Your Job Search Marketing Toolkit - Cover Letters - CareerAlley

Your Job Search Marketing Toolkit - Cover Letters - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Cover letters are a bit of a lost art and, Im sure youre wondering why you need one. So as a start . . . Why You Need a Cover Letter: Lets you provide your personal response to the specifics of the job opportunity and why you are a good fit. Offers the opportunity to give a short list of your strengths (specific to the opportunity). The hiring manager will know you took the time to read the job description and compare it to your experience and abilities. Lets you tell the hiring manager why they should hire you. Allows you to offer up the next steps (a call, an interview, etc.). Sets you apart from the rest. While not as important as your resume, your cover letter is typically the first thing a recruiter or company HR representative sees. While it should provide the items listed above, if it is poorly written it is unlikely that the hiring manager will even look at your resume (so it is important to get this right). Cover letters generally date back to the days of snail mail but cover letters have made the transition to the Internet as the content of your email sent when forwarding your resume (or possibly an additional document uploaded to a company career site.. The primary purpose of a cover letter is to introduce yourself and to let the reader know why and how you are qualified for a specific position or why your skill set would be of interest. You will (and should) have several versions of your cover letter. Typically, cover letters fall into several categories (examples follow later in the post): Specific This type of cover letter is generally used to respond to an advertisement, an individual or a company that interests you. General This type of cover letter is typically used to introduce yourself to recruiters, 3rd party contacts (introduced through others) or individuals at companies where you are not applying for a specific job but have interest in the company. Cover Letter Sections: Introductory Paragraph: Start with the name of the hiring manager (if you can get it) Otherwise a Dear Sir or Madam will do Opening Section of Cover Letter: Let the hiring manager know why you are applying for the job Include a high level description of your related experience Body of Letter: Examples of achievements (consistent with job opportunity) Show that youve researched the company and position Closing Paragraph: Summarize why you are a great fit for the role Indicate that you will follow-up in the next two weeks But you also wont stop at two cover letters. Depending on your background and interests, you may have several versions of the Specific and General cover letters to address a specific functional role. But enough from me, lets see what resources and examples are out there on the Web. Two Types of Cover Letters Specific and General Examples This link provides examples of the two basic types of cover letters. This is worth a quick look, but take a look at some of the remaining links below before running off and writing your cover letters. Cover Letter Examples This article is provided by Resume-Resource.com and gives another view of what a cover letter is and how to use it. There are examples following the article and they are very specific based on industry or functional role. The article does mention that cover letters are situation specific and, while you will have several versions, once you have your final cover letters you should only have to tweak them prior to sending with your resume. Sample Cover Letters Another good resource for cover letters, this site provides a brief overview followed by a fairly long list of cover letter examples based on functional jobs. Once you click on a specific job function, the linked page includes several cover letter examples. At the bottom of the main page there are additional links for Tips and How to. How to Write a Cover Letter This article, provided by wikiHow.com, provides guidance related to the specific sections of the cover letter and how to write them (formatting, the body, etc.). The article gives additional links through out and reviews cover letters specifics. Cover Letter Samples for Resumes No how to link would be complete if there was not at least one reference to advice from About.com. This is an in-depth article and additional links are provided at the top of the article. There are also a wealth of links at the bottom of the page. We are always eager to hear from our readers. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions regarding CareerAlley content. Good luck in your search,Joey Google+ Job Search job title, keywords, company, location jobs by