How to write a cover letter, not a TED talk
March 21, 2024 9:04 PM
Every time I sit down to write a cover letter for a job I actually care about*, I find myself hours later with a ten-page doc of stories, philosophical fits and starts, and long paragraphs that make me cringe. I do eventually get to a letter, but it's a long and painful process. Have you had a pattern like this and broken it? How?
I don't have a ChatGPT or other LLM account and am not looking for that particular line of advice - I know it's been helpful for other folks, but it's not what I'm looking for, thanks.
*thankfully, this is not so much a problem with jobs I could take or leave.
I *have* read everything Ask A Manager has ever written, and a ton of other resources as well. The bulk of info I find is aimed at early-career folks. Example letters I've found skew super-entry-level, or are so different from what I'm pursuing that I don't see what I can learn from them. For example, someone shared a site here on AskMe of librarian cover letters - very cool, but the field seems very different from mine (I work in monitoring, evaluation, and learning for international development). I feel like an idiot for being a mid-career/senior professional in my field and still struggling so intently with this cornerstone of the job-application process.
One stumbling block I can identify is that a lot of the cool shit I've done can't be described without a setup and description of at least a whole lot of words. For example, the jobs I want are looking for seasoned candidates who know how to change behavior by both changing values and building capacity, which in turn are accomplished by both building trust and providing clear tools and guidance, etc. etc. etc. Just saying "I change behavior" sounds both crude and amateurish, but explaining these kinds of accomplishments can balloon quickly. I trust that there must be middle ground that my dramatic brain cannot currently see. Do you have mysterious tricks for streamlining complex achievements? (Is the trick to not include them in cover letters? ^_^)
I feel particularly cringey about the things that come out of me to try to connect with mission/vision and the values that the job represents. I mean them all, dammit! My earnestness has been incredibly valuable in my work. But *showing* that earnest connection to mission/vision/values on paper feels like it takes up a lot of space, both emotionally and on the page. I worry that trying to pare things down would sound pro forma: "Equity and transparency have always been core values of mine." (PTAH) Have you found a way to express values succinctly and sincerely?
Any and all advice on how to learn editorial restraint here will be much appreciated.
**Of course it would be wonderful to develop greater equanimity to all my job applications, and I do practice other things to support that - yoga, hydration, therapy, outside time, putting things away at night, sleep. La la la that said there is a dream job that is hiring right now and I am in the WEEDS trying to get myself to finish something to apply with.
I *have* read everything Ask A Manager has ever written, and a ton of other resources as well. The bulk of info I find is aimed at early-career folks. Example letters I've found skew super-entry-level, or are so different from what I'm pursuing that I don't see what I can learn from them. For example, someone shared a site here on AskMe of librarian cover letters - very cool, but the field seems very different from mine (I work in monitoring, evaluation, and learning for international development). I feel like an idiot for being a mid-career/senior professional in my field and still struggling so intently with this cornerstone of the job-application process.
One stumbling block I can identify is that a lot of the cool shit I've done can't be described without a setup and description of at least a whole lot of words. For example, the jobs I want are looking for seasoned candidates who know how to change behavior by both changing values and building capacity, which in turn are accomplished by both building trust and providing clear tools and guidance, etc. etc. etc. Just saying "I change behavior" sounds both crude and amateurish, but explaining these kinds of accomplishments can balloon quickly. I trust that there must be middle ground that my dramatic brain cannot currently see. Do you have mysterious tricks for streamlining complex achievements? (Is the trick to not include them in cover letters? ^_^)
I feel particularly cringey about the things that come out of me to try to connect with mission/vision and the values that the job represents. I mean them all, dammit! My earnestness has been incredibly valuable in my work. But *showing* that earnest connection to mission/vision/values on paper feels like it takes up a lot of space, both emotionally and on the page. I worry that trying to pare things down would sound pro forma: "Equity and transparency have always been core values of mine." (PTAH) Have you found a way to express values succinctly and sincerely?
Any and all advice on how to learn editorial restraint here will be much appreciated.
**Of course it would be wonderful to develop greater equanimity to all my job applications, and I do practice other things to support that - yoga, hydration, therapy, outside time, putting things away at night, sleep. La la la that said there is a dream job that is hiring right now and I am in the WEEDS trying to get myself to finish something to apply with.
For example, the jobs I want are looking for seasoned candidates who know how to change behavior by both changing values and building capacity, which in turn are accomplished by both building trust and providing clear tools and guidance, etc. etc. etc. Just saying "I change behavior" sounds both crude and amateurish, but explaining these kinds of accomplishments can balloon quickly.
Here's how I would do it (I've been told I write good cover letters.)
