How to Start Your Cover Letter, Cover Letters, LiveCareer, opening cover letter paragraphs examples.3/28/2017 Ah, writing the dreaded cover letter. The vital piece of the job hunt that almost no one enjoys. How can you possibly convey to an employer the depths of your awesomeness in just one page? Or, more importantly, what can you write to keep the reader engaged for the minute plus it takes to skim through one? Gen-Y women are one of the fastest growing demographics of entrepreneurs in the world, and SheTakesOnTheWorld.com is their soul-stirring sanctuary. Listed by Forbes on "Top 10 Entrepreneurial Sites for Women," She Takes on the World provides training, resources, support, inspiration, and mentorship. Do your research on the company and the particular role offered. Glassdoor and LinkedIn are helpful resources for research, but also read articles, talk to your network, and do your due diligence. This also ensures that you don’t waste your time applying to a job you never wanted in the first place. I've helped 7 companies reach $1 Billion. How can I help you? This paragraph should grab the reader’s attention and announce your qualifications right away, e.g. “As a curator with over 10 years of experience building, producing, and executing art shows for my own gallery, I was inspired to see the MOMA’s posting for [X] position.” If a specific person referred you, make sure to drop her/his name in the first line. Getting a personal reference is the most important way to assure that your letter (and attached resume) will be read. This paragraph contains a quick sentence or two summing up your elevator pitch, e.g. “My extensive management training combined with a strong sales track record will allow me to immediately add value to your team.” GoGirlFinance is a fast growing community of women looking to learn about and provide financial wisdom across money management, lifestyle, family and career topics. GoGirl Finance is a place where women can come to gain confidence with — and take control of — their financial lives. For more tips, follow GoGirl Finance on Twitter @GoGirlFinance and like us on Facebook at facebook.com/gogirlfinance. 4. Fourth (shortest) paragraph-SALUTATIONS and follow up details While writing great cover letters takes effort and practice, it’s imperative that you get that practice by a) including a cover letter with each application working mother essay, and b) changing it for each job. No two jobs are exactly alike and therefore your cover letters should not be either. By tailoring your letter to the job you demonstrate to the reader both your understanding of the position as well as your desire to fill it. Speaking of the reader, always remember to address the letter to a specific person. Call the company, or check LinkedIn or the company site to avoid a generic greeting. As a career coach, I always tell my clients that the key to writing a powerful cover letter is perspective. You have to put yourself in the position of the reader and think about what the employer needs to see in order to prove your value in the role. While you are writing, always keep this perspective in mind. Use the job description, both in terms of style and content, as well as other research on the company and position to suss out exactly why you are the perfect candidate. The following outline will make sure your cover letter actually contains this pertinent info: The first sentence or two of your cover letter are the most important ones. Recruiting managers have to read through a lot of cover letters, so you want yours to stand out right away. You need to engage the reader's attention and start the process of explaining why you should be selected for an interview. Use keywords. If you can include any keywords from the job listing, do so. For example, you might mention a skill you have that was included in the listing. Updated January 16, 2017 A strong resume cover letter can mean the difference between landing a job interview and getting passed over. Read and live by this comprehensive cover letter guide from our resume expert and professional resume writer Kimberly Sarmiento and check out her cover letter examples for inspiration. • Led Six Sigma project related to FMLA administration and online orientation programs for Lean Belt training. If you are wondering how to write a compelling cover letter, read on for Kimberly’s advice and examples. However, ignoring the request could disqualify you as well. Ergo, I suggest you research the average salary for the position you are applying to in the state of the opening and include a range slightly above and below that number. This sheet should include the first and last name of your references, their titles and company names, city and state, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses if possible. There are several sites that have compiled census and other data information to give you a decent estimate of salaries by position in specific cities and states (Payscale is a great place to start). So if the average salary of your job is $60K for the location where you live (or want to live), list your salary requirements as $55K to $65K. Again, no salary information should be included in a resume. I typically don’t even include information about bonuses or commissions for sales representatives (just awards like President’s Club or Top 5%) . Note: In professional resume writing, it has become passé to include a list of references on your resume or even the line “references available upon request.” Such information takes up valuable real