Tag Archives: Resume

9 Tips for a Killer Cover Letter

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Sometimes I get asked by my clients about when it’s appropriate and/or necessary to write a cover letter. The general answer is that it almost never hurts, “almost” being the key word there. Getting a job is all about scoring more points than the next candidate. Lucky for you, it’s really not that hard to win, because many candidates go in with nothing more than an average resume. Everything else that you do above and beyond the typical resume shows that you are polished, prepared, and that you have a real passion for the job you are applying for.

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A well-written cover letter scores you more points. A poorly-written, misinformed letter hurts you. Cover letters are especially useful when you are applying for a job with a company that you don’t currently work for. It helps you build a conversational relationship with your hiring manager and helps you highlight the top few things that set you apart from the other candidates.

Here are nine tips to guide you as you write your cover letter:

  1. Keep it short. I can’t emphasize this enough. Long and wordy paragraphs will not get read by your hiring manager. Don’t go any longer than three-fourths of a page. If you can keep it to half a page, even better. Don’t use a small font to cram everything into it to still meet the length restriction. 🙂
  2. Put your contact info at the very top. Just like everything else that you give your hiring manager, it needs to have your name, phone number, and email on it. You want to make it as easy as possible for them to call you at any time.
  3. Be gracious. Be assumptive, but not pushy in the letter. You want your hiring manager to know that you’re very interested in the job, but don’t let it feel like you have a sense of entitlement or that you deserve the job. Let them make the decision. Thank them for taking the time to read the letter.
  4. Introduce yourself. Briefly. Take one or two short sentences to tell them what you’re currently doing. Include your name and job title.
  5. Highlight your top three qualification for this specific job. Quickly state why you’re the top candidate for the position. Focus on the results you’ve achieved, rather than just on the things you’ve done. Use phrases like “I increased online sales revenues by 325% in under six months by integrating A/B testing into our email marketing strategy.” Keep it concise.
  6. Show that you know the company and their industry. This is where it gets a little more difficult. You want to show him or her that you have done your research. Google the company. Read some of their press releases. Find out about their industry. Find out who their competitors and allies are. Try to summarize this briefly in a few sentences. Don’t speak like you’re their next CEO. Just keep it simple and show you’re informed.
  7. Give them a couple suggestions for improvement. This is the most difficult part. It’s a fine line between criticizing and showing that you want to contribute what you’ve learned in the past to their organization. Just be careful that you’re not stating the obvious. If you are not 95% sure that you have a solid suggestion, just skip this section.
  8. Restate that you hope to get an interview. If you’ve shown you have what they’re looking for, you know their company, and you have something valuable to contribute, this part should be easy. Tell them you would love to work with and grow with their company. Tell them you would like to talk more about how you can contribute to their organization.
  9. Sincerely, you. Sign it. Easy peasy.

Cover letters, more than anything else you submit during the application and interviewing process need to be specifically written for each particular job. If you’re applying to a lot of jobs and don’t have time to write cover letters for each one, in my opinion, it’s better to not submit a cover letter at all. If it’s generic, it’s probably not going to get read.

If you would like suggestions or help writing your next cover letter, give me a call or send me a text.

14 Things to Put in Your Career Portfolio

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In meeting with my clients, I often get asked questions about what they should put in their career portfolios. Here’s a short list of things to consider. This doesn’t mean that you have to include all of them. For some jobs, these things might not be appropriate. Also, if you don’t have experience in a given area, don’t stretch the truth.

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Your portfolio should be no more than 10 pages long. You can include two slides per page. You should be able to get through it in no more than five minutes. Don’t try to pack everything you’ve ever done into the portfolio. This is only your best stuff.