"In a previous job, I took on the challenge of getting people to stop microwaving fish. I talked to my colleagues about their fish microwaving behavior, built trust and rapport, talked through alternatives, and we succeeded in reducing fish microwaving by 80%."
1) Very brief summary of the problem
2) Very brief summary of how you addressed the problem
2a) If you did anything that was particularly cool or impressive, or anything that does a good job highlighting how great you are at changing behavior, you can include that, but again, very briefly.
3) Good result! Quantifiable, if you have numbers!
(This is basically the STAR format for answering interview questions: situation, task, action, result.)
This is, I think, about the right level of detail for a cover letter. And you don't need 8 different examples - just one good one, or two at most. If the hiring manager thinks, "Hm, I would want to know more details about that," they can bring it up during the interview.
I try to make sure my cover letters cover these basic points:
- I am enthusiastic about this work and this organization!
- I have experience and knowledge in the kinds of things you're looking for!
- My values are a good match for this company
posted by Jeanne at 10:33 PM on March 21
Here's how I would do it (I've been told I write good cover letters.)
"In a previous job, I took on the challenge of getting people to stop microwaving fish. I talked to my colleagues about their fish microwaving behavior, built trust and rapport, talked through alternatives, and we succeeded in reducing fish microwaving by 80%."
1) Very brief summary of the problem
2) Very brief summary of how you addressed the problem
2a) If you did anything that was particularly cool or impressive, or anything that does a good job highlighting how great you are at changing behavior, you can include that, but again, very briefly.
3) Good result! Quantifiable, if you have numbers!
(This is basically the STAR format for answering interview questions: situation, task, action, result.)
This is, I think, about the right level of detail for a cover letter. And you don't need 8 different examples - just one good one, or two at most. If the hiring manager thinks, "Hm, I would want to know more details about that," they can bring it up during the interview.
I try to make sure my cover letters cover these basic points:
- I am enthusiastic about this work and this organization!
- I have experience and knowledge in the kinds of things you're looking for!
- My values are a good match for this company
posted by Jeanne at 10:33 PM on March 21
Blaise Pascal famously wrote: "I have made this [letter] longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter."
There is a hidden implication in that, which is that making a letter shorter is a separate process from writing it. Perhaps Pascal did it in his head, but you can walk through it too.
Write the heartfelt ten pages, get everything said that you want to say, and then don’t look at it for a few days (ideally a week). When you return, do so not as a writer but as an editor — a particularly brutal and nasty editor who is focused on the best interests of the reader. Be merciless and pare the letter down to not what you want to say but to what the reader wants to read.
Once you’ve done that bit you can put your writers’ hat back on and tighten up the remainder. But definitely split the enthusiastic writing and enthiastic editing into distinct phases.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:35 PM on March 21
There is a hidden implication in that, which is that making a letter shorter is a separate process from writing it. Perhaps Pascal did it in his head, but you can walk through it too.
Write the heartfelt ten pages, get everything said that you want to say, and then don’t look at it for a few days (ideally a week). When you return, do so not as a writer but as an editor — a particularly brutal and nasty editor who is focused on the best interests of the reader. Be merciless and pare the letter down to not what you want to say but to what the reader wants to read.
Once you’ve done that bit you can put your writers’ hat back on and tighten up the remainder. But definitely split the enthusiastic writing and enthiastic editing into distinct phases.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:35 PM on March 21
So I don't know your industry, but in the ones I work in cover letters aren't really important anymore. Ignore this if you know better! I imagine there are plenty of spaces that still require cover letters and treat them seriously. I would also though encourage you to show that on your resume instead. It's often the thing that matters more than the letter.
posted by Carillon at 11:04 PM on March 21
posted by Carillon at 11:04 PM on March 21
In my old school corner of the media world, part of how editors learned to be ruthless about shortening and improving their articles was by routinely going over other people's work and having other people go over theirs. Your text is your baby and every bit of it seems important. It's then sobering to see through other people's eyes that your most heartfelt paragraphs may be supremely expendable or way too long.
And to a point, you are writing for others, not yourself. It's the other person who needs to derive value from reading your letter, not you. So their opinion on what needs cutting counts. You are often the worst person to judge if your letter is doing that (see: baby).
So my suggestion is to have others proofread and shorten your initial draft by half. Ask them to be ruthless.
posted by Omnomnom at 1:31 AM on March 22
And to a point, you are writing for others, not yourself. It's the other person who needs to derive value from reading your letter, not you. So their opinion on what needs cutting counts. You are often the worst person to judge if your letter is doing that (see: baby).
