Perhaps an employer is interested in how you think. How you highlight and express your skills and talents. A crafted cover letter acts as a bridge between what an employer is looking for and her skill set.
In a cover letter, you should address the keywords in the job description. It’s impossible to have a single cover letter to apply for all jobs these days. Instead, you should tailor a cover letter to show the skills that are applicable to the job you’re applying for just like you do when you customize your resume to fit a different job.
You need to be selective and target an audience by including keywords and phrases that match what an employer is looking for. Say, for example, you were applying for jobs in auditing, accounting, sales, and marketing, the keywords you would focus on on your resume would have to do with financial skills and marketing experience. He wouldn’t highlight his skills as a sniper even if he worked part-time as an instructor in a field he’s not applying for.
Your cover letter should focus on specific skills. It is not up to the employer to define who you are based on your many talents to determine if you are “fit” for a position. Instead, you should select and highlight the skills that demonstrate your ability to do the job and present your qualifications in a well-defined and organized cover letter.
There was a time when college graduates literally put all of their skills on a resume and hoped the employer would create a job for them. The trends are different today. You’re expected to do the hard work of deciding what kind of job you want and present your skills in a finely honed cover letter and resume that speaks to what you want to do. The qualifications an employer is looking for are usually written in the job description of the ad. While the cover letter doesn’t regurgitate all of the information on your resume, it does summarize your most relevant experiences, skills, and characteristics of the job and highlights examples from your background that support these experiences. While it is true that sometimes when you are hired for a particular job, you may find that the job is something different than the job description. However, an employer expects a resume that fits the job.
Here are some techniques for creating a variety of powerful cover letters that are tailored to unique situations. For example:
• Develop social media job search skills that will pay off for years to come. If you play your cards right! When you learn how to create animated networking letters and thank you notes to build and maintain a positive list of contacts, you’ll be able to take advantage of this information when searching for job opportunities. This is accomplished by joining online social networks, engaging people in networking events, and building a brilliant contact list of family members, associations, colleagues, discussion groups, supervisors, and leaders in your field.
• Discover Sales and Marketing secrets to speed up the time it takes to land interviews by polishing a targeted resume and follow-up letter. A LinkedIn profile, for example, is a combination of a sales letter and a bio that also features your image.
• Tailor special situation letters to handle job gaps, name removal, and application letters, as well as recommendation, personal statements, and job proposal letters.
• Tell your story in a carefully crafted, animated profile that can be modified to add excitement to a Google, LinkedIn, or Twitter bio, as well as many other social networking sites. The bio showcases and markets your skills, knowledge, and abilities to get jobs or promote your products.
• On LinkedIn, for example, it’s nice to have recommendations from others who have provided glowing recommendations that showcase your work as a professional. Commenting on others’ blogs, joining and participating in groups that discuss topics related to your work is a great way to develop contacts and improve your credibility.
• As a bonus, you can start your own group to increase your reputation as an expert in your field. Create a profile that highlights your accomplishments, provide talking points and opinions, and ask others to contribute. Answer questions and provide your own opinions on different topics. Type the words Meet Up as well as the area where you live into the address bar of a search engine like Google to generate a list of groups you can join to build or share skills.
Strategies for Writing Exceptional Cover Letters
• Use transferable skills that can be transferred from one setting to another, such as leadership, coaching, communication, and conflict resolution skills.
• Match your stationery to your resume if you are mailing it. You can create a format that is the same as the format of your resume.
• Write the name, address and zip code of the person you are addressing the letter to. Try to find the name of a contact’s hiring manager who works at the organization you’d like to work for. Do not use Dear Sir or Madam.
• Write the cover letter in 10 to 12 point font and keep it to four or five paragraphs.
• Do not lie or exaggerate because what you say may be disputed in your interview.
• Avoid negative and controversial information
• Don’t use too many “I’s” in your cover letter.
• Discuss your job-related skills, such as working with people, data, ideas, and things.