| 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! |
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Contents, Regina Pontow, 1997-2013
