Job Hunter Newsletter
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Best College Cover Letters

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IN THIS ISSUE:

Contents

Job Search Video

"Eliminate Fillers in your Speaking in your Interview"

Chances are that you use meaningless filler phrases or words when you speak without even knowing it. While they don't tend to interfere when you are having a friendly conversation, they will be noticed in an interview setting. We tell you how to recognize and practice ridding yourself of this habit in our one-minute-video tip:

www.CollegeGrad.com/job-search-videos/eliminate-fillers-in-your-speaking-in-your-interview.shtml

CollegeGrad.com features more than 60 job tips in one minute video format. Review them all at:

www.CollegeGrad.com/job-search-videos

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

"Best College Cover Letters"

Take everything you have ever heard, read, or seen about cover letters and throw it out the window! That's right, 99.44 percent of the information about cover letters is useless. Contrary to some of the more fashionable books on job search, no one ever got a job because of a spiffy (or "perfect") cover letter. Cover letters are extremely limited in value, even when properly used.

Why are cover letters limited in value? Three reasons. First, most people assume that the cover letter is actually read before the resume. Wrong. Just ask those who spend any portion of the work day reviewing resumes—they typically go past the cover letter directly to the resume and only look at the cover letter if they are still interested after their initial resume review. In my review of more than sixty thousand resumes over the past twenty plus years, I have probably read only ten thousand cover letters. It is actually rather amusing to watch a Hiring Manager reading a newly arrived resume. The cover letter is put to the side, and the resume is scanned first, then read. And you know there is interest if they finally make their way back to the cover letter.

Second, most people assume that the cover letter should be about you. Wrong again. It should be about the company, your prospect, your target. Your resume will tell them everything they need to know about you (if it is well written). If you are interested enough in the company to make an initial contact, take the time to fully reflect your understanding of the company and how you may be able to meet their needs in your cover letter.

Third, and most important, many college students end up using the cover letter/resume mass mailing/e-mailing/posting as a crutch to convince themselves that they are actually doing something in their job search. "But I sent out over two hundred resumes!" In reality, all they are doing is generating rejection letters. Mass mailing/e-mailing/posting of your cover letter and resume has extremely low odds for success in today's job market.

Please understand that at the entry level a resume and cover letter on their own do little good. Most larger companies have established college recruiting programs which serve as the focal point of entry level hiring. Therefore, unsolicited entry level resumes are often ignored. Many small and medium-sized companies do not have the internal resources necessary to train entry level hires, so the entry level resumes are simply filed. The best you can hope for in a blind mailing campaign is that you will be filed away and perhaps miraculously resurrected at some future date. Highly unlikely.

Next newsletter: "The Best Use of a Cover Letter"

Contents

Education Center

"Continuing Education Now Easier to Manage"

Education may have its benefits, but it's still an investment of time. Fortunately, technological advances make earning your degree easier to manage than ever, even if you're working full-time or supporting a family. Online degree programs are booming, both in number and credibility. Many are accredited, and most allow you to work whenever and wherever you can. Even campus-based programs typically cater to a working adult's schedule, offering night and weekend courses.

Browse Top Online Degree Programs:

www.CollegeGrad.com/education/

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:

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 is being continually updated at CollegeGrad.com. So the most current version of the book is actually the online, free version.

Disclaimer: please note that all of the links were active as of the newsletter publication, but some may become inactive over time.


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