Do you lack the requisite knowledge required in crafting a resume cover letter that will attract a hiring manager? Is your resume cover letter appealing enough to get you invited for interview by recruiters once it is submitted? We in human resource practice especially talent hunters have always known that getting selected for interview is by no means easy. Studies have shown that ninety-five percent of letters attached to resumes are usually ignored by recruiters.
This is because they are not appealing. We have however discovered that attaching an appealing letter to your resume will increase your chance of being selected for an interview. We have also found out that a job seeker can use such a letter to make a compelling case for himself different from what is included in the curriculum vitae. We have also discovered if such a letter is well written and individualized to specific job openings, it should open doors even where your CV could not. The objective in this article is therefore to expose the secrets behind crafting a compelling letter that will always appeal the talent acquisition expert.
What is a resume cover letter?
Some people see the resume cover letter as that letter which is attached to the resume when being submitted by the job seeker to the hiring manager for a job on offer. It could also be seen as a letter of introduction to an employer which is used to submit the curriculum vitae for review by those engaged to shortlist for selection by the employer. Consequently, it is supposed to provide detailed information on why you as a job searcher are qualified for the job you are applying for. An effective letter should explain the reasons for your interest as a job hunter in a particular organization and specific skills you possess which is related to the job on offer. Like the resume itself it is a marketing tool or a sales copy to promote you the job seeker. However, it presents you the opportunity to quickly introduce yourself and grab the attention of the hiring manager and arrest his interest so that he will be forced to go through your resume. They are therefore sent or uploaded along with the curriculum vitae when applying for jobs.
How to structure your resume cover letter
The first tip in the crafting of an attractive resume cover letter that will attract the hiring manager is in the structuring. That is the way the letter should be written. There are certain steps to be followed without which it will not be appealing.
The resume cover letter must be crafted in such a way that it would be tailored to meet the specifications of the job being applied for. Therefore avoid sending the same type of cover letter when applying for different jobs.
It should not give the employer the same kind of information as you have in your CV. It should be tailored to meet the need of the employer.
It should be concise, free of grammatical errors and mistakes. It should not be more than a page.
Information to include in a resume cover letter
The information to include is another vital tip in the crafting of a resume cover letter that will attract the hiring manager. The information should not be different from what is requested in the job advert. You should therefore give back to the hiring manager what he has requested. The information should include:
What appealed to you about the job on offer and why you prefer the job to others?
Giving of honest assessment about your qualities and abilities.
Seizing the opportunity to mention other qualities you possess which you have not mentioned in your resume.
Mentioning why you should be considered for the position on offer even if you are not a perfect match for it and why you want to work for the organization.
Touch briefly on your experience and leaving the meaty part for your CV.
From the foregoing the challenge that could be experienced in crafting a resume cover letter that will attract the hiring manager must have been taken care of. Without any knowledge about the structuring and the necessary information to be included, writing such a letter becomes a problem. Consequently, arresting the attention of the recruiter and reading of your CV becomes impossible. If that should happen making a compelling case for your being shortlisted for interview becomes impossible.
Most job seekers make the mistake of writing unappealing resume cover letters, forgetting that to arrest the attention of most employers and get them to read your resume and consequently get shortlisted for interview, you must Craft a resume cover letter that will attract the hiring manager.
Having been engaged in talent acquisition for over twenty years I have co
Any person who is applying for a job in any company should provide a proper resume cover letter along with his resume. The main purpose of providing a resume cover letter along with the resume is to provide an introduction to the person who is applying for the job. The reason for applying for the particular job in the company will have to be stated in a clear manner in the resume cover letter. This will help the prospective employer in understanding how much the applicant will value the job if it is offered to him.
The applicant should give equal importance to the preparation of the resume and also the resume-cover letter. If the resume-cover-letter is unable to strike the right chord in the mind of the employer, then he might not even take a look at the resume which has been attached even though it is very impressive. There are certain points which should definitely be mentioned in the resume-cover letter in order to capture the attention of the prospective employer.
The main reason as to why the applicant is applying for the specific post in the company will have to be stated in a crystal clear manner in the resume-cover letter. This should be stated in such an impressive manner that the prospective employer should feel compelled to call the applicant for an interview. Any knowledge which the applicant has about the company should also be made known in the resume-cover-letter.
The manner in which the applicant has come to know of the vacancy existing in the company should also be stated clearly in the resume-cover-letter. If the applicant has seen an advertisement on the Internet or in the newspaper he will have to specify the date as well as the name of the newspaper or website where the advertisement had been displayed. When the employer finds that the applicant is showing a lot of interest in the company, he will feel more inclined to call him for an interview.
The information which has been provided in the resume cover letter should be crisp and come straight to the point. The purpose of applying for the job will have to be stated in the opening paragraph of the resume cover letter. The complete length of the resume-cover-letter should not exceed one page. When the employer finds that the resume cover letter is too long he might not have the interest to read it completely. The information which is provided in the resume cover-letter should be enough to convince the employer that the candidate needs to be called for an interview. Some of the details regarding the qualification of the applicant should also be included in the resume cover letter.
