Career Management Alliance Blog

Guest article by Jimmy Sweeney, Author of the new, Amazing Cover Letter Creator Many job-seekers miss the opportunity to get past first base when it comes to landing the job of their dreams. What holds them back? A negative attitude reflected in their cover letter to potential employers. Negative Thoughts Lead to Negative Actions! They may feel bitter Continue Reading »

Comments Off

The refrain sounds from all corners. In fact, some of the people sounding the death call for cover letters come from third-party recruiters, career coaches, career counselors, jobseekers, executives in transition and executives not in transition. Cover letters need to be understood as one of the tools you have to differentiate yourself. Unfortunately, the trending, common knowledge of those well-meaning people say things that I consider to be purely subjective opinions. If you are doing the hiring and you want to ignore covering statements, cover letters or introductory letters that's your prerogative. But I stand against the supposed common knowledge of today.

Comments Off

This entry is one in a series by Deb Walker on avoiding the top three cover letter mistakes:

Repeating the exact same things you wrote in your resume is one of the most common cover letter mistakes. No one wants to read the same thing twice. By the time most people have finished writing their resume, they feel that they have run out of ideas and just cut and paste to create a cover letter. Instead, the cover letter should be what sells the reader on your skills. Like the jacket-cover introduction to a good book, the cover letter should give the reader a taste of the great things to come and encourage them to read more. Continue Reading »

Comments Off

This entry is one in a series by Deb Walker on avoiding the top three cover-letter mistakes:

As a career coach and professional resume writer, I’m often asked “How important are cover letters to my job search?” My answer is, “It depends on how long you want to search for your next job.” If you are in no hurry to get interviews, then don’t worry about your cover letter. The fact is I’ve never met a job searcher who wants to have a painfully slow job search. The whole point of sending out resumes is to get multiple interviews as quickly as possible. But many job seekers still unwittingly sabotage their efforts by using substandard cover letters. Instead of helping you, your cover letter may actually be hurting your job search.

Comments Off

What’s the best way to make sure your cover letter is well-written and on target? If your time frame will allow it, put your cover letter down, and then pick it up a day or two later as though you were the prospective employer. Does it grab and hold your attention? Is it concise? Is it free of typos, misspellings, and grammatical errors? Is it interesting? If you were the employer, would you know what this job-seeker wants to do and why he or she is the best person to do it? Would you invite this job-seeker for an interview?

Comments Off

Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). An advertising term, the USP is the one thing that makes you better qualified to do the job than anyone else. The USP should answer the question: “Why should I hire this person?” Want more? See Cover Letters: A Key to Gaining A Competitive Edge in the Job Market.

Comments Off

Frankly, your eyes would cross if I provided a full list of every type of cover letter. I believe there’s only one cover letter, but over the years, professionals have taken up to calling the cover letter by more specific names to help define the purpose of the letter. For example, in my article entitled Continue Reading »

Comments Off

A cover letter should always accompany your resume. A cover letter tells the employer exactly what kind of job you want to do and tailors your qualifications to that job. Learn more by reading Cover Letters: A Key to Gaining A Competitive Edge in the Job Market.

Comments Off

The cover letter is usually an afterthought, dashed off to accompany a resume into which you’ve poured blood, sweat, and cash. Its potential as a powerful marketing tool frequently is overlooked. Learn more by reading Cover Letters: A Key to Gaining A Competitive Edge in the Job Market.

Comments Off

More from a posting on the RecruitingBlogs site from corporate recruiter Bill Meiers: Several of the commenters to Meier’s blog posting protested that it’s cumbersome to open multiple attachments when resumes are e-mailed to them. Thus, they prefer the job-seeker’s resume as an attachment, but the cover letter in the BODY of the e-mail to which the resume is attached. At least one commenter, though, feels it’s more professional when cover letters attached to an e-mail. One option is to do both — paste the letter in your e-mail and attach it. That way, those who don’t want to bother with an additional attachment don’t have to, while those who want the attachment have the option of opening it.

Comments Off