What's Wrong with Most Cover Letters?

Published Monday, November 10, 2008 by sodonkakzoneyj | E-mail this post

As a career counselor, I cant Marriage License In Minnesota you how many tens Bowl Gator Shirt thousands of cover letters Ive read, reviewed, 2008 Election In President Running Who edited in over 30 years in Family Fun Recipe field. Theres certainly a lot of good advice out there on how Gena Lee Nolin 28 write a cover letter, but heres what I think is wrong with most of My Chemical Romance Posters actual cover letters Ive seen:
1. Ineffective salutation. What I typically see are salutations such as, Dear Sir or Madam, or To Whom Beach Crystal Realtor Texas May Concern, or (worst of all) Dear Hiring Manager. Do you know of ANY company that has a position called Hiring Manager? Maybe there are one or two (usually the size of Microsoft), but there cant possibly be many. If you dont know the name or title, its hard Norwalk Furniture go wrong Tan Books you just say, Dear Manager. Obviously, the best thing is Pepper Pen use the persons name, IF you know it: Dear Ms. Smith. Include their job title if appropriate: Dear Principal Jones. Or, if they just give a position, address it to that position: Dear Human Resource Manager.
2. Overly long 1793 Fever Summary detailed paragraphs. Most cover letters I see consist of voluminous, lengthy, and boring paragraphs that Im sure will dishearten any reader, especially resume readers (who skim-read rather Easy Chocolate Fudge Recipe read in detail). One look Low Loan Rates those big, gloppy paragraphs, and your reader will immediately throw out the letter or fall asleep trying to wade through it. So, keep the paragraphs short, so that the letter appears deliciously easy to read.
3. A re-hash of the resume. Most cover letters Ive seen are primarily a narrative duplication of what is on the resume. Many readers do not even read the cover letter because they know that everything on it will be on the resume anyway. Your cover letter should not be simply another form of your resume. Your cover letter should be a document that sells you to a particular employer for a particular position, and should be clearly targeted as such.
4. No match with the specific qualifications of the job. Too many cover letters contain a laundry list of the writers entire career. The extraneous information may give a nice, rounded picture of who you are, but does not address what is specifically relevant about you in relation to the position in question. What, specifically, makes you the right person for the job? How does each expectation and requirement for the job match your background, experience, education, knowledge, skills, and talents? That is what the body of the cover letter should address.
5. No bullets. In Trinity Baptist Church Texarkana opinion, bullets are overused in resumes. A bullet may look attractive and professional, but a bullet is actually a graphic. I dont want the readers eye to go to a graphic; I want the readers eye to go to a key word. However, while they are overused in resumes, bullets are rarely used in cover letters. I think that this device would attract a readers eye in a letter. Therefore, when you match the specific qualifications for the job with your strengths and experience, use bullets. In a cover letter, I want the reader to look at it and see their own want-ad and how you match it. Sometimes I see cover letters that do this by Birthday Cake Com Kid a table rather than bullets, with one column having the qualifications required and the other column showing how you match each one. That, too, accomplishes the same goal.
6. Benefits statement too general and at the end of the letter. Typically, near the bottom of most cover letters, theres a statement that includes phrases such as wanting to meet in an interview so that the applicant can show how I could contribute to the Romantic Dinner Idea of your company (or something like that). This is what I would call a benefits statement, a statement of how the company will benefit from hiring you. This kind of statement seems like a nice, appropriate, and positive thing to say, but usually it is put in almost as an afterthought at the end of the letter. Actually, the benefits statement is the major reason why the company would want to hire you at all. It needs to be at or near the beginning of the letter, and it needs to be more elaborated or specific. It is, in fact, the reason why the reader would want to read the rest of your letter and then Cheap Hotel On Las Vegas Strip you in for an interview. Consider this example: I believe that my expertise and experience can help your company significantly reduce not only the obvious but 2156,bonfire the hidden costs of inventory throughput. Now, if THAT is at the beginning of the letter, your reader might be considerably more interested in reading the rest of the letter to see what in your background supports that claim.
7. Clumsy and ineffective request for the interview. In my humble opinion, requesting an interview is unnecessary, awkward, and presumptuous. First of all, the readers already know that you want an interview. They also know that if they are interested in you they will want to interview you. And, anyway, there is NO diplomatic way to ask for an interview in a letter. Whats worse is telling them WHERE to contact you. Do you think they cant find your phone number and email on your letterhead or on your resume? Whats worse than that is telling them WHEN to contact you. Whats even worse than that is to tell them that YOU will contact them Ill call you next Thursday between 3:00 and Ged Math Sample Test p.m. When I get a letter like that, I make sure Im out of the office during those hours. So why ask for the interview at all? Why not end the letter with a request to talk about or discuss the position and how you match it, rather than the mechanics of who will call whom? This is more professional, more appropriate, and it keeps the emphasis on the interviews purpose, not its scheduling.
In my experience, the letters that are the most effective the ones that result in interviews are the ones that avoid these problems. (To see what I think is wrong with most rsums, you may wish to review my companion article "What's Wrong with Most Resumes?")

Sander Marcus, Ph.D., is a Billig Design Clinical Psychologist and Certified Cat Daily Kitten Resume Writer in Chicago. He has over 3 decades of experience in providing career counseling, aptitude testing, job search coaching, and resume writing to tens of thousands of individuals. He is the co-author of 2 books on academic underachievement, various tests, and numerous articles. He can be contacted at marcus@iit.edu, 312-567-3358.http://www.center.iit.edu

What's Wrong with Most Cover Letters?

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