Create a Killer Cover Letter, Please!

That’s it. I’ve completely lost my patience with cover letters as I sift through mounds of resumes on the hunt for a new intern.  Color me old school, but for me, the cover letter is the single most important first impression you can make on the job hunt.  I read the cover letter first and I won’t even bother with the resume if I don’t like what I see.   And if you lack experience, but I’m wowed by your cover letter, I’ll interview you no matter what.  That’s a promise.

So why am I so irritated?  Because most applicants don’t take the time and energy to create customized, energetic, attention-getting letters.  Because I hire communicators, that’s a warning sign for me.  So this post is intended to help you get your foot in the door with a compelling letter that will make employers want to learn more about you. I’ve used some real examples but I’ve left out identifying details to protect the guilty.

1.  Dear Whoever

If it’s possible, take an extra few seconds to identify who the hiring decision maker might be in the organization to which you are applying.  Sometimes in large companies or agencies that might not be possible, but in smaller firms you might be able to figure out whose attention to grab when addressing the letter. I am far more apt to read a letter addressed to “Rachel,” or even “RKPR team” than I am “Dear sir or ma’am.”

Wrong:

Please note: I apologize for the impersonal greeting, I wanted to address this cover letter to you by name, but it was not provided online and I was unable to obtain it.

Let me tell you a little bit about myself.  If you visit my website you will find an entire page explaining who I am and why I started my agency.  You can also find the names of everyone on the RKPR team.  I’m a social media junkie, so if you look me up online you will find my linkedin profile, my Facebook page and my Twitter profile, on which I am the most active and frequently tweeting about my never-ending quest to find good PR talent to join my team.  You can also find interviews with me online, one in particular that provides tips for job seekers.  This in and of itself causes me to question why you had so much difficulty in finding my name.

However, the part that perhaps baffles me the most is that my agency name is Rachel Kay Public Relations.  To those especially savvy job seekers, this may prove to be a sly clue as to what my name may be.

Right:

Hello Team RKPR!

I want to be your awesome PR intern. I am a full time MBA marketing student at SDSU, graduating in December. I ran across this position by Googling like crazy and am very excited about the possibility of working with you. I’ve been searching for an internship with an exciting, enthusiastic, ambitious agency, and you definitely seem to fit that bill. As an intern, I want to add value to a growing agency while sharpening my own skills, networking and gaining valuable experience.

2. I’m Not Really Sure What You are Hiring for, But I’ll Take it!

Wrong:

Dear Mrs. Kay,

I just came across your ad in Craigslist today and read your website. I am very interested in the position that is available with your company. I have a lot of experience with Accounting in many different industries. I am looking forward to talking and meeting with you.

I understand that in today’s tough economy, any job offering sounds exciting for many people desperate to find a job.  However, when you have no translatable skills for a position and aren’t willing to make a concerted effort to demonstrate how the skills you do have might benefit the company, than it’s not worthwhile for you or me to apply to my job. At RKPR we do PR, not accounting.

If you are lacking the skills needed to secure a job but truly believe your strengths could easily fit a company’s needs, then take the opportunity to explain that. For example, if you are trying to secure your first internship at a public relations firm but your last job was flipping burgers at the local fast food chain, use creative language to show how that experience would provide benefit to the company.

Right:

While I haven’t worked directly in an PR function, as hostess at Malone’s I was responsible for serving as each customer’s first impression of the company, which enabled me to cultivate my communication skills. In addition, I helped develop some of the marketing copy for our direct mail pieces which generated significant spikes in customer visits, and I’m certain your clients would benefit from my persuasive writing skills.

For an intern candidate this correspondence easily shows that the applicant understands that the key needs for the business are accuracy and attention to detail. The cover letter provides the perfect opportunity to sell yourself and your skills beyond the bullets of the resume.

3. Don’t Regurgitate Your Resume

The cover letter is not your second chance to tell your future employer about your degree and education.  It’s a chance to show that you understand the needs of their business (NOT the PR Business, Their Business) and that you offer a solution.

