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01 6/27/03 9:20 AM Page i 201 Killer Cover Letters CD-ROM Edition Sandra Podesta Andrea Paxton McGraw-Hill New York Chicago San Francisco Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City Milan New Delhi San Juan Seoul Singapore Sydney Toronto Copyright ©2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. 0-07-142499-7 The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: 0-07-141329-4 All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners. Rather than put a trademark symbol after every occur- rence of a trademarked name, we use names in an editorial fashion only, and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. 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Your right to use the work may be terminated if you fail to comply with these terms. THE WORK IS PROVIDED “AS IS”. McGRAW-HILLAND ITS LICENSORS MAKE NO GUARANTEES OR WARRANTIES AS TO THE ACCURACY, ADEQUACYOR COMPLETENESS OF OR RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED FROM USING THE WORK, INCLUDING ANYINFORMATION THATCAN BE ACCESSED THROUGH THE WORK VIAHYPERLINK OR OTHERWISE, AND EXPRESSLYDISCLAIM ANYWAR- RANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITYOR FITNESS FOR APARTICULAR PURPOSE. McGraw-Hill and its licensors do not warrant or guarantee that the functions contained in the work will meet your requirements or that its operation will be uninterrupted or error free. Neither McGraw-Hill nor its licensors shall be liable to you or anyone else for any inaccuracy, error or omission, regardless of cause, in the work or for any damages resulting therefrom. McGraw-Hill has no responsibility for the content of any information accessed through the work. Under no cir- cumstances shall McGraw-Hill and/or its licensors be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, punitive, conse- quential or similar damages that result from the use of or inability to use the work, even if any of them has been advised of the possibility of such damages. This limitation of liability shall apply to any claim or cause whatso- ever whether such claim or cause arises in contract, tort or otherwise. DOI: 10.1036/0071424997 01 6/27/03 9:20 AM Page iii For more information about this title, click here. Contents Introduction v Acknowledgments ix How to Use This Book and CD-ROM xi 1. Jobhunting in Today’s New World 1 A Personal Note from the Author 2. The Top Ten Rules for Writing Killer Cover Letters 10 The Basic Do’s and Don’ts for Cover Letters and All Your Jobhunting Correspondence 3. How to Identify and Sell Your Strengths 21 How to Identify Your Unique Skills and Talents and What They Offer Your Next Employer—Worksheets 3-1, 3-2, and 3-3— Sample Constructions 4. The Networking Letter 35 The Advantages of Networking—Letter Outline—Sample Letters 5. The Ad Response/Resume Cover Letter 59 How to Create a Letter That Sets You Apart from Your Competition—Letter Outline—Killer Openings and Closings— How to Respond to Salary Queries—Sample Letters 6. The Follow-Up Letter 187 How Follow-Up Letters Differ from Thank-You Letters—Letter Outline—Killer Openings and Closings—Sample Letters iii Copyright 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Click Here for Terms of Use. 01 6/27/03 9:20 AM Page iv 7. The Thank-You Letter 208 When to Send a Thank-You Letter—Letter Outline— Sample Letters 8. The Make Something Happen Letter 221 How to Jumpstart a Stalled Candidacy—Letter Outline— Sample Letters 9. Additional Jobhunting Letters 244 Reference Request Letters—Meeting Confirmation Letters— Letters for Negotiating, Accepting, and Rejecting a Job Offer— Letters of Resignation—Sample Letters 10. Killer Resources 257 Words and Phrases to Avoid and What to Use Instead—The Cover Letter Checklist Index of Letters That Address Specific Issues 261 Index of Letters by Industry and Job Title 262 Alphabetical Listing of Letters 267 iv 01 6/27/03 9:20 AM Page v Introduction Of course, writing is tough. And writing about yourself is even tougher. Assess- ing your own strengths—honestly and accurately—is one of the most difficult tasks you’ll ever face. When you’re unhappy at work or out of work altogether, not feeling particularly good about yourself, it’s even harder to do. Even if you muster up some terrific talents to talk about, like most people, you may be sur- prisingly shy about “tooting your own horn.” You list your course work. You list your jobs. You list your job responsibilities. You list your hobbies. Finally, all you’re sending prospective employers is a list! But employers don’t want to hire a list; they want to hire a person. They want to hire a living, breathing human being. Apersonality. Ahumorous co-worker or a serious one. Ateam player or a self-starter. An intuitive thinker or someone who takes direction well. Sure, they want to hire a candidate with the appropriate skills, but they’ve got to like that person (YOU) too. After all, they’ll be working together on a daily basis—and the better everyone gets along, the more produc- tive the work will be. What this means is that you must project your personality, or some aspect of it, from the very first ad you respond to and in the very first letter you write. The reason is that, to make a hiring decision, your next employer is looking for an- swers to three vital questions: 1.Do you have the skills this job requires? 