  1. Education: Your education is the beginning of your story. Hiring managers want to know that you have a solid foundation in the discipline in which you will be working. Include a recognizable logo from your school. Include some interesting pictures of your thesis, capstone project, or key projects that you did along the way as a team. Include a slide for each degree you have obtained.
  2. Work experience: I recommend that you have at least one slide for each organization that you have worked for in the past five years. Organize them in chronological order. Focus on highlighting your wildly successful projects. This doesn’t mean your day-to-day work. These are the projects that both you and your manager are proud of.
  3. Volunteer service: For most people I know, the most significant volunteer experience they’ve had was an LDS mission. I encourage people to include one slide for this. Use an image of the country or state where you served. Include a picture of you with other missionaries and one of you with the local residents. As you talk about the experience, make sure to mention that you learned and are still fluent (if that’s true) in your mission language.
  4. Awards: Think back over your lifetime. Were there any significant awards that would mean something to your hiring manager? What about academics, sports, or performing arts awards? Did you receive a scholarship for your undergraduate degree? Did you make the dean’s list? Don’t spend a lot of time on these things unless they directly relate to the job, but they show that you can go above and beyond.
  5. Languages/international experience: Have you completed internships outside of the US? Did you serve an LDS mission? Did you serve in the army? Did you perform some other kind of volunteer service? Have you traveled outside of the US for a business trip? More and more, companies are looking for candidates with international experience. Make sure you highlight it if you have it.
  6. Presentation experience: Most jobs will require you to present ideas to your team or clients. List the presentation software that you’re familiar with. This could include logos of PowerPoint, Keynote, Prezi, Reveal.js, Impress.js, etc. If you have presented to groups of 100+, include a picture of you at the pulpit with a picture of something you presented.
  7. Writing experience: In most jobs, you’ll find yourself sending a considerable about of emails on any given day. Employers want to know that you can communicate effectively. Sloppy writing can sometimes destroy your credibility with your stakeholders and clients. Do you have a blog? Have you published any articles?
  8. Software tools: What software tools is your hiring manager looking for? Do they want you to know the Adobe Creative Suite? Perhaps Microsoft Office? PeopleSoft? Maybe project management software like AtTask, Basecamp, Asana, or Microsoft Project? Make sure to include logos for the top five that you think they might want.
  9. Hobbies: One slide of your hobbies outside of work is OK, as long as it meets three standards: it’s relevant in some way to the job you’re applying for, it’s not weird (this will vary from job to job), and you keep it really short.
  10. Books: This is a form of informal education. It shows you are interested in constantly increasing your knowledge and skills on the job and off the job. Include a few books that are relevant to the job. Business books are preferred. Don’t put up cover images of the latest teen fiction fad. This is also a good slide for other learning resources like Lynda.com, Codeschool.com, etc. that you frequent.
  11. Leadership experience: During almost every job interview I’ve been in, one of the interviewers has asked the candidate about his or her experience with managing people. If you’ve done a lot of management, include a slide or two about your efforts to develop your people and try innovative things. If you haven’t, find ways to talk about leadership in your other projects. You’ll preemptively answer the question.
  12. Project management experience: Same as the above. Everybody wants to know if you can deliver results. This means scope, schedule, and budget. Include something about you managing budgets and completing projects ahead of time. If you have received a certification in project management like the PMP or Agile, include the logo.
  13. Strengths and weaknesses: Ever gotten this question? Yep, me too. Anticipate the question by talking about it briefly during your portfolio presentation. Theoretically, everything in your portfolio is a strength, but think about what could be a weakness too. The best way to approach this is by talking about some new thing that you tried recently for the first time and succeeded. Tell your interviewer that while it was a success, you know that you still have a lot you would like to improve.
  14. An opening and closing slide: Just like every essay or project you turned in during college, you need to put your name on it. You want it to be very clear for your interviewers who this awesome portfolio belongs to. Try adding a tagline with your greatest strengths. Something like “Innovative leader, dedicated student, technical specialist” that targets the job you’re applying for. This anticipates their last question, “What makes you the best candidate for the job?” You already have your three bullet points right there in front of you.

I hope this gives you some ideas of where to start. The two most important things to remember as you’re creating this portfolio are to first, focus as much of your content as possible on the work you’ve accomplished that relates directly to the job you’re applying for, and second, keep it short. You don’t want to take up too much time in the interview that prevents the interviewers from asking their standard questions. They’ll get frustrated.

If you’re ready to create a portfolio that will help you confidently answer that time-old question, “So tell us about yourself” at the beginning of almost every interview, give me a call or send me a text.