15 Minute Job Search Tips: Creating a Template for Cover Letters
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
A simple format for your cover letters that will save you time and help get results.
Do I Need to Use a Cover Letter?
Here, I’ve got one of my 15-minute job search tips that’s quick to implement and it’s going to save you a lot of time going forward. It’s the notion of setting up templates for your cover.
Now, I want to be clear, when I speak about a cover letter, I’m not talking about a separate attachment in your email. I’m talking about the body of the email that you are going to send with your resume to whatever situation you looking at. So, there are two basic formats. One is when you’re applying to something that you found online.
Sentence number 1. I’m forwarding my resume to you based on an ad that I saw on (fill in the blank) where you are looking for (fill in the blank). You are going to skip some spaces and then go down further and I’m going to tell you what you are going to use with the spaces in the second. I look forward to hearing from you about the next step in scheduling an interview. Have a great day.
What you are going to put in the middle when you see the ad is a list of the skills in the left column and how long and how recently you’ve worked with them. Let me just back up for a second.
After the first paragraph. “I saw what you were requiring for the position. The following table will summarize my experience with the requirements of the job.” And then you’re going to you and the paragraph.
In the left column, you are going to put down the required skills, and in the right column, how long and how recently you worked with it. If you haven’t used one of those skills, just eliminate it. Don’t mention it.
Version number 2. “I’m forwarding my resume to you because I was referred to you by so-and-so. So-and-so mentioned (you go by first name this time) that you are trying to hire someone for such and such position. The rest is exactly the same.
So, set up these templates. It won’t take long to do. Set them up in Word and when you need them, just copy them into the body of an email that you send or set them up as a signature file in Outlook and send them in that way.
The Right Way to Use a Cover Letter
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
People hire Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter to provide No BS Career Advice globally because he makes many things in peoples’ careers easier. Those
things can involve job search, hiring more effectively, managing and leading better, career transition, as well as advice about resolving workplace issues.
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He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2600 episodes.
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