estate on your resume (which should be 1-2 pages max) and it is best to focus on your achievements and qualifications instead. Besides, the hiring managers know you will give them references when they request them. • Created a spreadsheet that listed bank and routing numbers to expedite processing of expense reports. The best way to do that is to call out two or three things that you have done professionally to catch their attention and make them want to know more about you. Make sure you customize the letter to highlight the achievements most relevant for each position. I look forward to raising my children in this community and someday teaching them at Rosewood High School. Please review my attached resume. I will be contacting you next week to schedule an interview. Thank you for your consideration. • Handled biweekly accounts payable processing of checks and ACH payments; reconciled payments made to accounts payable software and addressed any discrepancies that arose.
1. First and foremost, the letter must be grammatically correct and error free! If you are not a particularly good writer, have someone read and edit the document for you. One problematic area is if they ask for salary requirements to be included in your cover letter. Companies make this request to help them rule out individuals with higher salary requirements than they have budgeted for the position, but it can also lock you into a lower pay range than they might offer you otherwise. One way to distinguish yourself as a job candidate is to research the company you are interviewing with and talk about things you like or ask questions about the work they have coming up. This demonstrates your interest in their particular organization as opposed to them being just another job ad you responded to in your desperate attempt to find employment. Pam’s Take: Nice concise approach for an entry-level candidate. She doesn’t have years of nursing experience to point to, so she highlights her training and how her non-nursing work experience has also helped to prepare her. As an Accounts Payable & Receivable Specialist. I offer a proven ability to accurately process invoices, payments, reimbursements, and tax reports. I quickly learn and adapt to software changes and updates and help team members resolve issues and problems they are having with data input and processing. Good article, Pam. I agree totally with points 2 and 3. I recently was coaching someone on how to use step 2. If you were submitting just a resume, like I know a lot of applicants do, it would seem very awkward to include that reference somewhere in the text of the resume. It is good to include that in the first couple sentences to make the person’s name stand out. Additionally, in some job ads, the company will ask for specific information to be included in your cover letter. This technique is used to make screening easier — if someone can’t follow simple application directions, why waste time on an interview? Pay careful attention to the information they request and be sure to address it. Examples of my work include: There is no right way to include in your resume, “Our mutual associate John Smith referred me to this role and says he thinks I will make a great fit for the job opening.” That is a reference line reserved solely for the opening paragraph of a cover letter. There are multiple ways you can mention a network connection or mutual friend in a cover letter, but such a statement has no place in a resume whatsoever. As CPA and MBA, I am confident I will prove valuable to your company and respectfully submit my resume for your review. I would also like to request a personal meeting to discuss your upcoming goals and how I can help you achieve them. I will make myself available at your convenience and look forward to your call. Thank you for your consideration. • Drove successful launch of start-up company by hiring a talent team, defining product development plans, and leading go-to-market strategies to achieve $35M+ revenue and 50% margins within two years. I am also known for my ability to help identify and implement key technology and process improvements. I am well-versed in Six Sigma methods and have lead projects which produced significant and sustainable savings. Other examples of my work include: Confident my transferable skills make me a solid candidate for this opening, I respectfully submit my resume for your review and request a meeting to discuss the opportunity further. I will make myself available at your convenience and look forward to your call to arrange a time. Thank you for your time and consideration. Your cover letter is your first impression on employers. And the first paragraph of your cover letter needs to make the biggest impact thesis on it management, if you want to grab an employers attention. Take the time to get your cover letter off to a rousing start, and you’ll reap the benefits with more interviews, and more chances to land the job of your dreams. Remember that the first paragraph of your cover letter is your official introduction to the company and the hiring manager. If the first paragraph of your cover letter has spelling errors or doesn't read smoothly, then that reflects poorly on you. Dear Mr. Henry Potter, My name is George Bailey and I'm inquiring about open positions with your firm. I'm submitting my credentials as a rent collector for your consideration. The LiveCareer website has a cover letter builder you can use to create the ideal opening to help get your cover letter noticed by employers. You can also