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What is a Cover Letter?
A good cover letter shows how effective you are as a communicator: a skill most employers demand. If it is weak in communicating, you are at a disadvantage.
A cover letter is your chance to show you are interested and enthusiastic about a specific company and a job/internship with them. It allows you to give personality to your resume, to highlight specific SKILLS you want a busy person to see on that resume.
A cover letter works in harmony with a Resume. Both together serve to paint a picture of you as a strong candidate for the position you seek.
What steps should I take to prepare a Cover Letter?
Read about 15 examples from books in the Career Library to get a feeling for the rhythm.
Research the company you are writing to and the position they are offering.
Understand the skills needed for the job you want and be ready to show you have them.
Redo your resume to highlight those skills and use it as a reference while writing your cover letter.
Write to a person with a title, and not to "whom it may concern." It is worth a phone call or 10 minutes of research to learn the manager's name of the department you are interested in.
When sitting down to write, keep the following in mind:
Be original, energetic and keep it brief. Be careful not to sound silly or unprofessional.
The usual length is 3 or 4 paragraphs, and never longer than one page.
Be sure it is typed, well formatted, and that spelling, punctuation, grammar and formatting are PERFECT. Have at least one other person read it and ask for their ideas. If you are too shy to have someone read it, how can you be confident to send it to a company/organization?
Address the skills you have that relate to the position offered. Give the person reading the cover letter help in seeing how your background and education relate to the job/internship you are after - Don't make them put two-and-two together, because they probably wont unless they are very serious about you.
Highlight specifics on your resume in different words than are found there. Explain a bit more about a few of those highlights and how they relate to what you are seeking.
Address the stronger skills you have. There is no need to apologize for perceived week points or a lack of experience. Your enthusiasm to learn and be part of the team are more important.
Emphasize what you have learned about the company and what interested you in THIS SPECIFIC company.
If you are writing to a company outside of Japan (See NOTE below), you can follow up with a phone call or a fax letter. This is a bit pushy, but it does show your are truly interested.
DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME AND MONEY by writing a general cover letter to send out to several different companies. It is VERY obvious to the reader what you are doing and not effective.
NOTE on Item 8: This is not effective when working with a Japanese company through the OSS. If you are completely on your own, and we cannot help you, you might choose to call. But we would appreciate you checking with us beforehand, just to make sure there is not something going on that we are not at liberty to tell you.
Summary:
Your Cover Letter and Resume work together to show you are a professional, careful, a good communicator, and an enthusiastic candidate.
In short - Be sure to state clearly
What your goal is
Why you are interested in this company
Why you are interested in this job
How you fit this company and job
How you can contribute based on you skills - what can you offer them.
Formatting and Contents of Cover Letters
Below are suggested formatting and content examples for a professional cover letter. Paragraphs should be aligned on the left hand margin, with a single lined space between them. No indenting. Single spaced. Your "letterhead" should appear centered, on the top of the page. Fonts should be consistent.
Your Name
Your contact info
Tel. Fax. E-mail
Month ##, 2000
Mr./Mrs. Contact Person (single space these items)
Contact Person's Title
Organization name
Organization Street Address
City, State ZIP Country (if other than the one you are in)
Dear Mr./Mrs. Contact Person (no first names!!):
First Paragraph
- Open with an interesting, attention grabbing sentence so they will keep reading. Keep it short and snappy.
- Mention the name of the person (if any) who referred you, or how you found out about the company/job.
- Tell them who you are, and what you are currently doing
- Explain why you are writing, what you want, and refer to a specific job/opportunity (if available)
- Demonstrate that you know something about the company and are SPECIFICALLY interested and enthusiastic in them and the position
- Show also, and that is why you are so interested.
- Provide a transition sentence to tell them you are going to show, next, how you fit what they are looking for.
Paragraph Two:
- State your knowledge of the skills they are looking for
- Refer the reader to your qualification on your resume that shows you have those skills and are interested in using them in THIS job.
- Try to make as many connections between your background and skill set and the job as possible. If you cannot, explain how you are NOW preparing yourself for this kind of job.
Paragraph Three:
- Ask if an interview would be possible to arrange
- Provide a contact phone number, e-mail or whatever is appropriate
- Refer to any documents enclosed such as your resume or references, etc.
- Restate your interest in the company and the job, and that you are looking forward to future contact (be creative in how you say this)
Sincerely,
Your hand-written signature
Your name typed
Your title �/FONT> MBA/MA Candidate, International University of Japan
Enc. list those items enclosed
More Information
For further information attend the Cover Letter Workshop, borrow that video, and make use of the numerous books in the CC&S library on cover letters.
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