with substantial training in Microsoft applications"
necessitates that applicants using the question beginning be absolutely
certain that their qualifications DO answer the question that they raise!
NEWS
ITEM: This form incidentally mentions
some point of knowledge about the company. The fact that you can
state "Your recent 8% increase in local market share" implies a degree
of interest greater than that demonstrated by applicants who canvass the
general market.
OTHER:
You should, of course, design your own opening—the
most appropriate for you and for the particular company to which you are
writing. You can state an interest, previous experience with the
same organization, a belief, or your present situation. |
[Don't forget the importance
of business writing conventions. Correctly formulated
sample cover letters and
complete writing guides available in Olin Hall 325]
|
