5 Cover Letter Techniques = Spellbound Hiring Managers

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Bottom-line is, the purpose of a cover letter is to lure the reader to, well, read your resume and call you for an interview.

Now you may be dying to ask me, “Then why can’t I only submit my resume?” My answer is, you can—but how do you know your competition didn’t submit a persuasive cover letter that just about nudged you off the top spot?

Hmm?

Worst-case scenario, they can set your cover letter aside but it’s available if they need more convincing.

So, how do you create cover letter that is not tossed? I’m glad you asked…

Cover Letter Techniques That Work

Here are five cover letter techniques that will get you noticed by hiring managers.

1. Break A Leg With Your Opening Act

Don’t begin cover letters with an ordinary and boring statement. You really want to “have them at hello.” (Sorry. Couldn’t help it.) Really, captivate with the very first sentence. Exude sincerity, offer specific value, spin it, and make sure it’s employer-oriented. Here is one of my favorite openings:

Dear Mr. Bradley,

Offering to drive pharmaceutical sales growth by generating qualified leads, penetrating territories, and closing the toughest sales, consistently!

Please allow me to introduce myself…

2. Make A Personal Connection

You can tell a personal story that further positions you as the best candidate. You can provide statistical insight, reinforcing your industry knowledge. You may opt to walk your employer through your process. In other words, you can communicate more personally than you would on your resume and leverage that “ace in your pocket.”

See an example I used in a cover letter:

I am an avid golfer (with a pretty good handicap) and golf at least twice per week—I have closed many sales on the golf course over a weekend. Clients consider me a trusted friend and have even helped me form golf teams for charity events, which is an excellent way to network and gain new business…

Do you think I would have been able to add this golf example in the resume for my client –- no.

Now, let’s say candidate #1 is a stellar sales person and candidate #2 (my client) is also an outstanding revenue producer–this example is helping my client promote an added value. This “sign-on benefit” clues the hiring manager my client initiates and develops fruitful relationships through personal networking strategies that will be advantageous to the company.

Besides, it’s memorable. In a pile of hundreds of resumes and cover letters – memorable is a winner!

3. Become A Tease

Foreshadow what will be listed on the resume; what they will discover when they read your resume–but don’t repeat. Piqué interest! Save some fresh content for your cover letter. This is a strategic career marketing plan, part of which what goes on your resume or cover letter is determined–a real choreography! Example:

Please refer to my resume which summarizes more than 15 years of experience increasing revenue for top corporations such as IBM. I have aggressively launched unique sales strategies that have produced up to $8M annually. You will find a full account of my projected sales plans and exceeded goals by percentage per year.

Now we have asked the hiring manager to review the resume and we have provided a bit of information to spark interest. It is important to add quantifiable information and be specific, as you don’t want to seem vague. However, there is no need to provide all the details in the cover letter, especially if it will be on the resume. While I urge you to tease – the teasing must be done with actual facts and specific references not generalities that mean nothing.

4. Mesmerize Them

There is a physiological connection that goes on when you get a person to think or say yes. So, when you craft your cover letter try to envision the reader nodding their head in agreement with your statements. In order to do this you must validate their needs. You can cast this spell through reinforcing statements or questions.

Take it easy on the questions though—you don’t want to come across too sales-driven.

(The art of career marketing is a delicate balance.)

5. Ask For The Interview

In sales, they always direct you to ask for the sale. Well, ask for the interview. Just ask for it!

The point here is that your cover letter is a supporting influencing tool. It must be unique, inviting, compelling– a prelude to a well crafted resume in order to provoke action. Your cover letter is part of a marketing package and so merely writing it as you would any other communication letter is not going to generate the interviews you seek.

True story: I had a client tell me that when they were interviewed they were told the cover letter clinched the interview and the resume was used as a guide for an interesting interview. Here is a beginning part of that cover letter:

Music and entertainment is my passion. I am lucky to have realized so early what I was born to do! I have known I wanted to work in the entertainment industry since I was 11 years old. At age four, I already had an affinity for music and entertainment… I loved to perform, watch all the award shows on TV, memorize the choreography to music videos, and I always wanted to know how it all worked behind the scenes.

Client landed a job with Universal Music Distribution.

There you have it. Market yourself as the ideal candidate via a purposefully created cover letter.