use our cover letter examples to see how the first paragraph of your cover letter should look. The first paragraph of your cover letter will need to be more descriptive if you're sending a resume to a company that hasn't advertised an open position. Proactive job hunters send resumes to companies that they'd like to work for, regardless of whether or not the companies are advertising for help. It's a common job hunting tactic, and it requires the first paragraph of your cover letter to look something like this: I just applied on Saturday…too soon to tell. I will certainly keep Alison updated! Wow. I want to hire her and I don’t even live near a castle. I agree. My personal trick is to write the letter in my speaking voice, including contractions and slang, and then take out anything inappropriate when I edit. When I’m done, I have a letter that sounds like me but isn’t too casual. Isn’t this cover a little long winded? How many hiring agents are actually gonna take the time to read something this long? I’ve been checking cover letters since I am about to write my first, and this is by far the best I’ve ever encountered (after 3 hours of reading some). Thank you very much. ) “Hair and personal qualities”? Woo hoo, I have those. ) Thank you for posting such good examples of conversational cover letters, and a special thank you to the writer for allowing it to be posted! Here’s the thing…how much time does it take you to actually *write*? Can you get that first draft on paper in under 30 minutes, or does it take you three hours because you get stuck agonizing over whether to say “used” or “utilized”? If the actual writing process moves fairly quickly, then I think you have the right idea. Thank you for this. I’m graduating with my masters in a few months and have recently realized that a promotion will not happen as expected in my current role. This is exactly the inspiration I needed to take my cover letters to the next level! A field-specific comment: I’ve done hiring for lawyers, and this would be unusually informal in that field. Not that I expect or want “Dear Sir or Madam,” but the contractions and colloquialisms (“Nice touch!”) would stand out, and not necessarily in a good way. However, I think a candidate who used slightly more formal language with this kind of open, conversational tone would be really appealing to a hiring manager. Thanks so much for following up with this and sharing with us that you did not get an interview for the position. I have been out of work for over two years. I needed a little help in closing my cover letter. Your example of the cover letter was extremely helpful. THANK YOU for sharing – very helpful indeed! Great job, original cover-letter-writer. I have also switched to using this style and I’m convinced it has helped me land interviews I may not otherwise have gotten! Oh my Game of Thrones name switches lol. Nice touch! Now that that is out of the way, thank you. I have had the hardest time trying to find a real life Cover Letter example. All I kept coming across were reiterations of resumes, lame “5 line only” instructions, and supremely confusing, unhelpful examples of people with mountains of schooling and experience (that I do not posses). This before and after is amazing, and easy to understand! I finally feel like this is something I can accomplish and even possibly do well. Thank you thank you thank you. I present it here with these caveats, borne of experience with previous samples: Go back to the “hiring is like dating” thing. “Colleen, I saw your profile on the site and I enjoy women who possess hair and personal qualities.” Do you say “Woo, sign me up”? I’ve gone from an angry ball of hate from last year to an optimistic, almost happy person. Working toward landing that dream job now… at 11 pm. I’m curious to know if fresh graduates with no working experience should put in their hobbies in their cover letters. It’s great to see another example of the type of letter that hiring managers appreciate. I know I would want to receive the second letter! When I was reading the first one, I started skimming and thinking to myself “yadda, yadda, yadda.” This is another example of Alison getting helpful information out there for people who have only heard the old, and worse than useless, information about job hunting. I’m not job searching now, but when I do need to look for another job, I’ll be so much better prepared, and I’ll be able to feel confident in my cover letter and resume after using the information from AAM. I don’t have a great letter kicking around, but for an example of formal but not stuffy tone, I would read personal essays or high-end journalism. The New Yorker publishes essays that have fantastic personal style but still follow the conventions of formal writing. I would start there. Alison, you’ve said in the past that a cover letter should take about 20 minutes. How on earth do you write this kind of highly customized cover letter in 20 minutes? My process usually involves reading the job posting thoroughly and pulling out key words and phrases that really communicate what they’re looking for. Then I go through their web site, LinkedIn profile, and any other information (e.g. press releases, news articles, etc.) to get a feel for not only who they are, but who they believe they are. I choose a few key attributes of mine that I want to highlight example of case study analysis business, given my understanding of what they’re looking for (based on the previous steps) and finally add in either a paragraph or several sentences here