Can I Wear My Nose Ring to the Interview?: A Crash Course in Finding, Landing, and Keeping Your First Real Job (16 page)

ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF

So now you have the perfect résumé. You stick it in an envelope and send it to your dream company, right?

Wrong.

Now you write your cover letter.

The problem is, many people don’t know what a cover letter is, why you need one, or what goes in it. Here’s what a good cover letter can do, besides introduce you and your résumé:

Serve as a sample of your writing and communication skills. Can you write well and vividly? Does the letter conform to standard business format? Does it contain typos, misspellings, or grammatical errors? (In other words, how meticulous are you?)

Convey a sense of what you’re like as a person and potential colleague. Do you sound smart? Fun? Boring? Pompous? Negative? Driven? The cover letter is a personal ad of sorts—you want the reader to want to meet you.

Serve as a road map for an eventual interview. The cover letter can highlight the things on your résumé that you’d like to talk more about.

Show that you know where you’re applying and aren’t just blindly and randomly submitting résumés. A great cover letter is tailored to the particular job for which you’re applying.

Cover letters should be concise and informative, radiating competence and confidence; professional, but with enough personality to intrigue without ringing alarm bells. A good cover letter should not inspire me to call over a colleague and say, “Hey, get a load of this.”

Keep your letter short and to the point, never more than a page. The information should be objective—stick to facts, not your judgments and estimations of your own talents and worth. Your goal is to show why you, among hundreds of applicants, should be selected for an interview and why you are the right person for this job.

Q. I see what you’re saying, but do I really need to write a cover letter? Can’t I just send my résumé alone or write “see attached”? I mean, they’ll figure it out—I want the job!

A.
If you send your résumé without a cover letter, here’s what you’re saying: I am so egocentric that I think you, the employer, have been waiting around for my résumé. There is only one job open at your company and you know I want it. In short: Sending a résumé without a cover letter is a great way to look arrogant and sloppy.

Q. What if I called the person to whom I’m sending my résumé and he’s expecting it? Do I still need a cover letter?

A.
Yes. The cover letter is the formal and written reminder of whatever was said in the phone call—especially if the call revealed useful information about the job. Perhaps the employer said that although the ad didn’t mention it, the job may involve some fund-raising. The cover letter is your chance to highlight that you helped your former boss with grant proposals and served as fund-raising chair for a college theatrical production.

Q. Aren’t people so busy that they’ll just throw away the cover
letter and go straight for the résumé?

A.
Sure—if your cover letter says so little it’s garbage-worthy, in which case your résumé might end up in the trash as well. Yes, people are busy—and if they’re looking to hire a new person, they’re probably even busier than usual. But your letter will stand out because it’s short, to the point, well-written, well-presented, and appears to offer a solution to their problem.

It’s true that some people won’t bother looking at cover letters, but it’s also true that some people pay more attention to the cover letter than they do to the résumé. A cover letter can’t hurt (unless it’s poorly written and typo-laden), but it can help.

THE FORMAT