Cover Letter DON'Ts

I have been going back and forth on whether to write on the topic of cover letters and finally decided to pull the trigger. People need to know the truth about cover letters because I think there is a common misconception that the information in your cover letter should be the same as that in your resume. WRONG. Why would I need 2 documents that say the same thing?

Your cover letter is an opportunity for you to show some personality and tell me what I can't get from your resume. It is an opportunity to take your list of accomplishments (your resume) and make it more personal. I want to hear a story, your story, and how your story relates to my company and the position you are interested in. If you do this well, your cover letter can help you.

That being said, I need to tell you the truth. I only read about 5% of cover letters. To me, your resume gives me the overview of your career history I need and from there I can typically determine if I would consider you for a position at my company. On the rare occasion (about 5% of the time) I am on the fence. That is when I turn to the cover letter. If you don't have one, you go directly into the reject pile, so you should have a cover letter. If you tell a good story and don't make the common cover letter mistakes below, I will usually interview you.

In no particular order..

• DON'T  Use a Template to write your cover letter. Every cover letter should be written from scratch. If I can tell you cut and pasted my company's name and and job title to a generic cover letter... trash can, here you come. I want to know specifics of how your background relates to my company/job. I want to know you did your research and you bring something unique to the table. Stand out!
• DON'T  Write a novel. Like resumes, I get a ton. I need to be able to quickly and easily read your cover letter. Avoid writing lengthy paragraphs; boring! Short, sweet and to a unique point. Keep me interested throughout and I might actually read to the end... which leads into my next point
• DON'T  Waste your first paragraph by writing a boring introduction. Use the first paragraph to grab the my attention. Treat this like a press release, excite me from the beginning.
• DON'T Spell the name of the person you are addressing and/or the company you are interviewing for wrong. You would be surprised. I would say about 10% of people spelled Burson-Marsteller wrong and don't even get me started with Qorvis. There is no "U". Strange, I know, but it is very clear on our website that it doesn't exist. Quorvis = Trash. Oh, and my name is Jessica, not Jennifer. I know, confusing, they both start with a J.
• DON'T Address the cover letter "To Whom it May Concern". Guess what, it is 2010 and don't act like you have never stalked someone online. Find the appropriate persons name to address the letter. Look on the website or on LinkedIn, it is there. I also don't want to be called "Human Resources Personnel" Vomit!
• DON'T Wait for me to take action to get back to you. The cover letter is a good chance to request action. Request an interview, and tell the me when you will follow up, and then follow up. It shows initiative.
• DON'T Focus on what you want. By me receiving a resume and cover letter from you, I can pretty much figure out what you want. Use this chance to tell me the value you can bring to me and explain why I want you.
• DON'T Appear desperate. This is like dating. No one wants to date someone because they feel sorry for them. I don't want to hear how you lost your job or how you haven't heard back from many companies. If you are telling me that no one else has wanted to interview you, why would I?
• DON'T Have any grammatical mistakes - 1 grammatical mistake in a resume or cover letter and your candidacy was over before it even started. This is your first impression, take your time and make it good.

So all in all, impress me! Be smart, clever, funny, whatever shows me who you are. 95% of the time I won't actually find that out by reading your cover letter, but if I decide to read it, it is there and was written well.  

Networking - It's a Verb (Part 2) Sustaining a Mutually Beneficial Network

As I mentioned in my last post, the key to networking is 2 fold, BUILDING and SUSTAINING a mutually beneficial relationship. We covered building a network in depth so let's focus on sustaining these relationships. There are 4 ways you should think about sustaining your relationship (set goals, reciprocate relationships, organize and update your network). There is some overlap here but if you can begin to adopt these best practices and the way you think and see each person as an opportunity to learn something and to teach something, you'll be amazed at how your network will expand.

Set Goals - So, you have started going to social events, you have joined groups, built an online portfolio but how to you sustain them? It is hard and time consuming, SO if you want to maximize these relationships, you have to set goals.

• Personal Contact - I have a goal of meeting with at least 2 new people every week. We grab coffee, go to lunch, have a drink or just talk on the phone. These 2 connections could end up being much more valuable than all of my weekly and day to day tasks but if I didn't set these goals, I could see myself getting swamped with other work and putting these meetings on the back burner.
• Set and stick to goals of personal contact with new people.  Base the number of meeting on your overall annual goal.
• Timely Follow Up - Oh, how I have flash backs to writing thank you notes when I was younger. My mom would nag me day after day to write thank you notes for Christmas and next thing I knew, it was February, and I still hadn't written thank you notes (sorry mom). By the time I would get a thank you note to a relative, I would have forgotten what they got me and would write a general thank you note. I am sure they appreciated my, "Thank you for the gift, I love it some much, I use it all the time, it's so much fun, etc" when they actually gave me a gift card for a one time manicure... smooth.
• Set a goal to follow up with every new person you came in contact with across a week by the end of the week and make your contact personal so that person will remember you.

Reciprocate a Relationship - In addition to being genuine when establishing relationships that will help you professionally or personally, it is crucial that you view these relationships as reciprocal.

• A way to reciprocate in networking is by thinking about the interests of the people you know and how you might be able to help them. For example, as you take an inventory of your network, you might recall that a friend from college is a marathon runner and so is one of your coworkers who was talking at the water cooler about a really great package on an upcoming marathon. Contact that person from college and let them know about it. Another contact loves cooking and there is a great new blog, tell them about it. Keep things relevant and personal to help others as much as you would want to be helped. When I have a candidate randomly congratulate me on an LSU football win ESPECIALLY when they went to another SEC school, nothing can make me happier. I immediately go back through my notes, remember who they are and will never forget! 

Organize your Network - Now that you have created an inventory of the people you know, get organized so you can use that network effectively.

• Take all of the names you have just generated and enter them into a database that works for you. Note how you know each person, where and when you were last in touch and a general overview of your relationship. Keeping in touch and maintaining that relationships can be time-consuming, but it is critical to keeping people as part of your network. This is where you should house information that will help you be reciprocal in a relationship and/or give you a good excuse to reach out to someone if you do need something. Keeping this information easily accessable will also help if you want to send holiday cards/e-mails as a way to stay on peoples minds.

Update your Network- Back to, if people don't know what you are doing or what you want, they can't help you. Keep your network up to date with any change in your organization, your work status, your contact details, etc. Broadcast it. Use these life changes as another opportunity to remind your network that you are there.