and there about why I want to work for them in particular. Next, my husband (who’s also in my field) reviews the cover letter and gives me suggestions. I also comb my network to see if I know anyone at that employer. If I do, I also ask them to take a look at my resume (which has also been customized and search optimized for the position) and cover letter both for general feedback and for input on how it fits with what the employer is generally looking for. Based on this feedback, I might do a few small edits, or I might do a total re-write (e.g. I recently applied for a position where my contacts said that all the employer wants to hear is about how much you want to work for them, not at all about your accomplishments). This draft might go through one more round of review and feedback from my husband and my contacts. Finally, after I’ve done all the substantive edits, I go through it at least three separate times for typos (and I mean really go through it — like reading it backward, reading it out loud, etc.). After all that, it’s finally done. There’s no way this is a 20 minute process. It’s not even an hour long process. I could only see getting a cover letter ready in 20 min if you used boilerplate and just were changing the addressee (and doing that would probably take me close to 20 min because I always triple check all of the details of spelling etc. of the addressee’s name and address, plus of course doing the research to figure out who the addressee should be, which is almost never posted). (Extremely well done) As you will see from the attached resume, I’ve built my career in a variety of roles and industries, mostly in small companies where I was not just the admin but also gatekeeper, technology whiz, bookkeeper and marketing guru. I’m not only used to wearing many hats, I sincerely enjoy it; I thrive in an environment where no two work days are exactly the same. So everywhere I look I’ve been finding limited help on writing my cover letter because I’m a junior in high school with almost no prior job experience and I’m applying for an engineering internship that they haven’t even told what exactly we’ll be doing. We could be doing anything from manual labor to programming. So I’m not sure what exactly to focus my cover letter on except that I’ve taken three years of engineering classes and I really want to be an engineer… Can you help me? Thank you for sharing your cover letter thesis on it management, OP. Very impressive and inspiring. D The idea is to make sure that the message you want to convey is the message that’s received, and that might involve a re-framing of how you present your value. Boy, are those ever some long cover letters! I kill myself to make sure mine have no long paragraphs and are under a page. Maybe in library work it’s okay to be wordier? Stunning… just stunning to read. I’ve been tailoring my cover letters and resumes to high light the areas in my skill set an employer would look for AND to make sure I emphasize the skills they’re looking for in particular as per their job posting. Granted, I have a job so my search isn’t as hard core as someone who’s out of work or about to be laid off or what have you, but I would rather identify a few jobs that I REALLY REALLY want and do a bang-up job on those letters (and targeting my resume as well) than to send out 15 or 20 boilerplate letters that aren’t going to stand out from the couple hundred similar letters that somebody is going to screen. This comment may be too belated for this post, but it came up when I was trying to see if “right fit” was too informal for a cover letter (I can’t tell if it actually is or if my 71 year-old reviewer is just old-fashioned…). Did you end up getting the position. ) I’ve been told by people in a position to know that two pages is normal, even expected. I imagine this is even more true when you’re talking about academic libraries. Personally, I think it just opens the doors for a lot of unnecessary wordiness. You want to convey enthusiasm, but not at the expense of professionalism. Tl;dr considerations aside, the revised cover letter is much too informal, and strikes me as being a little too cavalier. As a hiring manager get paid for online assignments, I’d be questioning whether this person is serious about the position at all — with phrases like “gatekeeper, technology whiz, bookkeeper and marketing guru”, you’re not exactly positioning yourself as an administrative professional. That’s certainly not how one would correspond with internal or external clients, so why would it be appropriate for application materials? The penultimate paragraph strikes me as insincere, which is almost worse than conveying no enthusiasm at all. This is such a great idea! Thanks for sharing! Thank you to you both. Thanks for sharing this. As a seasoned executive who will soon pursue a major career change, I found this to be an excellent example for my own personal benefit of how to tailor a cover letter; well done. It’s obvious the writer would be a great fit for our office, and I’d be inclined to put this applicant on the top of the stack for an interview. As my deputy would say, it’s a no-brainer decision. From there, think of writing a cover letter like the one in this post essay writing made simple, but following all the rules that you learned in English class: complete sentences, no contractions, no slang. It might help to write the letter initially in your own speaking voice and then go back to edit out any overly casual language. You still want to use short, declarative sentences