Confusing advice abounds on cover letters. Many job seekers stress excessively about cover letters, spending too much time on them. You can’t ignore cover letters, as they may or may not be read and are often not saved into the database. My research for this article demonstrated the wide variety of ideas that cause this confusion. My ABC Formula will help you move forward quickly by using this easy acronym: ABCDE.
Write the job title in big letters before you ever start writing the cover letter, which also needs to be in the subject line of the email. For example:
PROJECT MANAGER-IT-HEALTHCARE
Requisition Number 123455
Dear Sir or Madam:
Attention
You need to “dare to be different,” not bizarre, but a little different from “I’m applying for…” BORING! How about: “We need to talk!” Or “I’m excited to see a job which matches my background so well.”
Benefits in Background
What do you offer that others won’t have? How are you different? Features are your skills. Benefits are how they would be useful to the company
You are in sales, when you look for a new job or career. You need to show both features and benefits succinctly. “Although I’m happy with my job at Dell, I’m ready for new challenges. My background includes hands-on expertise in Project Management, a PMP certification, and experience developing enterprise systems in the medical device industry.”
Career
You’ll want to briefly say a few words about your career which should entice the reader to want to move to your resume.
“My career demonstrates the ability to learn quickly as I started in nursing, moved to Information Technology and attained my PMP. I’d be immediately productive. Please read my resume for details.”
Desire
Enthusiasm is often missing in a cover letter. Telling the company you value their products or corporate culture shows initiative.
“I’ve always wanted to work for your hospital. Your company is actually at the top of my list of places where I’d like to work.”
Ending or Call to Action
Summarize and ask for action. Offer to call the individual, if you have a name.
“I’m eager to talk with you soon, as I’d like to hear more details and provide additional information about my skills.”
More Insight
Use the ABCDE formula for your cover letter based on the job requirements. Underline the key words in the description and include them in the verbiage. Keep it short to encourage reading your resume. Proof read several times.
The spell check feature can fail you miserably. Read the cover letter from right to left for best results as your eye will find errors much more quickly with this method. You can probably complete the letter in three paragraphs, unless the ad is quite lengthy with many requirements. Even if the ad contains 15 requirements, you only mention three of your skill matches and urge the reader to see the details on your resume. More than a one page cover letter is too much.
By using your ABCDE formula, you can move to the next cover letter without heartburn. Apply more effort to your resume (which is never, ever written in stone) than to the cover letter. Stop stressing and keep going!
Ruth Glover, owner of Career Consultations, provides practical ideas for job seekers. If you have questions, please feel free to contact her directly at careers@hotcareers.com. You may want to read the other articles on www.hotcareers.com/articles.
A huge thank you to several people who have mentioned their challenges writing cover letters recently. Please subscribe for future articles.