Cabernet and the Cover Letter

I hope you are all seeing my theme here. I love wine so I am trying to weave my love of wine into my job search.  The past couple of evenings Jim and I have been sipping some nice light Cabernet, as it is still warm out I am not into the  heavy reds yet. On Sunday I opened a bottle of Raven's Wood 2011 Cabernet.  This wine has a very nice aroma and has hints of blackberry in it and it is very reasonably priced.

Okay, on to the job search. I will share some of my stats (remember I am anal and track everything!) Today I am 2 Months unemployed.  I have applied to 20 positions of which I have had no response from 13 of them, to be fair some of them I have applied to  recently.  I have been contacted by 7 recruiters for positions and 4 of them are still very active.

To date I have discussed the resume and how to use LinkedIn.  Today I will discuss the cover letter and what my research has told me is successful.  If you look up "cover letters" on the internet you will find lots of resources, so many in fact that it can be overwhelming.  I was looking for help in writing a cover letter that showed I was sincere in my job search and that I had researched the company and wanted the job.  Why those things? Because that is what I looked for when I was hiring staff members.  The resume tells a hiring manager about the person's experience, but the cover letter tells them why they are applying.

Based  on what site you go on and what type of position you are applying for you will find all kinds of variation in what the cover letter should say and what it should look like.  The best advice I have received from a recruiter was to not sell myself in the cover letter but to offer solutions to how I can help the company achieve their goals.  Not an easy task and when you write it the first time it kind of sounds like you are selling yourself.  The difference lies in how you phrase the sentences.  Remember, your resume outlines everything you have done, you don't have to say it again in the cover letter.

Here are some examples:
Selling yourself:

• I have 25 years in the healthcare industry
• I have managed 10 direct reports
• I reduced supply expenses by $10  million

Offering solutions:

• I can help XYZ company become a leader in the industry by using my network to bring talented staff in
• I will work to reduce your expenses by implementing successful strategies I have used in the past. For example, if you currently use xyz strategy, then I would work to covert it to ABC, which has been discussed recently in the news as the most cost effective way to manage this strategy. 
• I will mentor my direct reports in XYZ  company to become skilled in ABC which makes the company stronger.

Before you write your cover do some research and find out about the company you are applying to.  This is where you get to be a detective!  You want to find out the hiring managers name if possible.  One way to find this out is to see if the job description says who the position reports to.  If so, then go to the company website and look for a page that lists the leaders in the company.  I have actually found organizational charts on company websites.  If you get lucky that way, find out the name and address your cover letter directly to them.  Also, see if you can figure out the email address of the hiring manager and send them your cover letter and resume directly.  If you do this, you should also apply the way the company specifies, but state in the cover letter that you are sending this to them as well as through the website (or however you will be applying) so you are sure that they see your qualifications.  

If you can't find out who the hiring manager is, go to LinkedIn and search for the company.  See if there is anyone in your network that works for that company and ask them about the position and who the hiring manager is.  You can also find the email address this way.  If you can send your cover letter and resume directly to the hiring manager you have a better chance of it being seen!

I have actually been called directly by the  hiring manager using this technique.

So now that you have some resources for cover letters make sure you do your homework. Never send a resume in without a cover letter. Even if you apply online and there is no way to upload a cover letter use this trick.  If it appears that you can only upload one file here's what to do:

1. Create your cover letter
2. Open up your resume file and paste the cover letter at the beginning of the resume
3. Make sure there is a page break between your cover letter and resume
4. Name this new file: Yourlastname_companyname_combo.doc.  That way you know that this is a customized cover letter resume for that company.

Enough for today on cover letters.  A quick update on my job search.  I have 4 positions that I am actively involved with, all of them are from recruiters who have called me!  I hope to have something finalized in the next couple of weeks.  Keep your fingers crossed.