So my suggestion is to have others proofread and shorten your initial draft by half. Ask them to be ruthless.
posted by Omnomnom at 1:31 AM on March 22
The letter is the pivk up line, save most of your juice for the actual date.
Three paragraphs, one saying why you want them, one saying why they want you (both of these referring to specifics from the ad), and a last paragraph covering some of the other boring requests from the ad "of course I speak fluent French and have had my driving license for fifteen years without incident". Do not otherwise tell them things in your letter that they can read in your cv but instead refer to it: "my long experience in fly wrangling has made me X y z, just like you asked in your ad*. I usually go through the advert with a highlighter and mark the things I want to respond to in each paragraph. Obviously there's some room to freestyle and add flowers, but this should land you at just pleasantly under one page.
posted by Iteki at 1:53 AM on March 22
Three paragraphs, one saying why you want them, one saying why they want you (both of these referring to specifics from the ad), and a last paragraph covering some of the other boring requests from the ad "of course I speak fluent French and have had my driving license for fifteen years without incident". Do not otherwise tell them things in your letter that they can read in your cv but instead refer to it: "my long experience in fly wrangling has made me X y z, just like you asked in your ad*. I usually go through the advert with a highlighter and mark the things I want to respond to in each paragraph. Obviously there's some room to freestyle and add flowers, but this should land you at just pleasantly under one page.
posted by Iteki at 1:53 AM on March 22
Ask a Manger has a great set of articles on how to write a good cover letter. - linked from that is How to Write a Cover Letter That Will Get You a Job - Alison Green makes the point that wading through cover letters is a part of any recruiters job that they don't relish because there are so many and because most of them are bad. But by not being bad you have a chance to stand out.
I would expect a colleague or direct report who I rated highly to have written communication that follows a particular style - important because they are going to be sending emails to all and sundry.Somebody who shows lack of respect for the recipient's time by being repetitive, verbose, circumlocutory, dishonest, rude, or who shows evidence of having failed to listen - won't fit into that category. You want to make sure your cover letter does none of those things.
Her other point bears repeating: don't summarise your résumé: the recruiters already have it. Tell them something you could not put in there that makes your case.
posted by rongorongo at 1:54 AM on March 22
I would expect a colleague or direct report who I rated highly to have written communication that follows a particular style - important because they are going to be sending emails to all and sundry.Somebody who shows lack of respect for the recipient's time by being repetitive, verbose, circumlocutory, dishonest, rude, or who shows evidence of having failed to listen - won't fit into that category. You want to make sure your cover letter does none of those things.
Her other point bears repeating: don't summarise your résumé: the recruiters already have it. Tell them something you could not put in there that makes your case.
posted by rongorongo at 1:54 AM on March 22
One stumbling block I can identify is that a lot of the cool shit I've done can't be described without a setup and description of at least a whole lot of words. For example, the jobs I want are looking for seasoned candidates who know how to change behavior by both changing values and building capacity, which in turn are accomplished by both building trust and providing clear tools and guidance, etc. etc. etc. Just saying "I change behavior" sounds both crude and amateurish, but explaining these kinds of accomplishments can balloon quickly. I trust that there must be middle ground that my dramatic brain cannot currently see. Do you have mysterious tricks for streamlining complex achievements? (Is the trick to not include them in cover letters? ^_^)
Hang on, this stuff should be in your resume, right? And the people who are looking for candidates should KNOW how the particulars of your job work, so you shouldn't need the backstory, right?
You're putting a lot of the "how" into your cover letter, it looks like, and maybe you should be thinking that you only need the "what" in it. Let them ask you about the "how".
I'm going to use myself as an example. I have a newish job as an EA at a nonprofit; they were looking for someone who had experience with nonprofits, with HR, with boards of directors, and with development. I could have said something like this in the cover letter:
"You're looking for someone who worked with the board of directors. At job XXX, I helped coordinate the quarterly meetings for a subcommittee of the board - this involved preparing and distributing the materials for the meeting, taking minutes, and arranging all the catering and distributing the minutes after the meeting concluded. I worked closely with the A/V team within our organization to ensure smooth connectivity and presentations during each meeting. We also had the added step of enhanced security because one of the members of our board of directors was Queen Noor of Jordan, and whenever she was expected I had to liaise with our head of security to ensure smooth communication between her and the Secret Service detail assigned to Her Majesty."
Instead, I said only:
"I notice you're looking for someone who's worked with Boards of Directors; At job XXX, I helped coordinate the quarterly meetings for a subcommittee of their Board of Directors."
