[MUSIC] In this lesson,
you'll learn about the nuts and bolts of putting together a cover letter. You've learned about the importance of
holding a reader's attention and interest, then building desire
into a call to action. Let's talk about holding the interest of
a busy and hurried perspective employer. First thing he or she will notice about
your copy letter is its appearance. Use white space,
use short focused phrases. Use bullets to help the reader glean
important information from the letter. Bullets cut through the clutter
to emphasize key points. Just as in a resume, these bold dots immediately draw the
reader's attention to your key strengths. Think of it this way. If an employer has only a few
seconds to evaluate you, what do you want him or her to see first. You want him or her to focus on your
strongest skills and capabilities and on why your a perfect match for
the organization. That's what you get with bullets. The perfect cover letter is about
three to four paragraphs in length. Never make the mistake of cramming
all your text in to one long jumbled paragraph. These make it visually unappealing And
the first one to get pitched. The ideal paragraph is three
to four paragraphs long. Get to the point right away and
make sure your ideas are easy to follow. Once you've finished
editing the cover letter, print it on the same paper
stock as your resume. This way, the entire package
the employer receives has a consistent professional appearance. Now what about the actual writing? Before you begin, make sure you have the
correct information to put in the heading of your cover letter. The date,
the name of the person doing the hiring, his or her specific title,
organization name, and complete address. The correct format is shown here. The text is left justified, with a date on
the first line followed by a blank line, then the address information,
with name title at the top. The cover letter should be addressed
to the person responsible for making the hiring decision,
most likely a director or department head. If you don't know who will
specifically make the hiring decision, call the organization and
ask who you should address the letter to. That's also a great chance to get
the first and last name spelled correctly, along with the specific job title. Where you start the first line depends
on the length of the cover letter. In Microsoft Word,
I generally set the top margin at one and a half inches,
the bottom margin at three inches, then set the vertical alignment to center
with 1.25 inch margins left and right. That usually produces
an attractive visual layout. Always double-check
the address information. Remember, if the address is wrong your
cover letter will not get read no matter how good it is. And if you use the wrong job title for
the perspective employer, specially if you downgrade
the actual job title, there's no way you're going to impress
him or her with your abilities. It is very very important to spell
the employer's name correctly. I knew a hiring manager
whose first name was Leslee, spelled L-E-S-L-E-E instead of
the more conventional L-E-S-L-I-E. She threw away any letter in which
her first name was misspelled. That was her quick test of
an applicant's aptitude. So make sure you spell
the employer's name correctly. The next impression your letter makes
is in the greeting also known as the salutation. Don't take the easy way out and
write dear director of human resources. The human resource director is most often
not the one in charge of the hiring decisions. He or she usually manages day
to day personnel activities. Don't use dear sir. In today's world, you cannot assume that
the person making the hiring decision is a man, and you should never
use sexist hiring language. A woman should always be addressed as Ms. unless you know she's married or
has a professional title. And don't use my all time,
least favorite, to whom it may concern. This greeting tells an employer in
the very first line that you are lazy and have not even done the most basic
hallmark on the organization. It's a great way to kill your chances. Take the time to get the name of
the person in charge of hiring and then use that. If the name is unisex, like Pat Smith,
simple write dear Pat Smith. And use a comma after the salutation,
not a colon. Remember that the cover
letter is a marketing piece. You want to build a rapport with
the hiring manager from the start, so use the informal comma
instead of the formal colon. Next, comes your opening paragraph. It should accomplish two goals,
to make a connection with the reader and to heighten his or her interest. So, how do you manage that? You could write something like this. Employers do like to know how an applicant
found out about the position. That helps them figure out where
their marketing is most effective, but an opening like this
is not much of a hook. Here is a more personal approach. The job posting from Astrazeneca for an enterprise architect started
with the question answered here. By picking up on that question
an opening with to answer your question, this opening makes an immediate
connection with the reader. Answering yes allows you to create
the sense of an on going dialog. An even better opening is possible if
you can claim a personal connection with someone in the organization. Perhaps you know someone, even through
LinkedIn or you met someone at a job fair. Seize the opportunity. It gives you a little hidden
advantage over other applicants. This is also the way to start a cover
letter if you're applying for a job that you found out
about through networking. An employer will say he knows Mike, well if Mike recommended him then
he must be worth talking to. Then if Mike knows you, he can provide a
glowing and very valuable recommendation. If you've already managed to make direct
contact with the person in charge of hiring, this too puts you one up
over other applicants who didn't exert that little extra effort. So you can open with something like this. Not, surprisingly, one of the best ways to grab a prospective
employers attention is with a compliment. So you try a bit of strategic
personal flattery, like this. Or you give the organization
a pat on the back. With an opening like this, not only
are you tooting the hiring manager's horn, you're showing him that
you did your homework. Okay, here's your opening. Next comes your body paragraphs. Here's where you convince the employer
that you are a perfect match for the position. You get as specific as possible,
using concrete examples and, where applicable, hard hitting numbers. The body of the cover letter answers
the fundamental questions that drive the hiring process. Why should the hiring
manager consider you? What makes you stand out? To answer these questions you talk about
your strong related skills qualify you for the position. For this example, you're going to be
an enterprise architect, and you select the following as the most impressive and
relevant points of your resume. This is your lead. The three top level competencies
needed for an enterprise architect. Your first competency, you'll recognize
this as a leading 21st century competency. Here it's put in the specific
context of an enterprise architect. This second competency highlights your
relevant experience using key words directly from the job posting. This third competency
highlights your ability to work across organizational lines and
in a leadership capacity. I trust you see how Mr.
Smith, the chief architect at AstraZeneca, in reading this,
will immediately recognize that you, an enterprise architect,
have got what it takes. He'll see that before even
getting to your resume. Notice also that each phrase starts
with a powerful action word, solve, deployed, co-authored. These words accomplish the same
goal that they did in your resume. They present you as a doer and
an achiever. Your last paragraph is your close,
your call to action. This is where a conventional cover
letter will lead you astray, but you'll learn more about
that in the next lesson. For now, you're going to close
the letter with this text. You learn the strategy behind
this language in the next lesson You then close the letter with
sincerely your name and signature. It's recommended that you sign with
a blue pen because it contrasts with the black print. Here's how it looks when it's done. You'll find a full-sized
version in the reading. [MUSIC]