Guide to Getting the Best Cover Letter Ever ...

1. One Size Does Not Fit All

If you are spamming a cover letter for all the jobs you apply for, then you are setting yourself up for failure. HR employees and managers see this sort of thing all the time and can tell when you have done it--so don’t.

2. Creating Impact is like Throwing Bubbles at Water

Impact doesn’t mean short. It means sticking to the point on the one hand, and pandering to the employers wants on the other hand. If you have done your research, you may have found out that the job opening has come about because someone transferred over to a competitor. You could make an impact by showing you are a loyal person. Furthermore, you could shove it down the employer’s throat. You could mention how you have had the same partner for years, how you stood by your last employer and how you are going to stand by this employer come hell or high water.

Information box: Keep it as short as it needs to be so that it makes an impact, but is not boring. Sum up yourself in three bullet points to start with and go on to sell yourself in the strongest possible terms.

3. Have a Writing Company do It for You

If you are not having much luck with your job search and you are not making much progress getting a job, you should try a writing service. Look for the best writing service via a review website and see what professional writers make of the job. It could be a waste of your time, or it could open up a world of ideas for you so that your next cover letter is stronger and more robust.

4. Learn the Difference between Selling and over Promoting

Think of it this way: imagine there is a professor at a museum that tells you about how the at the end of the 2012 Total Recall movie, it shows the guy is in the dream world. Now think about a car salesman with a pearly white smile telling you that another couple were looking there that morning looking at the car you were interested in.

Information box: At the end of the 1990 Total Recall movie it was reality. At the end of the 2012 Total Recall, he was in a machine fantasy (which is why the tattoo disappeared).

If you are over promoting, then you come across as insincere and come across as if you say the same thing to everybody. There is nothing new, exciting, or worth experiencing when you deal with a person like that.

If you are selling yourself, then you are explaining the user’s needs, and you are showing how you can fill those needs. When you sell you shouldn’t have to push yourself, you should have the end-user want to chase you. It should be the employer that looks at your cover letter and thinks, “Gee, we better get him/her quickly before someone else does.”

Here is an example of over promotion:
“I am a fast learner; you will hardly have to teach me anything because I already know the job. I can get you back up to full speed within a week of me working there.”

Here is an example of selling yourself:
“At my last job I wanted to feel like part of the team, so I spent a lot of my personal time learning the system so I was up to speed quicker.”

Do not get it confused. It is far better to be over promotional than it is to be timid. Something such as, “I don’t know much about it, but I will try my best and hope I pick it up” is a terrible idea. But, if you have a choice between over promotion and selling yourself, then sell yourself first.

Information Box: What you know is what gets you the job. The more you know about the company and the people that do the hiring, then the more power you have to create a truly penetrative cover letter and CV.

5. A Quick Reminder of How to Sell Yourself

Just for those of you that have forgotten the art of selling, here are a few tips to get you started. Remember that there are no tricks to selling; it is simply a case of you making an offer and the other party accepting.

+ What needs does the employer have?
Does he or she need someone with a certain skill set? How do you get that skill set and/or show that you have it?

+ What wants does the employer have?
The employer may want someone that is also connected socially. Is there a way you can fulfill that desire?

+ How can you fill those needs?
Address wants if you can, but fill needs first because they are more primary. Demonstrate how you would fill the needs of the employer in simple terms. Start with your qualifications and experience.

+ What is the employer inoculated against?
Words such as “Honest”, “Punctual” and “Reliable” are so tired they are a joke. Try something such as “My last employer put me in charge every weekend because he knew I could get the job done” or “The last time I was late was in Feb 2012 when snow stopped the trains.”

+ How can you counter the employer’s pet peeves?
Most employers hate sick days, so something such as, “I haven’t had a sick day in 5 years” is very powerful.

+ Take the employer from point to point
The first point is disinterest. You must get the employer from disinterest, to attention, to interest and to questioning/wondering about you. Get the employer wondering about you and you CV will be read, which means your cover letter did its job.

+ What do you have over your competition?
The other candidates may have X, but you have X+1. What is your Unique Selling Point and how is that better than the competition?

+ Why is the employer lucky to have you?
This should be your unique selling point plus one and it can be anything you deem worthy. An intense desire to work for the company may be the reason the employer is lucky to have you.

+ How are you a restricted commodity?
People want what they can’t have. What can the employer do to have you? What have other companies failed to offer that your new company can offer? Only use this point if you have thought it through because you can turn it into a barrier that stops the employer hiring you if you do it wrong.