One spends hours perfecting their resume when job hunting. They ensure that all their skills are well defined, and their job duties and titles sounds more professional than they really are. However, when it comes time to really sell themselves, they fall prey to a resume cover letter template. Why would they pair a well-written resume with a resume cover letter template which does nothing to compliment their job skills? I don’t know either. A resume cover letter template’s intention is to ease the stress of job-seekers. Yet it only makes it worse by ensuring an applicant does not get the desired position. One who uses a resume cover letter template does nothing to assist one from standing out to the hiring manager, which is the only way to earn an interview amongst hundreds, if not thoughts, of other job hunters.
A resume cover letter template does not contain the most important elements of any cover letter. The whole point behind a resume cover letter is to get an interview. In order to do this, a resume cover letter must be convincing and demonstrate all the skills one so painstakingly perfected on their resume. After committing so much time on creating a resume that looks professional, it makes little sense to leave the job underdone by using a resume cover letter template.
What is a resume cover letter template? A resume cover letter template is a pre-generated cover letter where one only has to “fill in the blanks”. Resume cover letter templates can be found included in most word processing software (which I will never understand) or by doing a search on the internet. With resume cover letters so readily available, it goes to show that most people use this method when applying for jobs. It is also an assumption that the way to land an interview is by being one of the first applicants for the job. This is not necessarily the case. A hiring manager is looking for the best candidate for the job and is not simply going to choose the first person to come along. They want to find the best applicant. If a resume cover letter does not grab their attention, which is what a resume cover letter achieves, then they are not going to waste time reviewing the applicant further.
Using a resume cover letter template is the quickest way for one’s resume to end in the trash pile. A resume cover letter template gives the impression that one is a nameless, faceless, and mindless individual who just wants to get a job, any job. This is not a promising characteristic of a potential employee. A company is looking for an individual which has passion and enthusiasm. They also want an employee who is dedicates to the company and wants to see the company excel. How is one going to convey this to a hiring manager when they are just blanks filled into a resume cover letter template?
The answer is simple. They aren’t. It is important to move away from using resume cover letter templates and begin using a personalized resume cover letter that makes the hiring manager convinced that one is the right person for the position. It is definitely more work, at least a first, but the process of a personalized cover letter reaps greater benefits. The percentage of positive responses to a personalized cover letter, versus a resume cover letter template, is greater. Thus the amount of resumes a job-seeker has to send out is lessened. This makes the initial work of writing a resume cover letter even out against the traditional job-seeker which uses a resume cover letter template.
A personalized resume cover letter should, first and foremost, have a beginning sentence which makes the hiring manager interested enough to continue reading. If one can learn this value skill in writing a resume cover letter, then half the word is already done! A resume cover letter template will never be able to do this, no matter how special it or, or how much a website promises positive results. A resume cover letter template is just too general to be able to reach this accomplishment. So spend a little time learning what it is that makes a resume cover letter special, and then do it.
You’ve seen them before – free resume cover letters that promise to make your job a lot easier and faster. They’re readily available, they offer you what you need and they don’t cost a dime, so what’s the harm?
The trouble with free resume cover letters
Well, for starters, free resume cover letters do not maintain the same quality as other resume cover letters. If you’re a job hunter who’s been in the job market for too long, you know the kind of pressure you face everyday. Not only are the number of potential employers shrinking, the number of potential rivals for a job position also increases. As more and more people discover the very same job you’re applying for, your chances of getting the job you want gets smaller and smaller.
That only makes using a resume cover letter extremely important. When you’re too stressed out and worried about the competition, there is a possibility that you’ll slip and produce a less than perfect resume cover letter, prime feed for the trash can or the paper shredding machine. That is not the kind of scenario you want. So why can’t you not use free resume cover letters?
They’re not all that bad, these free resume cover letters. Problem is, they’re also not that good. They will do, but only for jobs that you’re really not interested in or for those who have no other applicant other than you. Free cover letter samples are often not as excellently written and not as good as professionally prepared cover letter samples. In a job market where you’ll need all the help you could get, free resume cover letters are simply not good news at all.
Using free resume cover letters
Resume cover letters will say a great deal about you – they will inform your potential employer about your professional capabilities and give them a glimpse of what your personality is like.
Now let’s take a look at how you’ll use a free resume cover letter and see why it has ‘cheap’ written all over it. When you find a free resume cover letter, you’ll usually find one that is written with a general feel of what a resume cover letter should read like. You get the usual greetings, introductions, body of the letter and your closing statements.
Since this cover letter was published to help everyone from a nanny to a chief financial officer, you’ll have to change several elements in order to come up with a resume cover letter that seems tailored for your own particular qualifications. Now all you have to do is to mail it and hope for the best.
Problem is, once the hiring manager reads this so-called cover letter of yours, what will he see? A cover letter that looks so familiar he probably has read it before. In fact, he must have, considering that it must have been written using a free resume cover letter that has been available on the internet for the past five years.
Worse, it’s probably been seen and used by thousands of other job hunters before you, some of which may have sent their applications using the very same free resume cover letter that you yourself used! Imagine how badly that will reflect on you.
Avoid this type of pitfall that is so common among job hunters that it should have been outlawed by now. It’s hard enough to compet