You know you're good. Your last or current employer knows you're good. Your spouse or partners tells you you're good. So why is it so hard to toot your own horn when it comes to putting together a job application and presenting yourself at an interview?
I don't profess to understand. What I do know is that it's usually the candidate who presents her/himself the best who gets the job, not necessarily the best-qualified.
The days where you could rely on your supervisor to recognize your abilities and promote you appropriately are gone - they went, in my opinion, during the recession in the 1980s, when large corporations most obviously showed their lack of loyalty to their employees and fired huge chunks of their workforces. More jobs are being created in small and medium sized businesses in Canada in the last 15 years or so (see http://www.rbc.com/newsroom/20061030smallbiz.html, http://ehobdxsqtwdqeete.nqi.com/articles/article_details.aspx?ID=600 and http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/sbrp-rppe.nsf/en/rd02101e.html), and there is often much less room for promotion in small business since there is usually already a large amount of responsibility placed on each employee.
So how do you promote yourself and your abilities to a new employer? I suggest starting by asking yourself the following questions:
What am I proudest of, specifically?
And come up with some powerful examples of your work to answer these questions:
Not just what did I do, but what did I do WELL?
What positive feedback have I received on performance reviews? (keep these!)
What are the top 3 skills or experiences I bring to the job I am seeking to get?
Examples are powerful tools. Think of every laundry soap commercial you have ever seen. What's the one common factor? Clean laundry. Show your "clean laundry" to an employer - it's a strategy that has worked for laundry soap for years, why not you too?
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Writing "Killer" Cover Letters
A lot of people tell me they are intimidated by writing cover letters. Writing a cover letter is like writing a hit pop song: just follow the formula! My favourite site for cover letter help is QuintCareers, at http://www.quintcareers.com/covres.html.
______________________________
THE FORMULA
Your Contact Info
Address, Phone, etc
Remember - this is a business proposal!
Date - really important!
Company's Contact Info
Include snail mail address
E-mail address if submitting my e-mail
Remember - this is a business letter!
Dear Ms. __________:
It's worth the 10-second phone call to a reception person to try to get a name. How much attention does your junk mail at home, address "Dear Occupant" get? Not much.
And "Ms." is safer than "Miss" or "Mrs" if you don't know the marital status or age of a woman contact.
1st Paragraph: This is just the W5 - who, what when, where and why.
Who are you? What, in just a few words, are your top qualifications for this job?
What job are you applying for?
When and Where did you see the job advertised or did you hear about it?
Why (briefly) are you interested in this job? in working for this company?
That's it - nothing fancy. Just the W5.
Middle Paragraph(s): Provide some detail of your qualifications as they relate to the job you are seeking. If you have a job ad, refer to the requirements in the ad! If you don't have a job ad (ie, you heard a rumour of a job or you think you'd be a good fit somewhere and you are applying on speculation), write one for yourself with what you think are the skills the company needs the most. Use examples and show proof of your qualifications - even say, "For example..."! It's unconventional, and therefore a small risk, but you can even lay out a comparison table of their needs and your skills, like this:
You may find you need more than one paragraph, and that's fine. Just make sure that there is some logic to how your information is organized: for instance, one paragraph on education/training and another on experience; or one on technical skills and one on transferable skills. Do provide proof of yours skills - results, grades, the purposes behind your actions. They are much more interesting to read than an un-qualified "laundry list" of skills.
Closing Paragraph: Thank the employer for reading your letter. If they read to this point, you wrote a good letter, so good job! Also indicate some confidence that you will be invited to an interview, with something like "Looking forward to speaking with you in person" or the like. And that's all you need to put in the letter.
Sincerely,
Sign here if delivering on paper or faxing!
Type Your Name
__________________________________
The first paragraph is the W5, the last paragraph is just thanks and looking forward, and the middle is just connecting the dots between the employer's needs and your background. When an HR person is facing a stack of 100 applications, you need to connect those dots for her/him - s/he doesn't have time to do it for you in the 10-20 seconds your application will get the first time it is looked at. (And if it doesn't catch attention, it won't get looked at again.)
