By Rachel Rooney, Toppel Peer Advisor
You’ve done it. You’ve submitted your resume and been
approved on HireACane.com. You’ve been to Career Expo and passed out copies of
your amazing and impressive resumes. You are now getting ready to apply for
jobs. Ahead of you are applications, resumes, and cover letters. After you make
it through, you win an interview. Cover letters are perhaps the hardest part of
the application. It’s not the same thing as a personal statement; when I find
that I have to write cover letters I end up writing personal statements! Toppel
recommends a format for cover letters that is one-two-three paragraphs and then
you’re done.
Paragraph one defines the purpose of your letter: what
position you are applying for, why you want it, what you hope to gain and
contribute to the company, what skills you have. This is not a place to restate
what is on your resume, but you do want to show that you are a qualified and
____ candidate.
In the second paragraph, focus on the specific position and
organization you are applying for. Do your research beforehand and attend
employer information sessions held at Toppel. Scroll through the company
website and the job description. Mention something interesting you learned from
your research and focus on how your skill set would benefit the organization.
Give examples of when you had to use your skills and your strengths.
The final paragraph allows you to take action. Ask to set up
an interview or a follow up meeting. Restate your phone number and your email
address. Indicate your enclosed resume and thank the reader for his/her time
and consideration. Finish with sincerely and your name and you’ll be good to
go!
A few things to watch out for are the length and grammatical
and spelling errors. Do not address your letter to “to whom it may concern”
instead address it directly to the person. If you do not have a contact,
address it “dear hiring manager.” Be sure to include your address and the date
at the top of the page, followed by the full address of the organization.
If you need any help at all, come to walk in hours at Toppel
between 10:00 AM and 4:30 PM Monday through Thursday.
No comments:
Post a Comment