and convey real enthusiasm. As I said, this letter would require very few changes to be appropriate for law offices. (And as I said before, LW, it’s a great letter–none of this is intended as criticism.) I wouldn`t hire this woman she is only going to be murdered at the Red Wedding! If you can’t tie the example back to “what’s in it for them,” then maybe you need a different example. I agree that it’s not a good fit for an attorney position (I would certainly use a more formal cover letter myself), but it’s also not trying to be a good fit for an attorney position – it’s very specifically written for one position, which is what makes it so good. Game of Thrones? My accomplishments and qualifications are further detailed in the attached resume. I welcome the opportunity to meet with you and discuss the value that I can bring to your organization. Looking at them side by side, I honestly cannot believe how stilted and dry my “before” letter now looks. I used to think it was so good! (And to protect the writer’s privacy, I changed her name, the name of the employer, and other identifying details.) As I mentioned to the Letter Writer, I think if I can see an example of what you mean by more formal, but not stuffy while writing a letter like above, that would help. I am not by trade good at marketing or sales so making it concrete really would help me to then translate it into something that I can apply. Aw gods, are they proposing to rebuild Winterfell? That sounds like a very worthwhile project! My heart aches when I think about what has been lost. This cover letter is great! I’ve read it a few times before but after reading even more articles on writing cover letters, I read that cover letters need to be 300 words or under, and this is 378 according to Word. I’m currently writing a cover letter now and want to add a section that describes what I would specifically bring to this role but I’m afraid I’ll be going over the proverbial word amount since hr recruiters and hiring managers have little time to read through 1 when they have thousands more to read on top of that. Thanks for posting the before and after. Very helpful. When you say “I accomplished X and Y”, if the hiring manager doesn’t have a clear understanding of what “X and Y” really means, then you’re not communicating anything meaningful. Especially when you’re shifting job types, it’s more and more likely that the hiring manager won’t have a clear understanding of what it means, and the hiring manager is unlikely to waste a bunch of time trying to figure it out. Thank you so much for shaing this. I have been stuck in a rut trying to figure out how to get my resume from the 95% to the 5% and this provided so much inspiration! What a great letter! Thank you so much for posting this, Alison. I’ve been struggling with a cover letter for a week now, but this has given me some inspiration. Thank you! I was truly lost as to what to write on it and there are limited intern spots available so I was panicking a bit… I appreciate the advice greatly! @Julie – I totally agree. The first letter was “yadda, yadda” and I couldn’t tell you a thing about it, but the details in the second really stand out and make the author’s personality sing. Yes, I agree. I’m a public interest attorney which means that the office culture can be very casual, but the legal field still has a certain level of formality. So one’s cover letter should reflect one’s field. All help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! What I hope – what I think any cover letter writer’s goal should be – is that there are enough interesting, unique details that maybe the reviewer stops skimming an actually gets invested in what I have to say. Can someone recommend a reputable CV/Resume professional (let’s be bold and throw the cover letter in the mix as well)? by Alison Green on February 10, 2014 Alison, your cover letter advice (and your website) as been INCREDIBLY helpful and timely during my job searching. Thanks again for all you do! And many thanks to the author of this cover letter who really put her heart into it! Agreed! I think the letter writer managed to include ton of information about her accomplishments and skills without it feeling like too much. It’s easy to just throw that stuff in a list (like in the original letter, which is exactly how I used to do it), but that’s boring to read. The after is anything but boring! Legaljobs, I think what you need to look at is demonstrating (both in writing and in interviews) HOW what you’ve done in the past is useful to your next employer. For example vegetarian essays, in my letter: in this new job, will I be editing many 200-page grant proposals? Unlikely. But that example gets their attention, and then (before they can say “so what?”) I told them exactly how the skill that made me good at that project (attention to detail) IS relevant to the new job, with examples I took straight out of the job posting. Most of my cover letters tend to be more formal. While I get reasonably good responses, I would like to see the difference it could make to let more of my personality show. I think I’ve got a re-writing project on my hands today…… Thanks! I was particularly proud of that line (although it still doesn’t read quite as smoothly as I’d like). If you could read the job description, you’d see that it calls for, in much more general terms, that breadth of responsibilities. My goal was to show that I grasped the job description without parroting it back to them. Please don’t call me crazy for asking this, but can