The focus of cover letter shouldn’t be about you alone.
Right, communicating your fit and selling yourself almost instantly and expressively is important. But that isn’t all what cover letter should be about.
If I wrote you a letter where in it is full of descriptions about myself, my worth and things from my perspective alone, you would get bored, see me coming across as just another person, self-serving, who doesn’t take into consideration the needs of the recipient, and might even trash the letter.
Should I commence with writing (good) about you, commending how great and important that which you do is, linking how what I do relate with your mission and demonstrating well enough how what you do could impact me and, also, how my attributes -experience, skills, qualifications -could add to the progress of your mission .
You would more likely perceive me as putting you first, updated and valuable. You would be at ease, be welcoming, and feel good enough to reach out for a talk, even when there’s no vacancy.
Of course this is more effective when it’s being targeted at a specific person. However, it also could apply to and still be effective to an organisation as a body. After all behind where your application goes is a human who is going to read through; and even you writing well on the activities of the organisation shows you have done your homework.
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“It’s always a two way street. It’s like what do you take responsibility for, because it’s never just about one person, it’s always about the collective, the two.”
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PS: There are several ways to approach cover letter, but the point is to find a middle ground, establish a connection, a flow, that intrigues the reviewer to give a positive feedback. Being creative about it, delivering with punchiness and enthusiasm also cut it.
#coverletter #effectivecommunication #empathy #jobsearch