Creating Effective Cover Letters
HR pros are divided about how much attention they give these documents. But if
it reaches the right hands, a well-crafted cover letter can win the job.
May 24, 2010
By Lee E. Miller
FILED UNDER:
Cover Letter.
Do
cover letters matter? Do
recruiters and
human resources managers even look at the correspondence that
accompanies your
resume and job application? The answers vary widely even among career
experts and HR pros, many of whom have strong opinions on the matter.
At one extreme: Susan Cucuzza, a business coach with Live Forward and formerly
an HR executive at Textron, considers them a waste of time. “In my entire
human-resources career of
interviewing and hiring thousands of individuals, I may have read a
few dozen cover letters at most, most of which provided no value. Most
recruiters and human-resources professionals immediately put the cover letter to
the side and jump into the resume itself. Why? The cover letter doesn't tell me
anything more than what I will find on the resume.”
In the other corner: Jane Angelich, the former vice president of human resources
at Salomon Brothers investment bank, who says “the cover letter is more
important than the resume. If the cover letter didn't grab me, I never got to
the resume.” She recalled an instance where a cover letter moved her enough to
invite a candidate in for a job interview. “His resume, without the cover
letter, looked like every other one that I received for the prestigious and
high-paying training class we offered. He made me want to meet him because of
that cover letter, and I hired him.”
Career Advice from TheLadders
·
Facing 50 Questions for Every Job Interview
·
Will Bad Credit Hurt Your Job Chances?
·
The Interview Was Awesome. Now What?
·
When a Layoff Recharges a Network
When I was the head of human resources at a Fortune 1,000 company I fell into
Susan’s camp — I never read cover letters. But as a career coach, I advise my
clients to use them. Why? Because you don’t know whether the recruiter or HR
manager on the other side of the job application is like me and Susan or Jane.
“The truth is that some recruiters read cover letters and others do not,” said
Connie Thanasoulis-Cerrachio, Vault.com career-services expert. “But since you
don’t know which recruiters are reading them, you must write a compelling cover
letter which makes the case for why you should be hired.”
Those who advocate cover letters recommend that they be personalized to make the
candidate stand out in a way that is relevant to the job being filled.
To whom it may concern...
First of all, the cover letter must be addressed to a specific person, clearly
indicate the job you are seeking and focus on the specific needs of the company.
How do you determine the individual to whom you should send your cover letter if
the company doesn't list the name of the hiring manager? Heather R. Huhman,
president of Come Recommended, an online community connecting the internship and
entry-level job candidates with employers, suggested the following:
It’s not about you
“Cover letters are only important to the extent that the candidate can make them
interesting, or, better said, make themselves interesting,” said Donna Flagg,
founder of HR consulting firm The Krysalis Group.
But it’s not all about you. It’s about what you can do for the company and why
you would be a good fit. Review the company's Web site and determine what skills
and experience make you valuable to the organization.
Sharon Armstrong, author of "The Essential HR Handbook," suggested job seekers
cut right to the chase and use the cover letter to demonstrate their
qualifications for every requirement of the
job. She recommended they use two columns: The first column, "Your
Requirements," lists each requirement set forth in the job posting. The second
column, "My Qualifications," details the candidate’s qualifications for each
requirement. The two-column format works, she said, because: “1) you never know
who is screening interviews and you've done all their work for them; 2) if the
company is scanning, you've used all their key words; and 3) you have already
started to prepare yourself for the interview by reviewing your background and
how it applies to the needs of that position and the company."
Lee can be contacted at
Lee@YourCareerDoctors.com. A former head of human resources at
several Fortune 1000 companies, Lee E. Miller is a career coach and the author
of “UP: Influence Power and the U Perspective — The Art of Getting What You
Want” and "Get More Money on Your Next Job … In Any Economy.”
Back to Home Page
Back to Articles page
From May 2010