Tips For Cover Letters To Get
More Interviews
By Heather Eagar
Here’s a tip for cover letters to get more interviews. Use a
bulleted format cover letter rather than a standard letter in paragraphs. The
bulleted format is more eye catching, and is more likely to be glanced at by the
hiring manager or other person assigned to sort through resumes. This format
will help you get your resume seen by more people and as a result get more
interviews and more job offers.
If you follow this advice and decide to use the bulleted format, make sure
that each bullet point specifies a reason for the hiring manager to talk with
you. This reason can be your number of years experience, your education, a
personality trait that you have, or an accomplishment.
Examples of bulleted points would be:
• Over 20 years experience in Human Resource Management.
Or…
• Outstanding work ethic. Lead by example.
Or…
• Master of Science in Education. Currently enrolled in Doctorate program.
Or…
• Saved last employer $30,000 in revenue through modernization of accounting
system.
Or…
• Increased sales by 25% last quarter.
This bulleted format allows you to toot your own horn, but in a way that
does not seem egotistical because it is obviously part of a resume package.
Another tip that will increase the readability of your cover letter is to
use bold faced fonts on occasion to emphasize points you want read. Bold face
catches the eye, and is a common device used by graphic designers in advertising
copy. Your resume and cover letter are marketing tools for you, just as a print
media advertising piece is a marketing tool for a business. Consider using bold
face as tip from the Fortune 500 ad agencies that you can use without charge.
The next piece of advice to consider concerns the final paragraph of the
letter, and will help you in your follow up efforts. When following up often
times the hardest thing to do is to get past the gatekeeper. The secretary or
administrative assistant that screens calls for his or her boss has an important
job to do, but so do you, and reaching the decision maker will make you look
good. The gatekeeper will try to stop you if the decision maker is busy—after
all, he has better things to do with his time than speak with job seekers. So,
in the final paragraph of your letter, before the “sincerely” and your name,
simply state “I will call you next week to check on a convenient time to speak
with you in person.” You’ve told the hiring manager you will be calling.
Logically he should be expecting your call. For this reason you may tell the
gatekeeper that ” Mr. HR Manager is expecting my call this week.” This will
increase your chances of getting through, and of getting the interview. This tip
is a variation on techniques that good business-to-business sales people use,
and will work for you as well, bringing you more interviews and more job offers.
Heather Eagar provides reviews of the top
resume writing services that put you in charge of your career so that you can
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