And that's it. I saved the stuff about how I did all that for the interview, so I could answer the questions they wanted to know about (they did ask about the board stuff, and I just said that i'd coordinated those four subcommittee meetings, and ONLY added the detail about Queen Noor because that was a little above-and-beyond the usual - plus how often do you get a chance to name-drop Queen Noor?).
Unless your job is particularly unique, remind yourself that they probably know a lot about the "how" your job is typically done already - I didn't need to go into how I distributed the board meeting materials and handled the catering and what have you because, well, EVERY board meeting requires that. So my saying I've done that kind of means it's a given that I've done those details. If THEY had any questions about any of the details (i.e., they really want to make sure that I know how to work with teams in different time zones), they would ask, and I would tell them "oh, yeah, I've done blah blah blah". But they would do that in the INTERVIEW, and so I wouldn't need to put that in the cover letter.
My cover letter just mentioned "I've worked with boards of directors." I left it at that, and they asked me more details. Your recruiters will do that too.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:54 AM on March 22
Hang on, this stuff should be in your resume, right? And the people who are looking for candidates should KNOW how the particulars of your job work, so you shouldn't need the backstory, right?
You're putting a lot of the "how" into your cover letter, it looks like, and maybe you should be thinking that you only need the "what" in it. Let them ask you about the "how".
I'm going to use myself as an example. I have a newish job as an EA at a nonprofit; they were looking for someone who had experience with nonprofits, with HR, with boards of directors, and with development. I could have said something like this in the cover letter:
"You're looking for someone who worked with the board of directors. At job XXX, I helped coordinate the quarterly meetings for a subcommittee of the board - this involved preparing and distributing the materials for the meeting, taking minutes, and arranging all the catering and distributing the minutes after the meeting concluded. I worked closely with the A/V team within our organization to ensure smooth connectivity and presentations during each meeting. We also had the added step of enhanced security because one of the members of our board of directors was Queen Noor of Jordan, and whenever she was expected I had to liaise with our head of security to ensure smooth communication between her and the Secret Service detail assigned to Her Majesty."
Instead, I said only:
"I notice you're looking for someone who's worked with Boards of Directors; At job XXX, I helped coordinate the quarterly meetings for a subcommittee of their Board of Directors."
And that's it. I saved the stuff about how I did all that for the interview, so I could answer the questions they wanted to know about (they did ask about the board stuff, and I just said that i'd coordinated those four subcommittee meetings, and ONLY added the detail about Queen Noor because that was a little above-and-beyond the usual - plus how often do you get a chance to name-drop Queen Noor?).
Unless your job is particularly unique, remind yourself that they probably know a lot about the "how" your job is typically done already - I didn't need to go into how I distributed the board meeting materials and handled the catering and what have you because, well, EVERY board meeting requires that. So my saying I've done that kind of means it's a given that I've done those details. If THEY had any questions about any of the details (i.e., they really want to make sure that I know how to work with teams in different time zones), they would ask, and I would tell them "oh, yeah, I've done blah blah blah". But they would do that in the INTERVIEW, and so I wouldn't need to put that in the cover letter.
My cover letter just mentioned "I've worked with boards of directors." I left it at that, and they asked me more details. Your recruiters will do that too.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:54 AM on March 22
A cover letter should be about 400 words, push it to 450 with some deft margin setting.
You want an introductory paragraph where ALL you say is that you a) are excited about the job and b) a sentence about how your experience applies.
Your second paragragh echoes the language in the job description - in single phrases or words, make sure you demonstrate your experience/ability in each of the bullets in their job description. They want "a driven managerial professional to lead the widget division" you echo "I am a driven manager that led a team of widget makers at XYZ job."
The conclusion re-summarizes your fit and interest, and you can drop 1 more interesting thing about your experience in there. You can also put any appropriate reference or internal connection here or in the intro.
Reset your expectations about what this "cover letter" is - its an exercise in you expressing a simple, pithy summary (of 400 words or less) of why you are a good candidate for this job. Your resume will do the rest. Its less important than your resume and best practice is for hiring staff to read the resume first.
Once you have a solid cover letter you are okay with - use the bones (structure, good phrases, intro language) repeatedly. Every cover letter is unique, but don't start from scratch.
Finally, remember that, as cool as a job looks in a job description... you don't know that. You have never worked there, you don't have any idea what insane bullshit they put you through or if you'd like it even one bit - and you'll only know that much, much later in the hiring process. Use your emotional energy at that point in the process.
posted by RajahKing at 5:14 AM on March 22
You want an introductory paragraph where ALL you say is that you a) are excited about the job and b) a sentence about how your experience applies.
Your second paragragh echoes the language in the job description - in single phrases or words, make sure you demonstrate your experience/ability in each of the bullets in their job description. They want "a driven managerial professional to lead the widget division" you echo "I am a driven manager that led a team of widget makers at XYZ job."
