Cover Letter Preparation

I’m An Enigma Wrapped In A Riddle Shrouded In Mystery…

Here’s what you’ll need to start preparing a cover letter:

- The job description
- The hiring manager’s name, address, e-mail, phone number, etc.
- The summary list of your skills and achievements from the Resume Preparation section

Look At All The Colors, Man!

The first step in this whole process is to dissect the job description. You want to look for these things:

• Required skills
• Useful skills
• Terminology used
• Hiring Manager’s name and contact information
• Job Title
• Company Name

Having each of these bits of information will help you move forward with creating a cover letter unique to this job. I would go so far as to highlight each item on that list in a different color, but then again, I do like highlighters.

Required skills are definitely things that should be – in some form or another – on your resume. Unless those skills represent career-specific jargon (i.e., XML, JAVA, CAD, etc…) and cannot be reduced or re-worded, I would avoid using the same exact phrasing that is put on the job description. As I said on Cover Letter Style, you will look like a cookie-cutter and disingenuous – as if you’d just copied and pasted the contents of the job description into your resume and cover letter. Keep a close eye on terminology, though – and where you can use your thesaurus, do it.

Useful skills, on the other hand, are ones that you should absolutely stick as close to the job description verbiage as you can. This can make the difference between a call for an interview or three weeks of silence while you waste your time twiddling your thumbs. Useful skills are not required skills, but indicate that the hiring manager or team leader is looking for a special something in someone to fill a need. If you have that skill, list it on your resume and talk about it in your cover letter.

…And in All of that, and Perhaps More…

It is vitally important to your future that you find out the name of the hiring manager, or the person responsible for reading through the resumes and weeding out the trash from the keepers. You want to stand out.

Usually a job posting will ask you to “Contact Kathy with your resume and salary requirements”. Kathy, in this case, is the primary contact and can generally be assumed to be the hiring manager.

The worst thing you can do is greet your hiring manager with: “To whom it may concern.” Nice, right? Well, if your hiring manager isn’t feeling all that concerned about hiring you, then guess where your resume goes? In the trash. Always get the hiring manager’s name! If you can’t garner the hiring manager’s name anywhere else, call the company. If they don’t have a phone number, you might not want to work there in the first place.

Politely inform the receptionist that you’re trying to apply for a job at the company and wanted to personally address the cover letter to the hiring manager. Usually, the receptionist will have no problem getting you this information, although sometimes this does not work at larger companies. No big deal if it doesn’t work – but if it does, MAKE SURE TO ASK HOW TO SPELL AND PRONOUNCE THE HIRING MANAGER’S NAME! Generally, if this person likes your application, you will receive a phone call from them asking for an interview and you will want to be able to pronounce their name!

Remember, your worst case scenario is to address the cover letter to, “Dear Hiring Manager”.

Monkey Business

Okay. Lets say Sally J. Primate, a monkey – wants to apply for a job. Here’s the job description:

Title: Typist
Company: Stanley CG and Company
Required Skills: Strong typing skills!
Useful Skills: Basic math and arithmetic, phone skills, and high word-per-minute gibberish count highly useful!
Looking for someone with a winning personality to join our great team at Stanley CG and Company.

So, in response, here’s what Sally will write on her cover letter for an intro:

“My name is Sally J. Primate and I am applying for the Typist Position at Stanley CG and Company. I have been a typist for many years and feel that my strong typing skills, 5,000 word per minute gibberish average, and winning smile will be the key to my success at your company!”

Looking at the example above, remember that you have seen and – hopefully – read the job description for the job you are writing a cover letter for. You know what skills they are looking for. The key skills they are looking for are the ones you should list here (where Sally listed her strong typing skills, high word-per-minute gibberish average), provided that you have those skills. In this case, because Sally is a primate, her dental health is somewhat suspect… and I might not believe that she is telling the truth, and rightly so. Dirty stinkin’ apes.

Anyway, you don’t want to just list what you think they want to read, but what is actually true. You want to take this information directly from what you prepared for your resume – the achievements and the job duties, and so on. Anywhere you can get source material for yourself from your employment history that seems to fit the job you are applying for, do it! Just don’t lie or exaggerate!

Do Work, Son!

Do your homework and investigate the company you want to work for. Worst case, you can call the company and ask the receptionist for some quick facts: what kind of company is it, how many employees, what kinds of awards have they won, what do they pride themselves on, what is the mission statement? Got it? Get as much information as you possibly can, it can only be in your benefit when you get to the Interview. But until then, it can be the Golden Ticket you’ve been waiting for.

Okay, now that you have everything together, let’s talk about Creating a Cover Letter.