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How to Create an Effective Cover Letter

Use this method to turn employer's heads

Updated: Thursday, 10 May 2012, 12:39 PM EDT
Published : Monday, 19 Oct 2009, 1:09 PM EDT

    myFOXDetroit.com Staff

    Short and sweet. That should be the approach when it comes to cover letters as well as thank you notes in your job search.

    FOX 2's Jason Carr found out why they are so important and why etiquette still counts. Click the video player for an explanation.

    For job seekers, cover letters will likely be the first document potential employers will see from you. But many employers will simply discard it to get to the resume, leaving you very limited time to get your message across.

    The staff at Lee Hecht Harrison, an outplacement service in New York, suggest a strategy they found most effective.

    "We suggest when they're responding to a posted job or a known opening, that they describe on the left hand side of the letter what the company is posting or looking for, the specifications for the job and then they match on the right hand side how they qualify for it," said Senior Career Coach Chris Bryan. "It's connecting the dots for the person reading it."

    Check out the example below:
     

    • Sample Cover Letter
    Department of Human Resources
    Davida Darwin
    1900 Cassiopeia Avenue
    Anytown, MD 23456
       
    Re: Posting 101 Associate Director II  
       

    Dear Ms. Darwin:

    When I read your ad for an Associate Director II on the Marylandworks job site, I couldn’t help noticing how well your requirements align with my experience, education, skills, and background.

    While my enclosed resume provides a good overview of my strengths and achievements, I have also listed some of your specific requirements for the position and my applicable skills:
       
    You require: I offer:
       
    Ability to coordinate and oversee the work of subordinates. Experience in supervising 25 office employees and ensuring staff efficiency as a public-health program director.
       
    Ability to strategically plan, develop and implement programs and operations toward achievement of team’s mission, goals, and objectives. Experience developing and implementing treatment programs as a public-health program director.
       
    The analytical skills to perform needs assessments, evaluate current programs, and initiate changes or adjustments to current systems and improve operations. Success in having brought order out of chaos at an inner-city health clinic and vastly improving processes there.
       
    Problem-solving and decision-making abilities. Success in solving numerous problems at inner-city clinic, such as reducing number of emergency and drug-seeking patients; lobbying for HIV-information dissemination; and increasing number of patients that could be given routine care.
       

    Since my experience and expertise fit your requirements so closely, I am clearly one of the people you’ll want to see. I plan to contact you to follow up on this letter and see if we can arrange a meeting. In the meantime, please feel free to call me at my home number listed above. I look forward to our meeting. Thank you for your time and consideration.

    Sincerely,

    Bonnie Ellisberg
       
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