Wrong:

My distinctive mix of work experience and my status as a San Diego State University Alumi  by majoring in Communication and Media Studies have made me an ideal candidate for Rachel Kay Public Relations.

My experience in sales and customer relationship management, combined with my courses in Public Relations, Marketing and Communication classes have convinced me that Public Relations is a career I would like to explore.

I am currently working for a marketing firm.   By building customer relations and client relations I have been given the desire to work in Public Relations.

Snoooooozzzzze.

Right:

I’m excited about the opportunity to work with the RKPR team as a public relations intern, as I’m a huge foodie and would love to learn more about consumer products public relations.  I had the chance to review some of your clients, and I noticed you represent Mary’s Gone Crackers. I just saw a segment on the Today Show that included them a couple of weeks ago so I love to find out the process you went through to secure that. In addition, I noticed a lot of your clients are eco-conscious, and I have some great ideas for sharing that message.

In addition, I’ve been following you on Twitter for some time and I’ve read your blog. It’s important to me to work for an agency that embraces social media, so I’d love the chance to learn more about social media strategy for your clients.

4.  Be Relevant

Again, the cover letter needs to do one thing – Identify key needs of the prospective boss, and provide specific ways in which your experience will solve those needs.  Don’t try and deliver a bunch of non-relevant commentary that does nothing to address the needs of the business and simply serves to show the employer how witty and cunning you are. Gag.

Wrong:

Dear Ms. Kay,

It all comes down to the bottom line, doesn’t it? Employees must create value. If you are selling a product or service, your employees, in every way, represent your company. To the client or end user, and the company, that employee and what they do makes all the difference.

When dealing with clients, employees have to not just do it- they have to want to do it. That can make the difference between something done and something done well. In most companies, it’s not the rabid, competitive, squash-all-the-others super salesmen that are the norm or even necessary. It’s the intelligent, hardworking, likable person who is able to reach out, make a relationship with a client and then sustain and nurture that relationship. And the answer to “Who is that person?” is, a person you’d like to be around.

People trust me because, shucks, I like people. Even someone who might not prefer me, after knowing me, would know they could trust me. I am a friend, not a frenemy. I am the person you’d want to be with in a bomb shelter (unless that McGyver guy is available, then take him). I have never been fired. That’s not a big thing and maybe it’s just that I’ve never bitten off more than I could chew. Maybe it’s that I would not take a position unless I was sure that I could add value.

I have intellect, integrity, and intention. That sounds better than saying I am smart, nice and hardworking but something as simple as the awareness of that distinction is part of me, part of what I can offer. When marketing, advertising, or selling, having an intuitive understanding of people is a huge advantage. I have that innate comprehension of cultural anthropology: how we live, what we want, what compels us, what makes us tick. It’s the understanding that brunettes sell subscriptions to Time magazine and blondes sell tennis rackets. It’s not promoting or condoning but knowing that what is i s. It’s the appreciation of how some ad agency took the least attractive thing about UPS, the color, spotlighted it and even branded it! Well done.

What I see and have experienced, from the smallest office to the largest corporation, is that the employees (and managers) frequently get tunnel vision and fail to see the big picture. They become personally territorial and forget that they work for something bigger than themselves. When a person is dealing with a difficult client or an angry customer it is not about them personally and they should behave always as a representative of the company- not defensively, but diplomatically. In business, one should act, but never react. When you react you have already given up power. When you act, you maintain your integrity and your professionalism.

These cover letters and resumes are a bit like movie trailers, aren’t they? Well, call me, see the movie and decide for yourself. I am not the norm. If there exists the right fit, I promise you my best. In any case, thank you for your time and consideration. I hope to hear from you soon.

Oh yes. It is very clear that YOU are not the norm.  This cover letter doesn’t have anything to do with PR, my business or my clients. This person has used her cover letter to tell me that the blondes sell tennis rackets that she has never been fired and that we probably won’t work well together considering she thinks managers simply don’t get it.  This letter reeks of cockiness and no manager wants to endure a battle of wits with an employee who is disrespectful enough to tell her how to treat a client rather than explain what skills she has that will benefit the client list she’s worked so hard to build.

