What the CEO thinks when he reads your cover letter
Just saw this great post written by a CEO about applying to a job over at secretsofthejobhunt.com:
this is a summary -
1. Your Cover Letter Must Answer Our Needs.
read our post, and tell me quickly how you can meet the needs we have listed. Use examples wherever possible.
2. Don't Blah Blah Blah.
Be super clear and concise. Use the same language to describe your your achievements to me, as you would to your grandmother.
3. Don't make the mistake of attaching your cover letter as a word document.
You're writing me an email.... imagine me sitting at my desk with my inbox dinging every minute. Do you think I really want to fire up Word to see a formatted cover letter?
4. Respond with the title of the job advertisement in the subject heading.
Yes, it's good to use some initiative in the subject line to grab my attention, but I sort my email based on subject, and if you're not in the right subject, you're going to get lost.
5. Win me over by being open and honest.
I respect failure, and I look for potential. Yet, it seems to be common practice to BS on resumes nowadays. It's ok to be proud of your accomplishments, but a little modesty makes you look human. I'd much rather meet with someone who admits they've failed, than someone who pretends they've always been successful.
To successfully interest me in hiring you, you need to understand what we as business owners face on the other side of the fence. Hiring is the most important task I face, but it is also 76th on my list of a hundred other things to do today. When we put a posting on Craigslist, we usually get around 100 responses within 48 hours. They flood into my inbox, and I have to push them aside until I have time to give them the attention they deserve. In the meantime, I have phones ringing, deadlines to meet, problems with our systems, employees with questions, and much more to compete for the limited capacity of my brain. But, don't let this put you off. It doesn't take much to distinguish yourself. Here's how :
this is a summary -
1. Your Cover Letter Must Answer Our Needs.
read our post, and tell me quickly how you can meet the needs we have listed. Use examples wherever possible.
2. Don't Blah Blah Blah.
Be super clear and concise. Use the same language to describe your your achievements to me, as you would to your grandmother.
3. Don't make the mistake of attaching your cover letter as a word document.
You're writing me an email.... imagine me sitting at my desk with my inbox dinging every minute. Do you think I really want to fire up Word to see a formatted cover letter?
4. Respond with the title of the job advertisement in the subject heading.
Yes, it's good to use some initiative in the subject line to grab my attention, but I sort my email based on subject, and if you're not in the right subject, you're going to get lost.
5. Win me over by being open and honest.
I respect failure, and I look for potential. Yet, it seems to be common practice to BS on resumes nowadays. It's ok to be proud of your accomplishments, but a little modesty makes you look human. I'd much rather meet with someone who admits they've failed, than someone who pretends they've always been successful.
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