Writing a cover letter to get noticed
Your cover letter gets their attention. Hook their interest so they notice you.
When most people start a job search, they usually focus entirely on writing a strong resume. Their cover letter doesn’t get a lot of attention, almost an afterthought. This is a wasted opportunity, because hiring managers will read your cover letter first, so you need to hook their interest so they notice you.
Dos and Don’ts
If you fill your cover letter with references to your resume - such as “As you can see on my resume…” - then the recruiter will quickly lose interest in reading the cover letter. If everything is in the resume, why bother reading the cover letter? Instead, you can use the cover letter to get their attention, and by doing so, get them excited to read more about you in your resume.
A good cover letter tells the hiring manager or HR director why you are interested in the position. It also should make a personal connection while remaining professional. Each of those is a brief paragraph.
You should also point to a few key highlights of some attention-grabbing projects, written in “Results by Actions” style. Include no more than three of these; too many, and you’ll lose their attention. Remember, you want them to build enough interest that they want to read your resume. If you load up the resume with too much information, the reader may feel that they’ve read everything about you and skip the resume.
Wrap up with a call to action - they should call you back for an interview. This can be a short statement that welcomes a personal interview as a follow-up.
Cover letter example
The cover letter isn’t generic. You should always write a new cover letter for each position you apply to. But you don’t have to start from “zero” each time; you can leverage a kind of “template” to write your cover letter. Here’s a sample cover letter that you might use as a starting point:
YOUR NAME
phone · email · linkedin
I was very interested in your recent posting of Technical Writer and Editor. As an innovative technical writer with extensive experience in corporate environments, I can make a significant and positive impact in this role.
I have a proven track record in working collaboratively with engineering teams and technical writers to get the job done. My peers at my current organization would tell you I have transformed how we provide technical documentation for our customers, helping them to learn the product quickly. More recently, I earned a Master's degree (MS) in Scientific and Technical Communication from the University of Minnesota, which has made me more productive and efficient in creating new work products.
Highlights from current organization:
- Brief sentence to highlight an important recent project. No more than 1-2 lines on the page.
- Brief sentence to highlight an important project. No more than 1-2 lines on the page.
- Brief sentence to highlight a recent project. No more than 1-2 lines on the page.
If you are looking for a Technical Writer and Editor who will make an immediate and positive impact to Acme Corp, I welcome a personal interview to discuss how my qualifications will benefit you.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely,
Your Name
This sample is written for a technical writer position. Note how it starts by making a connection to the position, then provides a few highlights with experience.
When discussing your career highlights, it’s okay to be very brief. After all, you want the hiring manager to read your cover letter and think, “I want to read more in this person’s resume.” By providing brief “bullets,” you grab the reader’s attention and get them interested in reading your resume.
How brief you should be in each highlight depends on your level of experience. In general, I recommend following the “Results by Actions” model, so you start with the important information (what you achieved, such as the project you helped move forward) and follow with brief detail about how you got there (what you did).
Don’t forget the details
A good cover letter should provide all your contact information, so the hiring manager can reach out to you even if they don’t have your resume on hand. For example, within smaller companies, hiring managers may share applicants with other hiring managers if they think the candidate is a good fit. Technically, this is a breach of privacy - but we know it happens. If all the other person has is your cover letter, not your resume, they will need to know how to contact you.
Don’t forget to include your key contact information on your resume, including your phone number, email address, and LinkedIn profile.
Jim Hall is CEO of Hallmentum, an IT executive consulting company that provides hands-on IT Leadership training, workshops, and coaching. | LinkedIn