The Case for Cover Letters

Many job seekers view cover letters as unnecessary burdens and begrudge processes and companies that require a cover letter submission. More often than not, a job seeker will slap together a formulaic letter to adhere to the application requirements. While it may be true that many hiring managers don’t read cover letters, the fact is that some do.

Hiring managers who do read the letters will find a wealth of information about the level of interest a candidate has in the company by how much customization was done to the letter. In fact, I recommend that more hiring managers take the time to read, or at least scan, cover letters to learn more about prospective candidates. Managers and recruiters will be able to sort out ideal candidates, and find some unexpected gems, in less than 20 seconds per candidate.

Job seekers should embrace cover letters as a way to differentiate themselves from their competition. There are very few rules to the cover letter, yet candidates rarely take full advantage of this flexible medium. Think of the cover letter as an advertisement for the resume: the promoted product is the job seeker and the desired outcome of the ad is that the hiring manager will read the resume with a positive bias. There are several tactics one can apply to create a great cover letter that promotes the job seeker and improves the likelihood that managers will read the resume:

1. Open with a bang

Just like a good product advertisement, the biggest challenge a job seeker has is to get their audience’s attention. Far too many cover letters start out with canned phrases such as ‘I found a posting for this job on TheLadders.com’ or ‘I’m writing you in regards to the job posting.’ Ask yourself this… would you want to read a letter that started with phrases like that? I know I wouldn’t. Job seekers need to put on their creative hats and think of a word or phrase that will ‘hook’ hiring managers, while maintaining professionalism, to make recruiters want to read more.

For inspiration, job seekers should go onto the company’s website and find key phrases, current events and corporate culture descriptions and draw as many parallels to him/herself and the company as possible. For example, a salesman might write “I guarantee I am worth your time, so please read on,” a finance manager who loves Ayn Rand might write “who is John Galt?” or an auditor applying for a job in Boston might write “I’m the best bean counter in bean town.” The risk to this approach is that the phrase sounds cheesy as to be unprofessional. Everyone will have a different opinion on what is appropriate, so job seekers should use their own intuition, or ‘gut,’ to judge the appropriateness. Attention-grabbing phrases say a lot about a job seeker’s character and will give a company a good idea of a candidate’s fit with the corporate culture.

1. Prove relevancy

Once a candidate has the attention of the hiring manager, the next task is to prove relevancy and qualification for the job at hand. Job seekers should read the job description with care at least three times to become truly familiar with what the company is looking for in a candidate. Pick out highlighted skills and knowledge areas and address those specifically in the cover letter. For example, if the company wants a PR manager with knowledge of social media, the applying candidate should be sure to include his or her social profiles, such as LinkedIN, Twitter and Skype, in the contact information area. Or, a consultant with a generalized background might want to use the cover letter to talk about his or her experience in a specific industry when applying to a specialized consulting firm or industry position.

Another method for establishing relevancy is to open with a personal branding statement or value proposition that clearly explains what makes the candidate the best person for the job. The phrase must be differentiating and unique to have maximum effectiveness. Try to align points of difference with the job description to optimize similarities between the talent supplied and what the job demands. For example, a general manager applying to a middle market company might write “The value that I offer to XYZ Corporation is that I have a proven capability to set a clear vision for my department and keep operations on track, even during tumultuous times such as M&A transactions and pending workforce reductions.”

1. Turn negatives into positives

Many job seekers have situations they wish they could explain in their resume, but can’t.  The cover letter is the perfect medium to do this because of its open form. It is beneficial to address items such as gaps in employment or a recent rapid departure from a company in a cover letter because hiring managers will have questions about these situations. The fact is, the sooner a candidate can defend themselves and explain perceived negatives, the less time the hiring manager has to build a negative bias against the job seeker. One common cause of gap in employment is motherhood. Women returning to the workforce should emphasize how they have continued to utilize their skills during the employment gap by either drawing parallels between their responsibilities at home and the desired job, by highlighting classes or online courses they have taken to remain current, or by explaining how they have kept up with their professional network and perhaps did some consulting for clients while out of the office. Larger challenges, such as unemployment gaps lasting several years with no valid explanation, should be addressed before applying to jobs by taking unpaid internships to prove skills and sincerity.

Cover letters can be a benefit to both job seekers and hiring managers and worth the time to write or read accordingly. Instead of being a burden, use the cover letter to differentiate yourself or to screen for high potential candidates beyond the resume.

1. Paul Francis, CRS says:

   March 29, 2009 at 11:57 am

   Cover letters can certainly be much more interesting to read then a Resume. Cover letters also provide an opportunity to show Communication skills and personality.