Here are the most common questions I hear, and the answers:
"Do I have to send a cover letter for every job application?"
Yes. Now, anecdotally, I can tell you that only about half of employers will read the letter before your résumé, but you never know which half you are dealing with. So yes, send a cover letter with every résumé. They are a pair, like socks.
"Do I have to send a unique letter with each application?"
Not every job is the same, and every company is different too, so yes, you will send a unique letter for each application you make. That doesn't mean you have to re-invent the wheel every time you write a cover letter, either: once you have written a solid letter, you can adjust it appropriately for each application.
Be sure to save each one individually, though - you may need an old letter for reference when you are called for an interview! Keep any job ads and leads you respond to too so you don't forget where you applied.
______________________________
THE FORMULA
Your Contact Info
Address, Phone, etc
Remember - this is a business proposal!
Date - really important!
Company's Contact Info
Include snail mail address
E-mail address if submitting my e-mail
Remember - this is a business letter!
Dear Ms. __________:
It's worth the 10-second phone call to a reception person to try to get a name. How much attention does your junk mail at home, address "Dear Occupant" get? Not much.
And "Ms." is safer than "Miss" or "Mrs" if you don't know the marital status or age of a woman contact.
1st Paragraph: This is just the W5 - who, what when, where and why.
Who are you? What, in just a few words, are your top qualifications for this job?
What job are you applying for?
When and Where did you see the job advertised or did you hear about it?
Why (briefly) are you interested in this job? in working for this company?
That's it - nothing fancy. Just the W5.
Middle Paragraph(s): Provide some detail of your qualifications as they relate to the job you are seeking. If you have a job ad, refer to the requirements in the ad! If you don't have a job ad (ie, you heard a rumour of a job or you think you'd be a good fit somewhere and you are applying on speculation), write one for yourself with what you think are the skills the company needs the most. Use examples and show proof of your qualifications - even say, "For example..."! It's unconventional, and therefore a small risk, but you can even lay out a comparison table of their needs and your skills, like this:
| YOU NEED: | I BRING: |
| Simply Accounting | training in the latest version, including a run-through of the complete accounting cycle |
You may find you need more than one paragraph, and that's fine. Just make sure that there is some logic to how your information is organized: for instance, one paragraph on education/training and another on experience; or one on technical skills and one on transferable skills. Do provide proof of yours skills - results, grades, the purposes behind your actions. They are much more interesting to read than an un-qualified "laundry list" of skills.
Closing Paragraph: Thank the employer for reading your letter. If they read to this point, you wrote a good letter, so good job! Also indicate some confidence that you will be invited to an interview, with something like "Looking forward to speaking with you in person" or the like. And that's all you need to put in the letter.
Sincerely,
Sign here if delivering on paper or faxing!
Type Your Name
__________________________________
The first paragraph is the W5, the last paragraph is just thanks and looking forward, and the middle is just connecting the dots between the employer's needs and your background. When an HR person is facing a stack of 100 applications, you need to connect those dots for her/him - s/he doesn't have time to do it for you in the 10-20 seconds your application will get the first time it is looked at. (And if it doesn't catch attention, it won't get looked at again.)
Here are the most common questions I hear, and the answers:
"Do I have to send a cover letter for every job application?"
Yes. Now, anecdotally, I can tell you that only about half of employers will read the letter before your résumé, but you never know which half you are dealing with. So yes, send a cover letter with every résumé. They are a pair, like socks.
"Do I have to send a unique letter with each application?"
Not every job is the same, and every company is different too, so yes, you will send a unique letter for each application you make. That doesn't mean you have to re-invent the wheel every time you write a cover letter, either: once you have written a solid letter, you can adjust it appropriately for each application.
Be sure to save each one individually, though - you may need an old letter for reference when you are called for an interview! Keep any job ads and leads you respond to too so you don't forget where you applied.
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