|
Learn Why Most
Cover Letters Miss the Mark and Understand How Employers Screen
Cover Letters The
first section of this booklet discusses how and why most cover
letters miss the mark. It describes how up to 90% of all cover
letters do not highlight or market skills employers are looking
for when trying to fill a particular job. |
|
Use Design That
Saves Employers Time Most employers receive from 100 to 400 or more
cover letters and resumes therefore your resume must sell your
top skills in seconds to make sure that employers stop and read
your letter. It must be designed to save them time and stand
out among all the letters employers will receive! |
The Importance
of Powerful Cover Letter Content The design of your letter must grab attention
but it's really the content, your paragraph headings and paragraphs
themselves, that will convince employers to call you for interviews.
In this section you'll begin learning how to identify what skills
you should market in your letter and how you can pull together
and combine the best of your top skills so that you present a
convincing case for your qualifications.
continue
scrolling for rest of description |
Analysis of Ads
and Before & After Cover Letters Three sets of ads or job openings are
analyzed. You are given a chance to see if you can pick out all
of the skills in each ad, then to combine keywords from the ads
to create powerful paragraph headings for each cover letter.
Most people fail at writing strong letters because they do not
understand how this process works. By reading the ads and then
being able to see the actual letters created for the ads--you'll
learn how key words were used to develop powerful paragraph headings
and paragraph content. These are the very best of my strategies!
These cover letter examples are exemplary in their style, design
and impact. Many people report seeing substantial increases in
the number of interviews they land by learning how to effectively
analyze ads and follow the letters in this booklet. |
|
Techniques to
Create Paragraph Headings That Result in High Response Rates and Requests For Interviews The most difficult process for people
when trying to write cover letters is understanding how to create
powerful paragraph headings. In this section I show you how I
pull out specific words from ads and combine them to create targeted
headings that market the best of your skills and to match key
areas of experience that employers want -- this process takes
a little time but pays off big in landing more interviews! |
|
Developing Strong
Skill Headings and Strengthening Weak Job Titles If you are like many
job seekers your job titles may not sell you as well as your
skills. This section will help you decide whether to use a specific
job title or to strengthen it or replace with a stronger skill
heading. |
|
Who Is Your Audience
-- Understanding What They
Want To Hear in Your Letter To write a powerful cover letter you
must first understand who your audience is and what they want
to hear in order to "sell" them. These proven sales
strategies apply directly to the creation of powerful cover letters.
This section will teach you how to customize your letters to
match the needs of different positions you are interested in. |
|
Redundancy -
You Must Restate Your Top Selling Points Or You Resort To Weak,
General Statements Some employers will look at your resume first but
some will look at your letter first. Therefore, each document
must be able to sell you in and of itself. This section discusses
this important issue and shows you how to make a powerful argument
for your skills! |
|
The Power of
a P.S. - Two Success Stories Where a P.S. Landed The Job Direct marketers know
that using a P.S. sells and gets our attention. In this section
you'll learn how to craft a powerful P.S. to market a unique
skill or area of expertise you have to offer! |
|
Don't Get Gimmicky
- It Doesn't Work Some cover letter books recommend some pretty "sales
oriented" statements that are a little gimmicky. I've tested
several with employers to find out if they like them. Here you'll
learn what statements to avoid putting in your letters. |
|
The Anatomy of
Your Letter In
this section you'll learn how to write strong opening paragraphs,
what should be put in the 2-3rd paragraphs and how to close and
ask for an interview in the last paragraph. It's the body of
your letter where you'll concentrate the most on selling your
top skills and using design that grabs the eye! |
|
Opening Phrases
You Can Use To Begin Your Paragraphs And Make Cover Letter Writing
Easy Many
people find cover letter writing difficult so I've included several
phrases to start your paragraphs--they'll also help guide you
in marketing your top skills. |
|
The Importance
of Follow-Up Once
you've written your letter to further ensure it's success you
need to follow-up on it. This section provides true stories of
people who dealt with their fear in calling and following up
on their letters and ended up landing jobs because of such follow-up! |
|
FAX and E-Mail
Your Letter If That's An Option In today's technologically fast-paced
world it's important that you get your letters and resumes to
employers ASAP. Tips are provided on faxing and e-mailing if
those options are given to you! |
|
Apply Even If
You Don't Have Every Skill Many people think they shouldn't apply if they
don't have every skill requested. This section covers how important
it is to apply even if you don't have every skill--but to market
and maximize what you do have. |
|
If You Think
You're Not Qualified - What Employers Really Hire For This section discusses
what employers really look for when hiring. We usually think
it's all the skills listed in an ad but it really our soft skills
that convince employers to hire us. This section discusses this
issue and shows how to market your soft skills! |
|
Answering Blind
Want Ads This
section provides tips on how to answer blind ads and guides you
in finding out who placed the ad and how to avoid applying to
your own employer! |
|
Answer Ads As
Soon As Possible This
section discusses how quickly you should get your letters in
the mail when responding to ads. |
|
Your Salary History
- Providing Salary Information Here tips are provided on phrases to
use when describing your past salary and the salary you want.
This section is important since a majority of ads and applications
ask for your salary history. |
|
Cover Letter
Worksheet This
is an easy to follow, fill-in-the blanks worksheet that has been
proven highly successful and will make writing your letters easy! |
|
Customizing Your
Letters You'll
generate much higher interview rates by customizing and tweaking
your letters and you are guided through this process. |
|
Contacting Employers
Who Haven't Advertised This section will show you how to develop "cold
call" letters so you can contact employers who haven't advertised.
Studies show that up to 85% of all positions filled are never
advertised. |
|
Targeting Key
Decision Makers To
increase the success of your letters, it's wise to do research
as much as possible and locate the names of key decision makers
to send your letters to. This section shares true successes of
job seekers who identified and then sent their letters to the
right decision makers! |
|
Customizing Your
Letters You'll
generate much higher interview rates by customizing and tweaking
your letters and you are guided through this process. |
|
Don't Send Letters
That Are Weaker Than Your Resume! Many books encourage you to use the same
resume over and over ... but to customize or change your letter.
I advise you to do this too but also explain that this often
results in cover letters that are stronger than your resume.
This issue and the solution are discussed. |
|
Matching A,B,C,D
- The Employer's Criteria - To Your Skills and Abilities This section explains
how important it is to match and market each criteria or skill
you possess that an employer wants and shows you how to do it! |
|
Graphing Your
Letters to Determine How Employers Will Respond to Your Skills,
Image and Salary You Want In this section you'll see how and why Fran's before
letter failed and how she then developed a letter that matched
the job and salary she wanted. Then you'll be guided in graphing
your own letters to determine their effectiveness. |
|
Cover Letter
Critique! Last
you'll be provided a list of critical questions to help you determine
if your letter will hit the mark and land the jobs and interviews
you want! |
Website
Contents, Regina Pontow, 1997-2005
Get my COVER
LETTER BOOK