The cover letter techniques above will help augment the resume, convincing the employer you’ve got what they need… in a very special way.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

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9 Comments

1. 

   carol

   January 21, 2013 at 3:21 PM

   Thanks for the great tips – actually got me excited about putting together my cover letter. I’m not in sales, but can definately see how to put these concepts to work!

   Reply
2. 

   dale williams

   January 13, 2013 at 12:09 PM

   Some really powerful covering letter techniques. Since the launch of automate job boards the covering letter has been neglected with candidates simply using the default message when a good covering letter can really help you stand out.

   Reply
3. 

   Joann

   January 12, 2013 at 7:19 PM

   I’m amazed at the comments that seem to dismiss the advice because the examples don’t appeal to them personally. Have some imagination, people, and figure out how you can create an equally appealing hook appropriate for you and your prospective employer! And to the person who doesn’t understand the concept of a golf handicap — if you don’t know the sport, don’t comment. Low handicap = good golfer clients enjoy playing with. That’s all.

   Reply
4. 

   Rosa Varas

   November 27, 2012 at 2:54 PM

   The advice is free. Use your own filter, apply what is useful to you, discard what is not. If the entire article doesn’t help you, move on to another article that may be a better fit for you.

   The cover letter examples here are not one-size fits all; they are also just a portion of the entire cover letter. These cover letters worked for my clients and so I am happy to share if it can help another job seeker in need.

   Additionally, every circumstance is different. I write in the voice that best represents my client’s personality, conveys their brand, includes jargon familiar in that industry, and connects with that job search market. For example, a cover letter for a nurse would be completely different and less aggressive in tone. Still, I would find a way to ‘spellbound’ employers by avoiding the mundane cover letters we are accustomed to reading.

   The idea behind this article is that you should not settle for an ordinary cover letter. Even a ‘cheesy’ cover letter that wins interviews is better than a safe cover letter that yields no interview calls.

   Happy Holidays and a successful job search!

   Reply
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     Steve

     January 31, 2013 at 8:14 PM

     Not to nitpick, but there are a number of grammatical errors that diminish the strength of your advice…

     Reply
5. 

   Susan Hall

   November 26, 2012 at 5:08 AM

   Lame article. Maybe good for sales, but the advice is cheesy.

   Reply
6. 

   Erica

   November 23, 2012 at 1:33 PM

   I would have to agree this may be one of the weaker examples I have read when it comes to cover letter advice. Although I can see why these items were suggested (they made the client stand out), they only stand out for the one person in the example that met a hiring manager that enjoyed the cover letter. A typical employer, I would say, would not be interested that you are, “lucky enough to know what you have wanted to do since age four,” for example. These suggestions are very “me, me, me-focused” instead of offering up solid examples of what they could do for a prospective employer based on their skills and experience.

   Reply
7. 

   Yuriy Ksenidi

   November 23, 2012 at 11:50 AM

   This article seems to focus on one career: sales. Why? I do would not want to read any further on any of these openings because each one is so corny and screams the applicant is #1. Maybe he/she should give impression they are #1 but citing the 8M in sales at IBM (example 3) just says you take credit for all the work and are not ashamed to do it. We all know almost every project is accomplished by a team effort, no matter how small a team may be. So reading a cover letter where someone gloats about increasing sales makes me wonder if the person takes all the credit and is being selfish.

   Example 2 just says the person plays golf well and did business on a golf outing, but so what? Why should I care? And why is there a handicap? Better to say: I don’t need a handicap! I play to win and don’t need to artificially inflate my score because I am a mortal person and not an athlete. Now that would definately differenciate this applicant. In addition, as employer I expect you to use golf to network so telling me that is useless.

   I wish CAREEREALISM would ask the authors of these articles to respond to comments such as mine. Otherwise these resume, cover letter and career experts who get paid to give an opinion may feel that their advice is one size fits all. Posting their spiel on this website is great but what is the point if there is no feedback from readers? Then it is just another writing sample they (authors) can put on their resume. But with some response, there is a chance to continue the discussion and for them to see that there is someone who does not agree with their seemingly perfect advice.

   Reply
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     medallion01

     January 10, 2013 at 5:39 PM

     Very good points,I get confused as to what is the “proper” format for these resumes. Simple, powerful, appropiate and yet to the point. I spend more time researching and reading these articles than applying for jobs that I like respond within the time frame.

     That it takes me back to Purdue Owl. I will have to chance it since there is so many formats.

     Reply