Whatever you do, don't take cover.

The sequel continues. Welcome to episode 3 of "what they don't teach you in job seeker school".

On the agenda: Cover letters, you know the letters that are supposed to cover your job applications when you pass these to recruiters or job managers/consultants. Far too often this is where it really goes wrong in your quest for a job. You perceive the cover letter to be, well "a cover letter". It's not. far from. Listen, this "cover letter" is the front page of your resume, the document you want to use to catch attention and upon which you hope to be called for an interview. That brings your resume front page to be....... page 2! Now remembering (I've mentioned this elsewhere on the blog.jufito.com) that any job-relevant recipient of a resume/job application spends max 90 seconds to scan an application, out of that just how much time do you think he/she spends getting to page two - your resume front - after having scanned your cover letter? Will he/she turn to page two if the cover letter is of no interest and merely has "The delivery address, job reference title/number, date and a "here is my job application" tag"? I dare say - NO!

So think of this:

a. Your cover letter is the first basis whereupon a reader makes a judgement call

b. To get the reader to page 2, your cover letter must be inspiring, attention getting, eye catching to leave the thought "now this looks interesting". Anything else is a show stopper.

So do make sure that your cover letter becomes a 100% integrated part of your job application and that it is designed to create attention. You do this by personalizing it. Send it to a person by name. Don't know the name of the recipient?, find out! And if you really can't establish the name of the interviewer (double check the advertisement, there is usually a name listed or just call up the company and ask), make sure you address the cover letter to a person by title. But be 100% sure to use the right title.

Next: Highlight in minor detail (don't overdo it) that you know what the company's objectives are, what is expected of the one who gets the position and JUST HOW YOU BELIEVE YOU ARE THE RIGHT CANDIDATE - meaning, state just HOW YOU ARE SURE YOU CAN ADD VALUE. That said, don't overdo it. Be subtle and not "a second-hand car sales person" (no pun intended here). You don't want to hype yourself or oversell yourself but you do want to sell yourself as a person and most importantly your abilities and results. The cover letter is a unique opportunity to grab attention by highlighting e.g. a key achievement that would be invaluable intelligence for a prospective employer. Keep in mind that the recruiter or job manager will shine if he/she finds great talent for the company. Help them shine by making it easy for them.

To allow for this to happen you must do your homework, your research. The better and more precise you make this, the more targeted your cover letter can be. Spend time understanding the company, culture and strategy. Usually you can find nuggets of great and useful information by checking online forums, press releases, company news, staff magazines and newsletters etc. etc.

Then: as the cover letter is often the first screen to pass, make sure to emphasize your key, or few of your key and relevant accomplishments. Relevance is achieved by mapping this to the (by you perceived) strategic objectives or plans of the company in question. Doing this assures the reader that you have indeed spent time preparing for the application and it will entice them to read on. Don't worry about possible repetition by including key results in your cover letter and in your resume. This is quite acceptable.

Some people believe that owing to the change over from manual letter based applications to online application portals and submissions, the cover letter has become extinct. Certainly it has not but many employers choose to make it optional. That does not mean that you should ignore it. Again, it's your first screen.

On a side note, since you are submitting (most of the time) online, make sure you make the subject line relevant like "Jack Black applying for Ref. No. 1234567" this makes for relevance and easier recognition in the piles and piles of emails/online forms.

Spend time on your cover letter in terms of design. Be neutral, business like and do avoid fancy fonts, excessive highlighting, bolding, underlining etc. And for Pete's sake do spell, grammar and syntax checking minimum three times. Don't rely on your word processing application which never ever can distinguish "advise/advice" or "their/there".

Finally: in terms of process. When you have made your cover letter, print it out, sign it and scan it with your signature. Then upload it and send it. The absence of a signature makes it too computer like, i.e. impersonal and THAT is EXACTLY what you want to avoid.

Have a frightfully great day.

Nicholas