Getting Your Cover Letter Noticed

Among the myriad of other cover letters sitting on a recruiter’s desk, lies yours. So, how do you get the recruiter to pull it out of the pile without silly tricks including colored paper, ridiculous inserts, etc. How do you get the recruiter to notice the content? How do you let him/her know that you are the right fit with paper. Here are some keys to getting your cover letter on the top of the pile.

• Keep it to 1 page. Unless you are asked for more, keep it succinct, but full of powerful statements that show you are a fit for the position.
• Don’t repeat your resume. If the cover letter is redundant, the recruiter will not be interested in hearing your resume restated. You need to find new ways to draw the recruiter to your resume.
• Use bullets in the middle paragraph. If you have a lot of important things to say in that middle paragraph, make sure that you bullet out the points. You would start the paragraph in the same way, but then have the “fit statements” bulleted out starting with a verb. Remember these need to be fresh, new statements that catch the eye of the recruiter – not a rehash.
• Keep it clean. The fastest way to get you resume and cover letter thrown out is to have spelling and grammatical mistakes even tiny ones count.
• Make it interesting. While it’s important to follow form, it also critical to demonstrate your writing skills and be able to catch the reader with how you use your words. Remember this needs to be tailored to the type of writing you will be expected to do on the job. So, you can imagine this would differ based on profession.

Don’t forget always to have a someone take a look at it. Career counselors at the Starr Career Development Center would be more than happy to giving you some helpful suggestions. Make an appointment at NVC 2-190 or by calling 646.312.4670.