As a recruiter, I can tell you there is no hard and fast rule that you must submit a cover letter. I don’t dismiss a candidate with a good resume just because they don’t have a cover letter. At the same time, a good candidate with a mediocre, form-letter type cover letter can lose some of their allure as a candidate. Even cover letters that follow these rules may not get to the hiring manager. But to put your best foot forward in search, here are some interesting thoughts on cover letters that land.
From this interesting article: (NOTE: I think this is the operational rule in all aspects of job search):
Because in today’s hiring world, you’ve got to be memorable.
You’ve got to grab people’s attention and announce in a New York minute that you’re about to steal their hearts—with both your talent and your personality.
From the article, 3 rules to consider:
Engage them immediately.
The opening paragraph can be appropriately personal, a story perhaps, that connects you to the job. My only caveat on this point is to think about the level of the hiring manager. What a junior manager will consider engaging may not be what the CEO would consider appropriate.
Use a conversational tone.
Here I would add, again, consider what passes for “conversational” in the company. How people talk to each other in Starbucks or Amazon may be different than conversational style in Deloitte & Touche or Boston Consulting. Consider the level of the hiring manager as well.
Make it the appropriate length.
While that is a vague rule, it’s important. You know we all have short attention spans these days.
Folks, here’s the thing: The people reading{your cover letter} are, well, people. They get up every morning with bad breath. They like cat videos on YouTube. They shoot the breeze about the football game with their colleagues at lunchtime. All this being the case, it’s perfectly OK to use a conversational (yet still professional) tone in your cover letter. This is actually the perfect place to do so, because the cover letter provides you a terrific platform through which you can begin to introduce your personality (as you outline your skills) to a prospective employer.
This is an important point to consider. Just be sure to moderate it for the type of company, level of hiring manager within that company, and the type of position you’re applying for.
As hard as it may be to believe, not everyone likes cat videos!
Good luck and best wishes for a fabulous and FAST conclusion to your search.
Read the entire article here.
I suggest this just as a way to crisp things up a bit because communication today must be very different in order to resonate with your listeners. Interviews are no exception to the need to accommodate that change.
Not necessary but just a thought…
The reason I recommend the interview guide is because it will give you essential insights about what needs to be included in how you answer specific questions. For most job seekers (including me at one time) it seems like an interview is just a conversation about you and your experience so how hard could that be? Actually that’s never been the truth, and in the world today, it’s really not the way to land the job. Of all the times you want to understand today’s new rules of communication brought about by technology, social media, diminishing attention spans, etc., your job interview is one of the most important.