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I know
exactly what your cover letter says, yet I can
assure you I'm not a mind reader. Let me guess.
It's a single-spaced, full page, four paragraph
letter, organized as follows.
Paragraph 1: How I heard about the job
Paragraph 2: Why I want the job
Paragraph 3: My qualifications for the job
Paragraph 4: How I'll follow up on the job
In
addition, you've taken what's already on your resume
and simply rewritten it in paragraph form.
How do I
know this? Because virtually every single college
student writes the exact same cover letter!
Recruiting Directors are flooded with resumes and
spend about fifteen seconds looking at each one
individually. Now try tacking on a full page,
extremely boring document that basically says what's
already on the resume. How many cover letters do
you think actually get read?
That
being said, you still need to create one. It shows
that you're interested in the job and are willing to
take the time and effort to write something.
But
here's the trick: make that letter different. Think
about your cover letter as a teaser ad for your
resume. It doesn't have to tell your entire life
story, but it does need to attract interest in your
resume. Keep it short; make some sentences just a
few words, and make some paragraphs one sentence.
Write it very personally, and be conversational.
You need
to catch their attention in the first sentence or
two so they actually read on and give your resume
extra review time. But beware, there's a fine line
between clever and stupid!
Here's a
sample letter. You'll quickly see the difference
between this one and the typical cover letter.
Dear
Ms. Marhula,
Most
people start studying advertising in college, but I
got my start when I was 10 years old.
It
all began in Mrs. Kurtzweil's 4th grade classroom,
when my teacher explained to us how the entertaining
commercials we watched on Saturday morning
television were actually designed to make us try
Lucky Charms or a Happy Meal. Ever since, I've been
fascinated by the power of advertising to affect
attitudes and behavior.
Whenever and wherever possible, I've sought out
opportunities to learn more about the business.
While at Wesleyan University, I had the chance to
work on nationally recognized advertising projects
for Yahoo! and Postal Vault as part of the AAF's
National Student Advertising Competition. I can't
tell you how exciting it was to see my ideas and my
work come to life in front of judges and company
executives. I'm now ready to parlay my experience
into a full time position at FCB.
I'd
love the opportunity to talk in more detail about my
passion for advertising and to share some of my
creative work with you. I look forward to speaking
with you soon.
Regards,
Darin Szabo
This
certainly isn't the perfect cover letter for
everyone (don't just copy it!), but it does give you
a sense of what to do.
Often,
it's helpful to think about how you got interested
in the field, why you like the particular job or
company, or even some special connections or skills
you have that the reader would find interesting.
Keep it short and personal, and let some of your
personality shine through.
Good
luck!
Brad
Karsh is President of JobBound (www.jobbound.com),
a company dedicated to helping job seekers with
resume writing, interviewing, and landing that dream
job. Author of Confessions of a Recruiting
Director: The Insider's Guide to Landing Your Fist
Job (Prentice Hall Press), Brad is
considered the nation's leading expert on the job
search. He's been featured on CNN's Paula
Zahn Now, CNN Headline News, and
CNBC and quoted in The Wall Street
Journal, The Washington Post, Fortune, and
many others.
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