How to Construct an Effective Cover Letter

How to Construct an Effective Cover Letter, By Ken Docherty, CPRW www.expertresumewriter.ca

For almost every job, a cover letter is an essential part of the application. Effectively constructing your cover letter can open the door to the interview. As a provider of resume services in Calgary, I can attest to numerous examples of cover letters that fast track an application to the "No, thank you!" file. Although I will customize the structure, tone, and content of each letter to suit my resume client’s needs and overall objectives, I’ve put together a general overview for you should you need a basic ‘how to’ when drafting your own cover letter.

Appearance and Format

Help your cover letter to stand out by keeping it clean, simple, and professional. Above all, carefully proofread, so it is free of grammatical and spelling errors. Self-editing is not trustworthy, so enlist help from a friend or family member, or from me, your resume consultant in Calgary. Double-check the spelling of the company's name and person to whom you are addressing the letter.

Follow standard business formatting guidelines, as seen in this image. For a digital version, format your cover letter and resume as a PDF. For a hard copy, consider using unique paper stock and custom letterhead.

Tone and Structure

The tone should be positive, direct, and professional; it should also be free of quips and idioms. Moreover, write to a person, not an entire organization. Focus the letter on how you will add value to the company, not your skills and experience. Three to four paragraphs is an appropriate length. 

First paragraph: Introduce yourself and discuss why you want the job. Briefly mention your most relevant experience and emphasize why the company or the job interests you. Be specific!

·         Avoid generalizations such as, "… because your company is a leader in XX industry…" or "…I want to work with a quality organization…" 

·        Instead, mention something specific about the company that intrigues you. For example, "…because xyz Company has recently been awarded “preferred vendor status” with xyz…" or "…having read the 5-year strategic plan outlined on your website, I passionately believe that I have a winning combination of technical skills and business nous needed to help you attain those targets in your target market…"

Second paragraph: Next, discuss how your unique experience, skills, and attributes will add value to the company. Look for clues about what to highlight in the job posting. For example, if an employer asks for an outgoing personality, mention you enjoy working closely with clients, because of xyz reason. If the job requires specific technical skills, mention your certifications and summarize your experience with those skills.

Third paragraph:  Depending on your style and the job, you might want to include a third paragraph or a short list of bullet points to highlight specific examples that substantiate key points in the second paragraph. Share specific examples that are not included on your resume or CV. Be prepared to discuss these examples in detail during an interview.

Conclusion: Graciously close by thanking the reader for his or her time. Always include when and how to contact you, and insert a statement such as "I look forward to speaking with you in person about this position."

Make it Count

While not every employer requests a cover letter, it is always wise to compose and send one with your resume as it can help differentiate you from other applicants. Aside from standard formatting, you might also personalize the letter and make it unique by adding a head shot, links to your social profiles, or link to your online portfolio or website.  

Above all, be positive, specific, and direct to make your cover letter a worthwhile read and an effective tool to pique the employer's interest. For help constructing your cover letter, consider me as your personal professional resume and cover letter writer in Calgary!

Message From A Resume Writing Client

"Hi Ken, I just recommended your services to my brother 10 minutes ago. I want to thank you again for helping me with my resume earlier this year. I'm nearing the end of the contract I got with the help of your resume. (The job is awesome, by the way). The resume and cover letter you wrote helped me out a lot. It was the difference between sending out 100 resumes for 1 interview and in the search for my current job, sending out 5 resumes, getting 4 interviews, and then choosing who I wanted to work for.

 I recommend that anyone looking for work gets a professionally written resume. It completely changes the dynamics of a job search. Before, I would send out hundreds of resumes, to get one or two, maybe three interviews if I'm lucky. After getting a professionally written resume, I was able to focus my job search on getting a good job instead of just finding any job. Searching for my current job, I sent my resume out 5 times, got four interview offers, and after doing some more research I chose the company I wanted to work for, rather than hoping someone would take me.

 This job is more than just another job for me, it's my first full time teaching job. If you're sitting at home and complaining about how useless your humanities degree is because the best job you can get with it is the one you had in university (I know the feeling, that was me for three years), try getting a professional resume and then target your job search to something you really want to do.”

www.expertresumewriter.ca

Thanks Scott!

Students & Summer Jobs - Professional Resumes

If you’re currently studying toward a diploma or degree, do yourself a favour – make sure you accrue as much practical work experience as you can prior to graduating!   

However, attaining these summer jobs may not be as easy as it used to be.  A recent Vancouver Sun article shed light on what a B.C. economist claimed would be a tough summer for students looking for work.  Citing an underperforming economy and higher youth unemployment levels than four years ago, Bryan Hu of Central One Credit Union told the Vancouver Sun that “There's uncertainty on the part of businesses. As a result, they're not hiring and for businesses that are hiring, they may be looking for more seasoned veterans in the workforce that have the experience necessary for the positions.”

