Job Hunter Newsletter
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The Best Use of a Cover Letter

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IN THIS ISSUE:

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Contents

- Job Search Tip of the Week, by Brian Krueger, author of "College Grad Job Hunter," the #1 book for entry level job search:

"The Best Use of a Cover Letter"

So when should you use a cover letter? Only as part of a limited, targeted campaign to reach potential employers. Take the time to research and understand a company before committing yourself on paper as a potential employee. If you have no idea what the company does, do not just send your resume and cover letter in blind hope of making a potential match. If you are not willing to invest the time and energy to find out whether a match is possible, why do you expect me as the Hiring Manager to do so?

A successful cover letter should be specific and personal. It should be clean, neat laser copy, yet not mass generated. Each letter should refer to a specific person at a specific company and provide a specific next step that you will be taking. If you wait for them to call you, your odds of contact decrease dramatically. It usually requires a proactive response on your part to move the process forward to the next level. The "Squeaky Wheel Theory" (i.e. the one that gets the grease) is alive and well in the employment marketplace. If you make the effort to contact me, I will respond to you. If you passively wait for your phone to ring, do not expect me to call. If you wait for your resume and cover letter to magically produce results, you will likely find yourself buried underneath reams of other resumes. Be the one who stands out.

The cover letter should cover two important points: (1) what your product can do for your customer (the company), and (2) what your customer will need to do to buy your product.

If that sounds like marketing mumbo-jumbo, please consider that most marketing people miss that point. They spend all the time telling about themselves and their "great" product, when they really should be concentrating on how it will benefit the customer.

If you have no idea how you can benefit that customer, then you may be wasting everyone's time (including your own) in even attempting a reasonable job search. You will most certainly fail any interview. Go back to square one and start over.

Ask any astute marketing person the following question: "What is your competitive advantage in the marketplace?" If that person is good, you will get a quick and ready answer. You should also have a ready answer to the very same question. If you are just another player in the already very crowded entry level job market, you will not be noticed.

If you are not sure what differentiates you from the rest of the market, find out! Research your background and make note of the areas where you excel. And make that your number one focus in writing the cover letter.

A basic formula for cover letters is as follows:

  • Standard business letter format - prospect name, title, company, address--top left
  • Salutation (yes, it should be to a real person--take time to know who your target is)
  • First paragraph - why you are writing? To meet that company's specific need(s)!
  • Second paragraph - briefly state two or three top skills (from the Summary section of your resume), then immediately follow with benefit after benefit that these features (and you as a person) will provide to the company.
  • Third paragraph - close! Not just the "close" to the letter, but the "sales closer" to the letter. Close the sale. Give your target contact a specific action to take and a backup action you will take if you do not get a response.

That's it! For an example of this format, please refer to the sample cover letter on the next page. But remember--what is right for one person can sound canned or contrived for the next. Take the time to write a basic cover letter structure you feel comfortable with, then customize it to the specific needs of the specific customer (or at least the industry).

Next newsletter: "Sample Cover Letter"

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Contents

- Help Spread The Word!

Do you know of someone who can benefit from the information in this newsletter? Simply forward this e-mail to them and tell them to subscribe at http://www.CollegeGrad.com/newsletter. Thanks for spreading the good word!

Contents

Job Search Links:

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Contents

- Job Search Book Online

There are at least two other entry level Web sites that offer books on job searching, proclaming that they will tell you everything you need to know about entry level job search.

However, there is a very important point about these books they don't mention up front: they cost money.

At CollegeGrad.com, we give you two things they don't:

1. The #1 entry level job search book ("College Grad Job Hunter").
2. It's free.

It's that simple. So don't buy the hype. Read the real information you need for FREE:

http://www.CollegeGrad.com/book

Don't ever pay for books or reports or resources of lower quality when you can access the very best quality information for free.

P.S. Yes, you can buy "College Grad Job Hunter" in hardcopy format as well at Amazon.com for $15 (actually, 30% off that price), but the online version is better. Why? Because the version at Amazon.com (the 2003 edition) is being continually updated at CollegeGrad.com. So the most current version of the book is actually the online, free version.

Contents

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