A broadcast letter is a hybrid between a cover letter and is same. It's longer than a cover letter, shorter than a letter and resume combined and makes the same points as a cover letter.
Why I'm interested in your company? The broadcast letter includes more detail on the first two topics than a cover letter and reads somewhat like an executive summary. Some job hunters prefer the format because it's a relatively unique way to capture an employer's attention.
Follow-up letters generally annoy potential employers. Potential employers like to be admired and pursued as much as anyone. When you send a follow-up letter to a resume, networking appointment or interview or as a reminder of your continuing interest, give your contacts a lift and reinforce your interest in building long-term relationships with them.
There are a variety of ways to slant follow-up correspondence. Various approaches-thank-you notes, FYI (for your information) newspaper or magazine articles, interesting sites on the Internet, "this is what I've done since we last talked" letters and inquiries to confirm receipt of your resume can remind potential employers that you want to become better acquainted.
In a competitive job market, persistence may be more useful than expertise. Are you beginning to see a pattern here? People like to feel important. Your persistence in conveying an interest in them fosters the interest in you.
While American businesses openly emphasize their need for individuals who have specific skills, education and work experience, hiring managers have a hidden agenda that's actually more important. Professionals who make hiring decisions want to work with colleagues who are enthusiastic about their companies, jobs and relationships. They instinctively know that employees who may not have ideal backgrounds but are excited about their jobs can make greater contributions than applicants with perfect backgrounds and nonchalant attitudes.
Your persistence in pursuing a position reinforces your interest and indicates that you're an individual who doesn't give up easily. In a world of mediocre performers who view careers only as ways to fill time and make money, those who show persistence and enthusiasm are unique, refreshing and highly marketable.
First-time job seekers can only attract potential employers through their education and raw talent. There are many places to gain marketable skills and experience besides classrooms. Paid or unpaid internships, extracurricular activities, hobbies, volunteer work, travel and family activities are some of the many venues for cultivating expertise. Unfortunately, many graduates who participate in these activities don't understand how their experience translates into applicable accomplishments. Cover letters, resumes and interviews are excellent vehicles for highlighting nontraditional experience if you know how to use them effectively.
Women returning to the workforce have a lot of marketable skills, even though they often don't realize it. How true this statement is, yet very few career-changing home-makers give themselves credit for experience gained in their former profession. Perhaps they don't think their skills are marketable because they weren't paid for them. Or perhaps our culture has given them a clear, but erroneous, message that the more money you make, the more you're worth.
Like first-time job hunters, homemakers can use their non-paid achievements to show employers they're capable of getting the job done, but, they must first believe their career is a noble and marketable profession. This is a perfect scenario for the Pygmalion Effect. If you feel your volunteer work has prepared you for a paid position as a fund raiser, meeting planner or project manager, potential employers will probably agree with you. If you think you have little to offer, interviewers will sense your feelings of inadequacy and evaluate you accordingly.
Employers are primarily looking for specific job knowledge. They don't think transferable skills count for much. Networking contacts, executive recruiters and potential employers will all tell you that, besides technical skills, professionals should have good communication and organizational abilities.
But working cooperatively on a team and setting priorities are skills that come naturally to some and not others. These are intrinsic aptitudes that improve with use. Like other transferable skills-initiative. Creativity, empathy, physical coordination and attention to detail, to name a few-we're either born with them or we're not.
Fortunately, all of us have valuable functional skills to market along with our technical knowledge. And as we progress from hands on tasks to management, these skills become increasingly important. Until they eventually overshadow our technical expertise as critical indicators of our ability to perform a job. Have you noticed how mam boards of directors have chosen CEOs with fresh ideas from other industries to run their corporations? When selecting these individuals, board members are more interested in a candidate's personality and ability to get the job done than his background in potato chips of high-tech widgets.
Don't delude yourself into thinking that technical knowledge will be the deciding factor in whether you're chosen for an opening. Be sure to sell your transferable skills as vigorously as your specialize ones in your cover letters and resumes, because a combination of both is usually expected in a winning candidate.
Employers want to know your entire work history. Interviewers are only interested in what you can do for them. While this attitude may sound self-serving, it gives you the freedom to
- Delete unrelated or obsolete experience from your work history without feeling guilty or dishonest.
- Structure your cover letter and resume so that they focus specifically on the employer's needs.
- Showcase unpaid experience that applies to the position you're pursuing.
If you pick a cover letter in this book that you really like and use it as your own, you're bound to get positive results. Never copy someone else's cover letter. Granted, there are times when using shortcuts or creatively adapting another document is the most intelligent option. But this isn't one of them. Using a form letter with your resume is lazy and insulting to employers.