It may not just be in Canada where students looking to add invaluable work experience to their resume could struggle.  In the UK where the coffee house is one of the traditional strongholds of the summer student, a major national coffee house chain advertised for 8 roles and received 1700 applications.  This is clearly worrying for those seeking to bolster their resumes and bank balance prior to returning to their studies. So what can be done?  Create a professional resume, put on your best suit, and walk into each and every retail store in your area and personally deliver your documents.  Give employers the opportunity to see you, talk to you, and understand what you can do for them.  Failing that, set-up your own on-line business selling trinkets or gadgets.  Show some initiative…it can all go on your resume!

www.expertresumewriter.ca/about.html

New Graduates & Work Experience

As a certified professional resume writer, former executive recruiter, and recruitment consultancy owner, I understand the value that work experience on a resume can confer upon graduates seeking entry-level roles within their chosen profession upon graduation. 

In spite of a recent CBC documentary highlighting the plight of many graduates, unemployed or underemployed with mountains of debt, I still receive requests for resume assistance from undergrads with zero work experience.  Usually, the reason given for the lack of work experience on their resume is that they wanted to focus on their studies, or that they received advice from an elder that working in the usual coffee houses or restaurants is beneath them and wouldn’t look good on a resume.

Nothing could be further from the truth. To be clear, having no work entries on your resume at the time of graduation will put you at a severe disadvantage when competing with thousands of other applicants for your entry level role.  An employer respects the drive and determination shown by graduates who can demonstrate an ability to balance their academic studies with regular part-time employment.  It looks good on your resume.

A recent client who worked at a well-known coffee house gained experience of working in a customer-facing role in a highly-dynamic working environment.  He had responsibility for delivering outstanding customer service, supervising junior staff members, enforcing corporate policies and procedures, adhering to safe workplace practices, opening and closing the store, processing orders, handling cash, and producing daily operational reports for management. He even won an award for outstanding customer service.  Not working during your studies is not an option.  If I were reviewing resumes with a view to recruiting graduates, I’d exclusively seek out candidates with work experience on their resume. 

Easy Come, Easy Go.....

In August 2011, the Fraser Institute cited Alberta as having the best-performing job market among all jurisdictions thanks to the highest total employment growth and the second-lowest duration of unemployment.  Fast forward to the 2^nd Nov 2011 and the Calgary Herald was reporting that Calgary’s labour market was headed for a serious downturn.

Regardless of the manner in which labour market conditions are reported and the tales they convey, the need to have a professionally written resume at your disposal never changes.  The ability to impress a hiring team with a high-impact, well-written resume document and cover letter that actually sells you into your target role is of the utmost importance.

Life Begins At.......

With the anticipated retirement of a significant tranche of the workforce and a lack of suitably skilled or experienced professionals to fill the void, there is a growing realization among many HR professionals that sending older employees out to pasture despite the expertise cited in their resumes isn’t such a good idea after all!

Not so long ago Statistics Canada stated that the number of persons aged 65 years and over doubled between 1981 and 2009 and is expected to double again by 2036.  They also stated that there will be more seniors than children (under 15 years) in Canada for the first time ever, at some point between 2015 and 2021.  Given the anticipated shortfall of skilled labour, it would seem that there is a clear need to develop strategies aimed at retaining employees approaching retirement age.

So what do you do if you are an older employee who has been released by your employer?  In my experience, the older generation have tended to stick with the same company for many years, sometimes decades.  In situations like this, there often has never been a need to have a resume.  Taking a step back from a 20-30 year long career to contemplate what you have to offer a new employer can be a daunting task.  Of course, the fact that you have worked for one employer for so long, in itself, solicits questions at interview as to how you will adapt to working with new processes, policies, procedures, products and people. 

How do you structure such as resume?  Clearly, you do not want spend 3 pages explaining your day-to-day work activity as it was 20 years ago. You will have to edit your career down to two, high-impact pages of successes.  Not an easy task for most people.  Nonetheless, if you intend for your resume to be read, that is what you must accomplish.

Working with a professional to develop a coherent personal brand, high-impact resume strategy, and perfecting your interview skills can go a long way to helping you understand what you can offer, what you want, and the best way to go about getting it.

MAC It Yourself?

Over the course of the last 7 business days I received 4 client resumes that looked virtually identical.  It turns out that each client had used the very same template from their respective Apple iMac computers.  One can only imagine how widespread computer resume template usage actually is!

As per my article on the Canadian job market becoming more competitive than it has ever been in recent times, how wise is it use one of the world's most common resume templates in your bid to distinguish yourself from your peers?

If a job vacancy is keenly contested and all of the candidates have a similar skillset, what will make YOU stand out from the crowd?  Resume content?  Of course!  Content is King.  However, resume design is particularly important in communicating that all important first impression.  If the hiring manager opens up your document to find an exact copy of the preceding resume template, what message does that convey?

Every client I work with has made the decision to seek out professional assistance in compiling a resume and cover letter because they don't want to be seen as the same as everyone else.  They want to stand out!  They want to get past that initial screening and move forward to the interview stage. 

Having a professionally written resume gives you a powerful tool to help distinguish you from your peers.  Computer templates?  They are for the masses......let everyone else use them!