Cover letter writing is very nearly as vital a skill for a job seeker to learn as resume writing. The cover letter accompanies the resume at all times as the primary support document. Whether you use traditional mail, email, faxing, or another type of electronic submission, this should always be sent with the resume. Here are, of course, additional tools youll use when job in quest of. Your cover letter and resume come first of course, followed by follow-up letters, thank-you letters for after the interview, reference sheets, salary histories, and job acceptance letters. If you have excellent cover letter writing skills, and excellent resume writing skills, the additional written tools should be a snap to compose.
Your goal in this is to get the attention of the hiring manager, just as it is with resume writing. The method and plot are a small different but. Your resume will cover all, or most of your professional career, and will be from one to two pages. Your cover letter will be a very brief page serving as an introduction to the resume. Cover letter writing style must be direct, to the point, and able to grab the attention of the reader quickly, with a goal of making the reader want to read the attached resume.
Many people, when engaged in this type of writing, have a tendency to say too much. Excellent cover letter writing is small and punchy, and will take two or three key points from the resume and emphasize them. The ancient principle tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them holds right in both resume writing and cover letter writing.
As an example, lets assume that you are a materials handling manager for a defense service provider, in quest of another spot. In your line of work the buzz terms are MRP, lean manufacturing, ISO 9000, and cost savings. Your writing efforts should reflect these buzz terms to show your value to your current employer and any future employers. Your resume will go into more detail in this area how you accomplished these goals. The cover letter will simply point out to the hiring manager that you accomplished them. An example of this would be two bulleted paragraphs in the body of the letter that say .
Experienced in quality assurance and quality control, MRP, ISO 9000, QS 9000, and Lean Manufacturing.
Demonstrated consequences in saving significant cash for employers through cost savings, inventory level reductions, and on-time supplier manner of language.
The hiring manager, according to many surveys, devotes only in this area fifteen seconds to each resume and cover letter he or she reviews. With that in mind your writing skills need to be top notch to get this person to look at your resume. Your resume writing skills need to be just as excellent to get the reader to want to grant you an interview. In turn, your interviewing skills need to be brilliant to get the hiring manager to offer you the spot. This long, and with a bit of luck positive chain of events starts with excellent cover letter writing skills and ends with job satisfaction and a nice paycheck.
