Writing Tutorials

Writing a cover letter

By Mary-Anne Tyler
This site has been reproduced with the kind permission of Mary-Anne Tyler. Her original site can be found at www.writing-cover-letters.com.com

Cover Letter Writing Tips

6. Use the second paragraph to expand on your unique qualification

This is vital. What you write here decides if you get the interview or you end up in the reject pile. Use the second paragraph to expand, with specific information, on the main qualification or unique selling point you mentioned in first paragraph. The better you match these specifics with the employer's needs, the more likely you are to get the all-important interview.

Look carefully at the advertisement. If they want a self-motivated, experienced sales executive to lead a small team of representatives, the drafted first paragraph is excellent. But if the advertisement calls for sales executive to head the company's Internet strategy, the emphasis is wrong. A better response would be:

At Bestdata we moved into direct selling on the Internet. I worked through the research and design stages, developed a direct marketing strategy and handled the public relations side of the launch. Within 18 months, 15 percent of our sales came from the Internet and the forecast is a 12 percent growth a year. Our Internet sales led to an extra $14 million in turnover and a 16 percent growth in profit in 1999.

In other words, match your qualifications to the employer's needs.

example of professional cover letter

John Noakes
1221 Stave Avenue
Washington DC 22090

Sales Executive advertised in
Computer Monthly

Dear Mr Johns

Joining Datacom’s Sales Team

I would like to join Datacom Office Equipment as your new Sales Executive and bring to your organization my 12 years of experience working on international corporate clients for Bestdata.

My training at Bestdata helped me become Regional Sales Representative of the Month four times in two years. After my promotion to North-East Regional Sales Manager, we improved training for sales representatives, revamped our marketing strategy and moved into direct selling on the Internet. Sales increased by 30 per cent in the next year.

Many of these ideas apply to Datacom's product range, especially the innovative portable telephones and fax machines you recently launched in the trade press.

I'd be happy to discuss these ideas at an interview. Could we arrange an interview in early June when I am in New York?

Yours sincerely

John Noakes

Enclosed: Resume

7. List your key achievement

Use your last sentence in your second paragraph to show what you achieved. If this is a sales job, it's how you increased sales. If it's for an auditing job, it's what you saved the company. If it's a public relations position, it's the result of the publicity campaign you organized. By putting this information at the end of the paragraph, it's the one piece of information the reader will remember. Once the employer has been through 30 applications, you want him or her to remember you, in this example, as the person who improved sales by 30 per cent.

7. Use the third paragraph to compliment the reader and personalize the letter

You must flatter and compliment your prospective employer, not by gushing adjectives, but simply by talking about the employer's organization. It shows you're knowledgeable and interested. It shows you can match your skills to their needs. It shows this letter is to them and to no one else.

9. Close strongly suggesting the next action

You need to take control of the next action. Don't write: ‘I look forward to hearing from you’ or ‘I am available for interview.’ Suggest a date for the interview or say you will ring in ten days to arrange an interview. Such techniques show your confidence in getting the interview and put you in control of the next step.

10. List enclosed information at the end

You usually only include your resume with your cover letter. Don't include examples of work, references or other attachments — it's too early in the selection process. Use the business writing convention of Enclosed: to show you have attached your resume. This stops you writing such a weak and obvious sentence as ‘I have attached my resume for your consideration.’

Next: Tip 11. Write your cover letter in the plain English style

Writing a Cover Letter Tutorial Page: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

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