7 Deadly Cover Writing Sins
Don't start off your job search with one (or more) strikes
against you by committing any of these common cover letter
blunders. Each is easy to avoid, but they can sink your
chances of an interview if you include them in your letter. 1. Sending your letter to the wrong person, location, or
department. Do you really want your letter to land you a job at the
company you're sending it to? Then take the time to verify
that you have the proper name, title and address for the
hiring manager or other decision maker who should receive
it. Unless you're absolutely sure you already have the most up-
to-date contact information, take a few minutes to call and
ask. Otherwise you may as well not bother sending your
letter - it most likely won't reach the intended recipient.
And if it does, he or she won't be impressed that you didn't
bother to take this simple step. 2. Irritating your potential employer with a pushy, arrogant
or conceited tone to your letter. Are you truly God's gift to humanity? If not, chances are
you ought to come across with a bit of humility, not
braggadocio. Save the "I am too good for you not to hire me"
stuff for when you're bragging to your friends about the
great job you just landed. (Even they probably won't be
impressed - and they already like you!) Instead, let your
accomplishments and skills speak for themselves. 3. Typos, misspellings, punctuation or grammatical errors. There's no excuse for leaving any of these mistakes in a
cover letter (or a resume for that matter). If such matters
truly aren't your strong suite, ask a friend to look your
letter over for you. Blatant errors like these are just one
more reason for a hiring manager to shunt your resume and
cover letter aside, never to be seen again. Why? Because
they'll think you are too lazy, too uncaring or too
unskilled to be a good fit at their company. 4. Writing rambling, unfocused sentences and paragraphs. Few hiring managers want to think they're reading a newly
discovered missing page from James Joyce's Ulysses.
Especially when all they really want to understand is why
they should read the enclosed resume. Tightly written
sentences and three or four short paragraphs that
communicate the answer to that question will help ensure
your resume gets read, not tossed. 5. Writing long letters, even if well focused and well
written. Here's a good rule to live by: Don't go over one page. It's
a cover letter, not your autobiography. Capture your
reader's attention quickly and impress him or her with your
well written main points. Then let your resume do the rest
of the talking. Until the interview of course. 6. Writing a letter that is all about you, and not about
what you can do for your prospective employer. Do you listen to WIFM? Sure you do. That's What's In it For
Me, the little radio station in our heads that everyone
listens to, including the person who receives your letter.
Your potential employer wants to know what you can do for
him or her, not the other way around. Make sure your letter
highlights why you will be able to help their company sell
more widgets, design better satellites or otherwise make its
future brighter. 7. Using odd layouts, too many fonts, colors and other
attention getting devices. With rare exception, attention getters like overly busy
layouts, exotic multi-color designs and odd sized paper have
no place in a cover letter or resume. Save it for the
decorations at the next office party. Follow these common sense suggestions and you'll write a
cover letter that is bound to make you stand out-and land
you an interview. Copyright 2005 by Vincent Czaplyski, all rights reserved. You may republish this article in its entirety, as long as
you include the complete signature file above without
modification. Copywriter and consultant Vincent Czaplyski is founder of
http://www.impressive-resumes.com, your online source for
professionally written "industrial strength" resumes and
cover letters guaranteed to land you an interview.
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Telecommuting Resumes
Your resume needs to outline your skills and experience, as most know. What some may not know is that employers want to know what you'll bring to the table. They don't want to know what your daily duties were. They want to know what you did for the companies you worked for that makes you extraordinary. Did you save them money, did you make them money, how were you the best at what you did, etc. Yes, employers want to know what your experience is, so duties are good to add. Again, the name of the game is SELL YOURSELF! This does not lose its importance in a resume.
Three Ways to Transition to a New Career
As a Certified Personnel Consultant working for Find Great People International in Greenville, South Carolina, I receive telephone calls from people who are considering a career change. For some, transitioning to a new career is easier than others. Some professionals already possess a foundation of skills to make the transition easier. I'll give an example. An unemployed network engineer and hobby electrician decides to become an electrical contractor for new construction. His transition might be easier because he needs minimal training to enter the new field. But others require training, or additional schooling, which can sometimes be costly.
How to Manage Your Career Like a Business
Look upon yourself as a company with a product or service to sell. Understand your market and devise a dynamic marketing campaign, remembering that companies hire employees who offer them the best results and the best value for money.
Make Your Résumé Sizzle with Success Stories
In today's competitive job market you can't afford a résumé that fizzles. Power up your résumé with solid success stories. Include simple, clear accomplishment statements to get and keep the attention of hiring managers.
