Cover Letter Advise
23 August 2009
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I’ve been helping with a lot of letters lately. Here are some typical mistakes and my comments–
Too long. Limit your letter to one page; anything longer than a page almost certainly won’t be read.
Type too small. How old are the eyes of the CEO able to hire you? What is the probability s/he is reading with glasses? Larger is better.
Too complicated. Even if you are smarter than 90% of the people you are writing to (you probably are), you lose when you make the letter complicated, obscure, obtuse. Too complicated = not read. Assume your reader will use less cognitive ability reading the letter than you spent writing it. Simple is better. Simple accomplishes the mission (callback).
Too complicated, Part 2. This is probably the hardest point to teach. What is the best thing that can happen because you wrote to the headhunter or CEO? If you answered “Get hired,” you’re unrealistic. The absolute best thing that can happen is that you get a callback. Therefore, the purpose of your letter is to pique interest, tease, intrigue, raise positive questions, etc., etc., not to try to get hired. Going for the hire on an initial contact is like the batter swinging for the fence on every pitch, or the quarterback throwing the ball as far as possible on every play. (Answering too many questions is one of the primary reasons resumes don’t work well on the first contact, BTW–a longer article for another day).
Confusing features with benefits. Put on your sales cap for this one. The new vacuum cleaner design sucks twice as hard as the old one it replaces–That’ s a feature. The new design allows the user to more thoroughly clean the carpets, in half the time, with less energy–Those are benefits. As you describe your accomplishments to the reader, be sure you identify the benefits and don’t focus on purely on features of what you have done.
Vague notions of what you want to do for the reader. Don’t expect a CEO to figure this out; you must be specific. “If you could use a marketing-focused CTO, with proven leadership skills in the toughest competitive struggles of telecom infrastructure in at least a generation, we should talk.”
Which leads me to the close. You must have one. And, it can’t be wussy, if you want your closing statement to work, or have a reasonable chance to work. You must ask for the callback. “I look forward to talking to you” is not asking for a call, nor is it a useful close. In fact, ”I look forward…” is a total wimp-out. Looking forward is a feeling and your feelings are irrelevant. Exposed feelings weaken the impact. Instead, be more direct–”Please call me when you get free minute and let’s explore some of the possibilities” (or talk about lean manufacturing, or changing consumer preferences for mouthwash, or risk management in this volatile economy, etc.) would work much better.
Any of this useful? There are probably 1,001 more of these to write about. As we approach prime job hunting season (Labor Day–Thanksgiving) , please drop me a note with any job-hunting questions or subjects you want me to tackle.
Best regards.
Ken
Kenneth J. Cole
Executive Search Consultant
P.O. Box 9433
Panama City Beach, FL 32417
813-398-8415
kennethjcole@aol.com
Executive Search Consultant
P.O. Box 9433
Panama City Beach, FL 32417
813-398-8415
kennethjcole@aol.com
P.S. Please keep the questions coming. As usual, please forward this email to your job hunting colleagues and networking groups. If you receive a forwarded copy, please reply to be placed on the email list.
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