Personal Paradigm Shift

I just finished reading Rework (review inbound soon) and their section on hiring resonated heavily with me.

Often, cover letters appear as an afterthought when they’re one of the most important parts of your application process. Too often your resume gets the most attention but says the least about what you offer to an organization or why you’d be a great fit.

Here are a few tips to get you by a weary part time small business HR person and into the interview room.

• If you found your cover letter by copy and pasting a sample after a quick Google search chances are you wont get noticed.
• If your cover letter looks like you simply pasted the employer’s name into a template with generic content you wont get noticed.
• Don’t just tell them what you’re interested in or why you’re great, tell them what you can offer the organization. How are you going to apply your skills to the position?
• Did you mention anything about the position? If your cover letter has no relation to the job posting other than “I would be a great fit for X position.” go back to the job posting and pick out specific needs the employer has and how you can address them.
• If your objective is essentially  “I want to use your company as a stepping stone.” an employer  wonders “What’s wrong with our organization?”
• If an employer posts content in their job listing about their team and culture and you choose not to read it or mention it in your cover letter you’ve squandered an invaluable point of conversation. Refer to the job posting and the companies website! Mention things that resonated with you and why you’d like to be a part of the organization. Talk about what you can add to the culture.
• If you choose not write a cover letter, an employer might choose not to open your resume.

Writing a good cover letter is challenging, but if you read and process what’s in the job posting and show how you can specifically address an organization’s needs you’ll get noticed.

If you need help and you’re looking for feedback, don’t hesitate to send a sample of your cover letter and resume and the job your applying for to jamestourville@gmail.com