Good day everyone
Welcome back to the Café
This article is part of the Wings to Success series designed to help you succeed during a Job interview.
I hope you find it helpful.
Tips for Cover Letters to Get More Interviews
Here’s a tip for cover letters to get more interviews. Use a bulleted format cover letter rather than a standard letter in paragraphs. The bulleted format is more eye-catching and is more likely to be glanced at by the hiring manager or other person assigned to sort through resumes. This format will help you get your resume seen by more people and, as a result, get more interviews and more job offers.
If you follow this advice and decide to use the bulleted format, make sure that each bullet point specifies a reason for the hiring manager to talk with you. This reason can be your number of years of experience, your education, a personality trait, or an accomplishment.
Examples of bulleted points would be:
• Over 20 years experience in Human Resource Management.
• Outstanding work ethic. Lead by example.
• Master of Science in Education. Currently enrolled in Doctorate program.
• Saved previous employer $300,000 in revenue through modernization of accounting system.
• Increased sales by 25% last quarter.
This bulleted format allows you to toot your own horn, but in a way that does not seem egotistical because it is part of a resume package.
Another tip that will increase the readability of your cover letter is to use bold-faced fonts on occasion to emphasize points you want read. Bold-face catches the eye and is a common device graphic designers use in advertising copy. Your resume and cover letter are marketing tools for you, just as a print media advertising piece is a marketing tool for a business. Consider using the bold face as a tip from the Fortune 500 ad agencies that you can use without charge.
The next piece of advice to consider concerns the letter’s final paragraph and will help you in your follow-up efforts. When following up, the hardest thing to do is to get past the gatekeeper. The secretary or administrative assistant that screens calls for their boss has an important job to do, but so do you, and reaching the decision-maker will make you look good.
The gatekeeper will try to stop you if the decision-maker is busy—after all, he has better things to do with his time than speak with job seekers. So, in the final paragraph of your letter, before the “sincerely” and your name, simply state, “I will call you next week to check on a convenient time to speak with you in person.” You’ve told the hiring manager you will be calling.
Logically he should be expecting your call. For this reason, you may tell the gatekeeper that ” Mr. HR Manager is expecting my call this week.” This will increase your chances of getting through and getting the interview. This tip is a variation on techniques that good business-to-business salespeople use and will work for you as well, bringing you more interviews and more job offers.
Thank you for stopping by the Café. Would you please share it with someone who could benefit from it if you found this helpful? For more tips and resources, visit the website at thecafeboss.net. Please also feel free to buy me a cup of coffee. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/cafeboss2503
CafeBoss 