RIGHT:

I noticed that you conduct social media strategy for many of your clients.  I’ve been active on a number of social networks including Facebook and Twitter for some time and I’ve really developed some best practices in content development. In addition, after running my own fashion blog I’ve learned a lot about analytics and new ways to drive traffic that would be an asset to some of the brands your represent.

5. Enough About Me, Let’s Talk About Me!

The most important recommendation I can give is to make the cover letter about the employer, not about you.  Let them know you’ve been paying attention and you have an innate interest in what makes them tick.

Wrong:

Good Evening/Morning:

I’m going to show you a little piece of me. I am not going to blab on and on about the wonder that is me and why you should pick me. I’m just going to give you a little insight to who I am. I’m hungry. I’m hungry for a piece of the action.   The big city, the neon lights. I’m ready to take on the challenge of getting my hands dirty and sweat with some of the best. I’m more than willing to make strong contributions that will continuously grow with experience. Life is about opportunities, and I will like to be in an environment that would allow me the opportunity to shine and to pursue my dreams. I believe that we can always be better than we are today. Self-improvement is a way of life that we should all be more than ready to take on. I practice yoga, I sing in the shower, and despite years of dance training, I still tend to trip on the uprooted brick walkways outside my apartment. I’m learning to kickbox. I love running in the rain without shoes on. When I dance, I hope the world dances with me. I light candles in my apartment on Thursday nights while guzzling down a bowl of Easy Mac. I always stop and smell the roses. Colors are my passion; I love them all. Emotional drive is what keeps me going. I scrapbook over the holidays, in the hopes of capturing those picture perfect memories forever. I scrutinize over details, and I constantly make lists. I’m an ESFJ, according to Jung that’s what we do. I value strong leadership qualities.   I have these qualities and seek a mentoring environment to help me improve those skills. I will undoubtedly believe in myself, and the company I grow with.

Wow. The irony in this letter is that the first sentence clearly states “I am not going to blab on and on about the wonder that is me and why you should pick me.” Say what? So instead of telling me what skills you have that would benefit my clients you think telling me you guzzle Macaroni and Cheese on Thursdays will give you the competitive advantage?  It won’t. What I want to know is how you can help my clients, but you forgot all about that, didn’t you?

Right:

Hi Rachel,

As I mentioned in my Twitter message last night, I came across your job posting on Craigslist and would very much like to be considered for the position of account executive at RKPR.

I am currently an account manager at a boutique PR agency here in San Diego, but I am looking for an opportunity to learn and grow as a PR professional and work with a strong team to achieve success for our clients. Here are just a few of my qualifications that I feel make me a strong candidate for this job:

• I have nearly three years of agency experience and have been successfully managing my agency’s largest national client account for the past year.
• I have secured coverage for my clients in well-known publications such as The Chicago Sun-Times, Residential Design & Build and Metal Architecture, as well as on TV shows such as CBS’s The Early Show and Planet Green’s Alter Eco.
• I feel that my writing, rapport and media outreach are among my greatest strengths but I am also very proficient in media monitoring and analysis, researching creative pitching opportunities and utilizing the latest social media tactics.
• I am extremely dedicated, hard-working and organized, and feel that my positive personality is infectious in the workplace.

I would be thrilled to be a part of the team that helps contribute to and grow RKPR. Please see my attached resume to view my background experience. I would be happy to answer any additional questions you have or come in for a personal meeting.

6. Edit, and Then Ask Someone Else to Edit

I’ll actually forgive a GPS error here and there because I’m willing to bet there are a few in this blog post. But many people won’t and as communicators, you need to have sharp editing skills. Our eyes often miss things in our own work, so don’t hesitate to ask a friend or parent to look over one more time.  And don’t make royally dumb errors like these:

Wrong:

Dear KRPR

Dear Sony (I get this a lot)

I am ready to be your account executive at Bailey Gardiner! (great agency, but not mine)

I’m interested in pubic relations

Those are just a few tips to help job seekers write compelling communication.  Do you have additional tips to add?  Any faux paus you think I forgot? Did you get a job with a savvy cover letter? I’d love to hear your thoughts below!