2.Will you be compatible with my team? 3.Are you honest and willing to work, and do you have the right atti- tude? Your resume will answer the first question. Your letters, interviews, and ref- erences will answer the other two questions. Thus, your jobhunting letters are an essential opportunity to make yourself stand out as a unique and interesting per- son, someone an employer would like to meet, interview, hire, and work beside. To take advantage of this opportunity, you must write well. And to get an edge over the competition you should not only write well, you should write often. Why? Most job applicants—your competition—never follow up after an inter- view. Of those who do, many write letters so inadequate that they actually impair what might have been a perfectly acceptable candidacy. Furthermore, most job search letters are forgotten after a quick review. What this means is that just writ- ing your potential employer at all can put you ahead of other candidates. Writing v Copyright 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Click Here for Terms of Use. 01 6/27/03 9:20 AM Page vi a strong, impressive letter can put you miles ahead. And writing frequently can give you what advertisers call “top-of-mind awareness;” it can keep you on your next employer’s mind no matter how long the hiring decision takes. Unfortunately, for most jobhunters, facing that blank sheet of paper induces a terror matched by few other tasks. Be honest. Have you, at one time or another, ever found yourself following any of the Ten Most Common Steps to Writing? Step 1. Panic: Your brain says, “I have to write.” Step 2. Procrastinate: You attempt your first escape by remembering that there is some equally pressing task that must be attended to, such as walking the dog, doing the dishes, calling Aunt Bella, or sorting the recyclables. Step 3. Divert: You belittle the custom of writing such letters, wonder- ing, “Why can’t I just send my resume?” or “Why can’t I just call and say thank you?” Step 4. Delegate: You attempt your next escape by trying to get some- one else to do it for you. “My sister’s great at this; maybe she’ll write it for me” is a common ploy. Step 5: Panic again: You realize that you’ve got to get that resume in the mail today, and it’s already 3:00 P.M. Step 6, 7, 8. Shake, rattle, and roll: You stare at that cursed blank page, envision the finished product, and visualize all the heartache and strife you’ll have to go through to get to that point. Then you picture yourself not getting the job because your letter sounded simple, unimpressive, unbusinesslike (“Whatever that is,” you moan). So fi- nally you go on a roll, recalling all the big business power jargon you’ve ever heard: “effectuate”...“implement”... “empowerment”... “strategic envisioning”...“global perspective.” Step 9. The mad dash: You furiously type these tired clichés on your last sheet of good paper, making your first draft your final one. As a re- sult, in the end, all you can do is... Step 10. Mail, hope, and pray: And the greatest of these is pray. Sound familiar? Don’t despair, there is good news! Writing effectively is not as hard as you think. You don’t have to be a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. You don’t have to use eight four-syllable words per paragraph. You don’t have to make your correspondence any longer than it needs to be; writing voluminous letters won’t guarantee you’ll get hired. You have only to make yourself understood. You need to know what you want to say, and you need to say it clearly, accurately, con- cisely. And that is precisely what this book will help you achieve. vi 01 6/27/03 9:20 AM Page vii This book is the product of our successful jobhunting seminar, Jobhunter’s Corre- spondence Workshop, in which participants of all ages and professions secured a vital edge in their job searches. They discovered how to create more effective job- hunting letters and how to use letters more productively in their search for em- ployment. Many seminar participants wrote to let us know that they were using our techniques and achieving results. They were being selected more often for inter- views and being offered desirable positions. Frequently, we heard that a major benefit our seminar delivered was the simple encouragement to try something different in a letter. Openings that intrigue. Body copy that boasts. Formats that fascinate. We’re delighted! We hope this book will do the same for you. vii This page intentionally left blank. 01 6/27/03 9:20 AM Page ix Acknowledgments We offer our heartfelt thanks to friends, colleagues, and family members who helped us in the preparation of this book. Your support enriched our undertaking by making our efforts seem significantly less taxing and infinitely more fun! Sandra Podesta Andrea Paxton ix Copyright 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Click Here for Terms of Use.
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