While not every decision maker reads a cover letter, it remains an important factor in your job search and should not be overlooked. Without an enticing cover letter, some hiring influencers will not even peruse a resume. Your cover letter has to be compelling for your resume to get noticed … and that’s an important job.
Your resume will be highly scrutinized by the trained eye of executive recruiters and hiring managers. They see thousands of cover letters and can readily interpret when the same letter has been used for each advertised job. Personalizing a cover letter, however, demonstrates to the hiring manager your interest in the position and determination to stand out. Taking the time to research an employer and customize your cover letter differentiates your candidacy from the rest of the applicant pool. It’s that simple yet so often overlooked.
There are five types of cover letters, each with a specific purpose and audience:
Advertisement – your response to sell yourself as the ideal candidate for a specific, advertised position
Recruiter – an introduction to a recruiter to sell yourself as a valuable potential candidate for their client projects.
Direct Mail – target a specific company or organization to sell yourself as an interested, highly qualified candidate
Networking – share key contacts to establish credibility and a genuine connection to sell yourself as the ideal candidate for an available position or introduction to a company
Pain – seize the opportunity to portray yourself as a proactive executive and solicit a position at a target employer by presenting a business case on how you will solve a company’s pain.
Are you confident enough in your writing ability to sell your skills in a few short paragraphs, especially when your career future lies at stake? If the answer is no, you are not alone. Elite Resumes has mastered the art of effective writing to sell talent, abilities and skills that attract attention and advance the careers of executives. This is what we do every day and we can do it for you.
Here are sample cover letters written by Elite Resume to make our clients stand out:
