To Whom It May Concern, Please Hire Me

Some people say that your cover letter is more important than your resume. It makes sense. Your resume is merely a very concise, yet big picture list of what you have done. A cover letter tells yours story, captures who you are as an employee and as a person. While your resume tells what you have done, your cover letter shows what you have done.

Cover letters can be hard because we are writing something specifically to seek approval of others. We have one page to meet the right expectations of a complete stranger so we have to figure out how to spin our skillset in the right light for each company. With the ability to apply for jobs online, available job openings are getting way more applications than they did 20 years ago. On top of that, with the boom of startup culture, the mission statements of companies have changed drastically in the digital age and many do not want your run of the mill cover letter. You have to stand out without sounding needy. You have to say a lot as concisely as possible.

If the struggle is just as real for you as it is for me, here are few pro tips on overcoming the anxieties of selling yourself and writing a perfect letter:

1.  Make yourself a template.

This is particularly useful for when you’re actively seeking a new job and writing tons of cover letters a day. You don’t want to use the same cover letter for every job you apply for because hiring managers will pass read a generic cover letter.

The first paragraph should be an introduction about you and what about the company excites you. The middle paragraphs are where you start selling yourself. Point out your strongest skills and give examples of how you’ve used them successfully. Mention your career goals and your ambitions. The final paragraph should cover the basic of thanking the employer for their time, etc. It also doesn’t hurt to one add last nugget about yourself that isn’t redundant, a single sentence golden ticket answer to why you should get this job.

After you do this, highlight the parts that you should change from company to company. For instance, the skills can stay the same, but the examples should make sense for the job posting.

2.  Don’t think, just write.

Start with free writing about yourself, your skill set, and examples of how you’ve used those skills to succeed in previous work related experiences. After your do this, copy all the best parts into a new document and reword them to sound more professional.

3.  Don’t be generic.

This one is tough, but crucial.  If you have “excellent writing skills” and are “great at communicating,” nobody is going to believe that’s how you’re phrasing it.

  If it’s a job that will require lots of written communication, give examples of instances of an article you wrote that got thousands of views or an email you sent that landed your company an incredibly valuable partnership with another company.

4.  Don’t be too formal.

Nobody wants to be addressed as “To Whom It May Concern.” Drop the old school formalities. Write in a conversational, yet professional tone to keep your reader interested until the end.

5.  Be yourself.

This one is more for you than for the hiring manager. You want to work somewhere you feel comfortable at so you can grow in your role. Writing in a style that isn’t you will land you interviews at companies that aren’t very you. Even if you’re desperate for a new job, don’t settle for one that you’ll be miserable at within a few months.

6.  Reread it (out loud!)

You can edit with your eyes a million times, but still miss something as silly as saying “a” instead of “at.” Save yourself the embarrassment and read it aloud to make sure it sounds good.