Surviving the Workday

And now we move on to the second in a series of questions about required and requested materials to cover letters.

A cover letter (as a hard copy or an email) generally is written in standard business letter format with these sorts of paragraphs:

1. Date (this can be left off in an email)

2. Your contact information (address, email, phone)

3. Contact person and contact information for the company (Yes, you should try your best to find the specific contact person even if it’s not listed in the job advertisement—try the website)

4. A greeting to a specific person (Dear Mr. Dellafave:)

5. A sentence that states what job you are applying for and how you found it (e.g., I am applying for your job as head bean counter advertised in the Los Angeles Times on 4/13/09)

6. A paragraph that summarizes your qualifications in terms of the job description. (e.g., I am an experienced bean counter. Briefly my skills include: bullet point with job skill; bullet point with job skill; bullet point with job skill; and bullet point with job skill.) This is the biggest paragraph and the most important one. This should clearly show how you have the skills they need.

7. A closing that suggests how much you would like to meet with this person

This should all fit on one page or in a short email. 

Some folks say they don’t read cover letters, and they might not. However, Ms. Theologian has had much more luck with cover letters that mimic the language in the job advertisement in the list of bulleted skills thereby passing through Human Resources quickly and landing her resume on the desk of someone who might hire her. She has also had luck by customizing the summary paragraph of her resume to include items from this list of bulleted skills.

Any other thoughts on cover letters, readers?

-Ms. Theologian

 P.S. To write to Ms. Theologian, send an email to ms dot theologian at gmail dot com.