Winning over Your Employer: A Fresh Approach

From: Karen Silins

How you present yourself in person is very important, but how you present yourself on paper, in the body of your cover letter, is equally, if not more, important.

Do you know what happens to your prized résumé and cover letter after you slave over them at your computer, send them via e-mail, post them to a job board or corporate career site, or print them out on fancy paper, stamping the envelope and dropping them in the mail with your fingers crossed?

Brace yourself: that valuable document is treated pretty unceremoniously. When an employer receives your résumé and cover letter, he adds them to the towering pile of other applications that have come in, or he keeps them in a computer database. There they sit until the database retrieves them or until the boss pours himself a cup of coffee, takes a deep breath, and starts plowing through the pile.

When he reads a résumé you sent by U.S. mail, he starts by tearing open the envelope, removing the documents, and glancing at them. Typically this process takes 10 to 20 seconds. He won't actually read the résumé at this point; he just wants to have a look at it to see what kind of shape it's in and how it's laid out. If it looks messy or is unprofessional in any way, he'll probably just toss it to one side and move on to the next letter.

If the résumé looks as if it was written by someone who is serious about the job, he'll glance at the cover letter, then the résumé, and probably keep it for the second round of reviews. So, the résumé has to be sharp, and the cover letter must be superb, from the first word to the signature.

Let's say that again because it bears repeating: most employers read your cover letter before they read your résumé. If the cover letter is poorly written (or you didn't even submit one), they'll never get to your résumé!

You have to ask yourself over and over, "How does this relate to my potential employer?" If you want to win him over, he needs a reason to come to your side. What is that reason? You have what he wants.

Here are a few tips for convincing the employer he must have you. If you have something in common with the employer, mention it. For example, if you have a mutual acquaintance, naming that person will earn you a few extra points. If you know someone who works for the company, you could "drop" his name. If you don't have something in common, don't worry. There are many other ways for you to establish a bond between you.

• Mention your successes in areas important to the company.

• Mention your education (college/university – not high school) and possibly the school you attended.

• Refer to a recent positive newspaper article or TV report about the company.

• Mention the company's mission statement or philosophy and how it relates to your work ethic or values.

• Cite some public information about the company, including future expansion or new product lines.

The opportunities are endless.

You must set yourself apart from the masses who submit dry, generic letters about themselves. Think about it for a second – put yourself in the shoes of the employer. How refreshing would it be to read a cover letter from someone who had something in common with you, as opposed to someone who didn't take the time to accentuate the similarities?

Getting through just one of these dry documents can be a challenge. Reading fifty or sixty in a row could put you to sleep. We are human, after all – we like to read narratives and full sentences, not computer-like fragments.

An effective cover letter, on the other hand, captures the employer's interest. It's written in complete sentences. It speaks to the employer as a human being. It reflects the personality of the person who wrote it.

Karen Silins has been a professional resume and cover letter writer for 16 years and is the acting president and executive board member of the Association of Online Resume & Career Professionals

For more information about writing a cover letter that will grab the employer’s attention, please visit: http://www.breakthrough-cover-letters.com/