Bullseye Interviewing
An interview is much like a blind date. You have sweaty palms, heart palpitations, shaky nerves and a preconceived notion of what could happen. The perfect scenario unfolds in your mind, where you are calm, cool and collected, dressed smartly, totally in control, enthusiastically meeting the other person's gaze and brimming with confidence. However, that idea has begun to unravel, because as of right now, you are LATE, because you got lost, forgot your resume, wore a shirt that is making you sweat and have pulled a muscle breaking in new shoes. As you are being led to the boardroom, you're informed that your possible Superiors will be sitting in. Panic sets in with the realization that this blind date is over before it even begun.
Goal Setting - Road Map To Achieving Your Career Goals
Goal Setting & Research
Job Interviews -- What Your Pre-Interview Research Should Cover
When you go in for a job interview, you're not just a candidate seeking a job. You're a potential problem solver and contributor. To play that role effectively, you must be armed with the right kind of information. That's what pre-interview research is all about.
Sweeping Up Worms
With the opening of a new venture and numerous reporters arriving in an hour, it felt like one of those "chickens with heads off" days. We were close, but not ready. So like locusts to a wheat field, a swarm of people were devouring the last minute details. Then, it rained. With rain, came worms, hundreds washing onto the entrance sidewalk. When I returned to the area, I found a manager, several department supervisors and a director outside with brooms, sweeping up worms. No one asked them to sweep worms. But, with guests arriving shortly and no one else available, they found brooms and started sweeping.
Job! Money! Career!
Feel somehow your life is stuck in MS-OFFICE ? The reality of life for MBAs is Excel or PowerPoint , I heard Google is catching up at campus. Having gone through this myself, (I am still not out of it!), having had the nightmare of freshly minted MBAs reporting to me every year ( 90% of MBAs in their first job believe that their first Boss in Incompetent) and struggling to manage their transition to reality, guess I am now in a position to give some Gyan on assessing your job and career moves. I crystallized these thoughts while discussing these situations with a friend of mine, her issues with the first job where similar to what most of you would be facing. Job!! Money !! or Career !!
Recruiters for MSN or Data Miners?
Is Kenexa recruiting for Microsoft or just mining for data?
Get Your Dream Job!
Anyone who is a jobseeker knows that looking for a new job or career is a job in itself. Once you have completed the laborious task of writing your resume and submitting it to various companies, you now have to pass the screen test to get the job. Interviews are the gateway to landing your ideal job. These five tips will help you get own your way to making that job yours.
Inside Sales Jobs: A Job Worth Seeking?
Are you interested in inside sales as a career? Inside sales can be a very rewarding job if you so choose. What is the difference between inside and outside sales positions? If you think the difference is staying out of the sun, read on and discover if or why an inside sales job could be for you.
4 Internet Job Search Mistakes to Avoid
The Internet is the most powerful employment tool on earth. Hands down.
Do You Have the courage to ignore the experts?
Do you have the courage to ignore the experts? Do you have the willingness and ability to understand and use the power that is within you? Courage is that state of mind when you do something that you know is right for you and your loved ones and the rest of the world thinks you're mad. The ability to make the decision and then make it happen. Courage is not progressing through life with gay abandon, ignoring all the fears. Quite the contrary. Courage is an understanding of fear. An understanding of what to fear and what not to fear. Courage is the ability to challenge what is deemed to be common sense.
Preparation is Key
Interviewing for a new job, or a promotion, can be a stressful situation. However, Preparation is the KEY! When preparing for that all important interview, take time to reflect upon your career experiences; and look for at least five good examples of your accomplishments and challenges--we will call them "bragging points".
Make Your Resume Keyword Rich and Scanner Friendly
If you haven't looked for a job recently, there are new tactics that hiring professionals are using that you should be aware of before updating your resume.
Job Search 101
The whole job search effort is completely exhausting and at times just plain pathetic. It is what it is and if you are unemployed know that the job search experience is one familiar to everyone at some point and time, so don't feel alone. One of the major mistakes many job seeks make is not being able to keep the whole job search experience organized. Remembering who you spoke to on what day, concerning what job can be a true "mission impossible."
Look in the Mirror
Take a moment to step outside yourself. Now, be honest with me here? If you could be your own boss, how would you rate your own performance in the last three months? Would you get a raise, a day off as a treat, or would a big and brawny security guy kindly escort you to the parking lot?
Prepare for Your Performance Review Before You Start the Job
When you start a new job, you probably realize the first three months are critical to your long-term success. Everybody's eye is on the "newbie" as you learn the ropes. "Does anybody want to go to lunch?" is the wrong thing to say in a run-during-lunch or never-leave-the-desk culture.
Passing The Police Test Just Became Easier
You've taken the police officer selection test or law enforcement entrance exam, but just can't seem to get a high enough passing score. You know you would be a good police officer if you could overcome that first hurdle. Well, your not alone. Thousands of police officer applicants fail the entrance exam every year, but that's now a thing of the past. Introducing PoliceQuiz.com.
|