I actually mention having applied for the same position in the past? For example, “I applied for the accounting position in the past, but now that I have XYZ experience, I feel I’m much better qualified.” Or would that just draw attention to the fact that they didn’t like me the first time I applied? This letter is FANTASTIC. D I am not certain what you mean by extrapolate. Can you give me an example of how that would work? Very hard to say without seeing the letter and knowing their context, unfortunately! This comment makes me laugh every time. Thanks. ) Here’s the before version. It reads like 95% of the cover letters out there. Like those other 95%, it basically says word format for essays, “I know I need a cover letter, so here are some paragraphs of blah.” You can imagine multiple candidates for this position submitting this letter; there’s nothing especially personalized about it. I am a lawyer. I’ve been told by my Career Services english classes online, which I am using for my job search, to not write a cover letter longer than 1 page. This seems like its more than one page. Also, if people are scanning in 20-seconds, how helpful is this type of cover letter? Or, is this letter written for someone who believes the letter will reach a hiring manager? Thanks for sharing, and good luck with the job! Wow, that really is quite a difference! Thanks for sharing. 1. Job Title & Accomplishments. This is a very common and effective way to start out a cover letter. The idea is to get straight to the point and impress the employer with your background. Use your most impressive and most relevant accomplishment stories to explain your worth. Example: My name is Jane Doe and recently I spoke to your communications coordinator John Smith, who informed me about the opening in your IT staff. He recommended I contact you about the job because of my strong interest in the field. Example: As a social media coordinator for Company X, I manage many digital media outlets. By implementing new social media marketing tactics, in the past year, I have doubled our audience on Facebook and tripled our followers on Twitter. When you apply for any job. the very first tool you will use to grab the attention of employers is your cover letter. (Yes written application letters for employment, there are of course companies that are so big they don’t have time for cover letters. But plenty of hiring managers at small and mid-sized companies do read them, myself included.) A cover letter highlights the reasons you are the best person for the job and how you will benefit the company. It also demonstrates your ability to effectively communicate your objective. That’s why the opening lines of your cover letter are so important. You need to hook the employer so they want to continue reading and learn more about you. It’s important to remember your cover letter should be a brief introduction that demonstrates fit and motivates the employer to read your resume. If you’re narrating your whole life story or using the same old line that’s been written a million times before, then you’re not really captivating the reader or communicating the most vital information necessary to win the interview. 7. Delivering massive value to my clients has been the focus of my career for the past 13 years. In my role as ___________ for ABC Company, I have unfailingly provided my clients with strategies, action plans, and the leadership necessary to enhance people, processes, and technologies. In addition, I have established a solid reputation for assessing challenges, creating solutions, and responding quickly to changing business requirements. This is the value I offer to XYZ Corporation. Jessica Holbrook Hernandez, CEO of Great Resumes Fast is an expert resume writer, career and personal branding strategist, author, and presenter. Want to work with the best resume writer? If you would like us to personally work on your resume, cover letter, or LinkedIn profile—and dramatically improve their response rates—then check out our professional and executive resume writing services at GreatResumesFast.com or contact us for more information if you have any questions. It’s time to dump the old line: “Please accept this application in response to…” If you’re still starting your cover letter with this overused one-liner, then I implore you to stop what you’re doing, delete the line, and spend a few minutes reading this article to discover seven new examples of how you can catch the hiring manager’s attention with an attention-grabbing opening line. Most job seeking experts will tell you that the first two sentences of your cover letter are the most crucial. The opening two sentences on your cover letter are similar to an elevator pitch: a brief statement about a product, service, or company that business owners have at the ready whenever they meet a prospective client. In your cover letter word format for essays, you're the product, and the opening statement is your pitch. In the first two sentences, you'll want to include several things: your knowledge and experience in the field, how you can benefit the company, and your accomplishments in past positions. Be succinct, and pack a punch. This is not the place to describe each day of the last ten years of your work life, or every class you ever took in college that relates to the position. Instead, make it short and impressive. All of the relevant information needs to be in the first two sentences, so don’t spend too much time on any one thing.
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