If Your Resume Is The Cake, Your Cover Letter Is The Icing.
Cover letter writing is almost as important a skill for a job
seeker to learn as resume writing. The cover letter accompanies
the resume at all times as the primary support document. Whether
you use traditional mail, email, faxing, or another type of
electronic submission, this should always be sent with the
resume. There are, of course, other tools you'll use when job
seeking. Your cover letter and resume come first of course,
followed by follow-up letters, thank-you letters for after the
interview, reference sheets, salary histories, and job
acceptance letters. If you have good cover letter writing
skills, and good resume writing skills, the other written tools
should be a snap to compose.
Your goal in this is to get the attention of the hiring manager,
just as it is with resume writing. The method and format are a
little different however. Your resume will cover all, or most of
your professional career, and will be from one to two pages.
Your cover letter will be a very brief page serving as an
introduction to the resume. Cover letter writing style must be
direct, to the point, and able to grab the attention of the
reader quickly, with a goal of making the reader want to read
the attached resume.
Many people, when engaged in this type of writing, have a
tendency to say too much. Good cover letter writing is short and
punchy, and will take two or three key points from the resume
and emphasize them. The old adage "tell them what you are going
to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them"
holds true in both resume writing and cover letter writing.
As an example, let's assume that you are a materials handling
manager for a defense contractor, seeking another position. In
your line of work the buzz words are MRP, lean manufacturing,
ISO 9000, and cost savings. Your writing efforts should reflect
these buzz words to show your value to your current employer and
any future employers. Your resume will go into more detail about
how you accomplished these goals. The cover letter will simply
point out to the hiring manager that you accomplished them. An
example of this would be two bulleted paragraphs in the body of
the letter that say....
* Experienced in quality assurance and quality control, MRP, ISO
9000, QS 9000, and Lean Manufacturing. * Demonstrated results in
saving significant money for employers through cost savings,
inventory level reductions, and on-time supplier delivery.
The hiring manager, according to many surveys, devotes only
about fifteen seconds to each resume and cover letter he or she
reviews. With that in mind your writing skills need to be top
notch to get this person to look at your resume. Your resume
writing skills need to be just as good to get the reader to want
to grant you an interview. In turn, your interviewing skills
need to be excellent to get the hiring manager to offer you the
position. This long, and hopefully positive chain of events
begins with good cover letter writing skills and ends with job
satisfaction and a nice paycheck.