| How To Write A Great Cover Letter |
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How To Write A Great Cover Letter By Scott Tudehope Whenever writing a cover letter, it all comes down to two things: research and time. You simply have to know a number of things about the person whom will be reading your cover letter before you send it off. Try to remember that most of the men and women who read our cover letters are incredibly busy people. There is a distinct possibility that the position for which you are applying suddenly materialized and that there is near-chaos in that particular office. The last thing that you want to do, of course, is to contribute to THEIR stress level by hurrying off an unprofessional letter. Take the time to know which person in that office will be reading it. Ask a "gatekeeper" who typically is an administrative assistant. This person typically receives your letter and routes it accordingly. It never hurts to send a separate "thank you for routing my letter" letter to this important person. I have found in over 20 years of teaching English classes that my students rarely, if ever, consider this classy step as important. Be sure to include today's date in the upper left hand cover first, skip two or three lines, then put in your complete address. Don't give out your work number, assuming that you are employed, as this may not be quite the time to tell your fellow employees, or worse yet, your superiors, about your intended job move. After putting in your complete address, including your zip code or postal code outside of the USA, be sure to skip a line or two. It's now time to make it flush left again and include the person's name, then on the next line their title. You may alter this by giving the title precedence by writing instead, "Human Relations Assistant John Edwards" instead, however. It's all up to you. The complete address is important, of course, followed by their city, state (or province) and postal code. Do not insert their telephone number. When starting your letter, be sure to use their title. Here's an example: "Dear Ms. Jones:" Omit my apostrophes, naturally. There are potential grammatical land mines awaiting you, so watch out. When in doubt about a woman's marital status, for example, keep it professional and quite staid. Never assume that she is married, and quite honestly, her marital status has nothing to do with getting a position. The point of the first paragraph is to let the reader know that you are aware that there is a job that you are applying for. If there is an actual job number in the case of a large corportation, use it. Don't use jargon, but just let the reader know that you are aware that there is a number involved. Move on in about three to five sentences. Refer to your enclosed resume in the second paragraph. This is where you mention your previous experiences. It is here, dear job seeker, that you either make it or break it. You have to use active words such as "will" or "intend" or even "absolve" to get their attention. The whole idea is never mystify, just tantalize them with your grasp of the professional that you have become. The third paragraph is all about you, including all of the great volunteer work that you have done. Remember that potential employers are sick and tired of spending oogles and oogles of cash to train people, only to see them leave in a couple of years. They need to know that you are WORTHY of their scarce resources. Convince them; you can do it. Be positive, strong, pro active, alluring and confident. Make them come to the dance. End with a "Sincerely" and keep it, keep it, keep it again professional at all times. Scott R. Tudehope Professional Practices and Procedures instructor ITT Technical College San Bernardino, California Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Scott_Tudehope |
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