If you’re looking for a job, your search could be hindered by neglecting one of the most important elements in the exercise. Your cover letter, along with other types of job search letters, may be more important to landing a job interview and getting a job offer than your CV. Neglect your letters and you may effectively sabotage your job search.
The unique quality of a candidate’s cover letter is what often catches the attention of employers, resulting in a face-to-face interview.
Many CVs have been downloaded as standard templates from websites, contain historical information about experience and education, and pretty much look the same.
Cover letters are different. Unlike CVs, they are perfect communication mediums for expressing numerous professional and personal qualities — professional writing skills, personality, enthusiasm, motivation and direction. If you want to maximize the impact of your CV, make sure you write a powerful action-oriented letter.
Few people are compelling writers who enjoy expressing themselves in the written word. For many job seekers, the written parts of the job search are laborious. Some have no sense of what constitutes quality written communication. They send pro forma, boring letters and compose poor email messages filled with spelling, punctuation, grammatical and logical errors. They kill their chances of getting an interview by communicating the wrong messages. They appear illiterate, careless, and unprofessional, leaving the employer to imagine that they will need constant supervision, and would horrify any customers they come into contact with.
The quality of your written communication says a lot about how the recipient perceives you. To the employers you encounter during your job search, you essentially are what you write.
Employers initially screen you “ in” or “out” of consideration based, in part, upon examples of your writing. Writing skills serve as a major indicator for eliminating candidates from consideration. Make a writing error and you may end your candidacy. Employers will spot and act on your mistakes.
A CV is basically an advertisement for a job interview. It’s your calling card for opening the doors of employers who should be sufficiently motivated to call you for an interview.
But how did you introduce the CV to the employer? Did you send it by itself on the assumption that the employer will know what to do with it? Did you include a handwritten note saying “Here’s my CV, hope to hear from you?” Or did you include a thoughtful, well-written, targeted letter introducing your CV?
Your letter must be well focused so that it actually strengthens the content of your CV, and motivates the reader to take action. Like a good advertisement, it must grab the attention, deliver a powerful message, and result in action. In fact, the principles of good letter writing are very similar to the four main principles developed for writing effective advertisements.
Command the readers’ attention, capture and sustain the reader’s attention by presenting irresistible benefits of your product or service, expand credibility and desire for the product or service by presenting additional evidence that supports the value of the product or service, and stimulate action for purchasing the product or service.
Regardless of how well you present materials to others, it’s safe to assume that many people are simply too busy to read and their attention spans are short. They may read the first paragraph or page, skim or scan most remaining pages, and perhaps read the final page or paragraph.
Materials presented in executive summaries, synopses, condensed versions - will get the most attention. So, knowing that people need motivating to read, you should develop letters that motivate your audience to read both your letter and accompanying CV. You must give them reasons for wanting to invest their time reading your letter and CV. And show that you have something of extraordinary value — your skills, experience, and a pattern of accomplishments — that will benefit their business.
This is your challenge. To write powerful letters that motivate the recipient to read both your letter and CV, and win an invitation to a job interview.
Based in Dubai, David Thatcher, ([email protected]) is Managing Director of career management firm Bernard Haldane Associates in the Middle East.