The conclusion re-summarizes your fit and interest, and you can drop 1 more interesting thing about your experience in there. You can also put any appropriate reference or internal connection here or in the intro.
Reset your expectations about what this "cover letter" is - its an exercise in you expressing a simple, pithy summary (of 400 words or less) of why you are a good candidate for this job. Your resume will do the rest. Its less important than your resume and best practice is for hiring staff to read the resume first.
Once you have a solid cover letter you are okay with - use the bones (structure, good phrases, intro language) repeatedly. Every cover letter is unique, but don't start from scratch.
Finally, remember that, as cool as a job looks in a job description... you don't know that. You have never worked there, you don't have any idea what insane bullshit they put you through or if you'd like it even one bit - and you'll only know that much, much later in the hiring process. Use your emotional energy at that point in the process.
posted by RajahKing at 5:14 AM on March 22
Very similar to RajahKing's answer above, I'm a fan of a basic template for cover letters that includes:
- First paragraph: Mentions the job title and company specifically, mentions your enthusiasm for the job, mentions your key qualification (e.g., experienced with boards of directors, per EC's example above).
- Second paragraph: Describes how you meet the job requirements, echoing their language where possible.
- Third paragraph: Summary/conclusion, hits again your key qualifications/experience, expresses enthusiasm about the job.
This should all be maximum one page, so it's just three shortish paragraphs. If you were to go to two pages, you could include everything in the Ask a Manager template approach, but in my field I've mostly only seen one page cover letters.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:52 AM on March 22
- First paragraph: Mentions the job title and company specifically, mentions your enthusiasm for the job, mentions your key qualification (e.g., experienced with boards of directors, per EC's example above).
- Second paragraph: Describes how you meet the job requirements, echoing their language where possible.
- Third paragraph: Summary/conclusion, hits again your key qualifications/experience, expresses enthusiasm about the job.
This should all be maximum one page, so it's just three shortish paragraphs. If you were to go to two pages, you could include everything in the Ask a Manager template approach, but in my field I've mostly only seen one page cover letters.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:52 AM on March 22
As far as putting too much in there - I work in advertising, and it’s really common for clients to want to put everything they do in the ad, and tons of extra text in the ad trying to convince readers to buy from them. What I tell them is this - you aren’t going to make the sale from the ad. The ad’s job is to get your phone to ring. Once you’ve got them on the phone or in the shop, *that’s* when you work on making the sale. A cover letter is similar. You want to get their attention, and get them thinking, “We should bring this person in for an interview.” The interview is where you can sell yourself and your qualifications to the hiring manager. Would you read an ad with 1500 words? Very probably not. Don’t make the hiring manager read a lot to find the reasons they should call you, because there’s a good chance they won’t. Keep it concise and interesting.
posted by azpenguin at 8:37 AM on March 22
posted by azpenguin at 8:37 AM on March 22
Did you save a draft of your last TED Talk cover letter? Because a bunch of text about interesting stuff you're done can be a handy resource for future cover letters. Especially if you give yourself some tags in the document about what things are good examples of - an innovative evaluation design, an example of applied learning, a description of how you solved a problem. Then when you're writing a cover letter you pull one example out that seems like a good fit for the job and use it to expand on or give a little more depth to your resume.
Since you struggle with not feeling corny about the values piece (I agree, that's hard for me, too), picking an experience that can be used to illustrate your values can go a long way. You value transparency so you established a communications protocol, you value collaboration so you mapped stakeholders and engaged them in design, that kind of thing.
Think of the cover letter like a trailer - it's meant to be an interesting snippet of a much more complex whole. What brief preview do you think will make someone want to get into the details of your story?
posted by EvaDestruction at 11:52 AM on March 22
Since you struggle with not feeling corny about the values piece (I agree, that's hard for me, too), picking an experience that can be used to illustrate your values can go a long way. You value transparency so you established a communications protocol, you value collaboration so you mapped stakeholders and engaged them in design, that kind of thing.
Think of the cover letter like a trailer - it's meant to be an interesting snippet of a much more complex whole. What brief preview do you think will make someone want to get into the details of your story?
posted by EvaDestruction at 11:52 AM on March 22
Everyone's spot on concerning the first and third paragraphs. I'd recommend this for the second:
Look at the job posting. Pull out the three biggest requirements for the position. Write a brief bullet point for each of them, mentioning how you meet it. Bullets are easier to scan than a paragraph of text, and prefacing each with a bold label ("Customer Service," "Sales Experience," etc.) makes them even easier. And, of course, start off with a sentence like "I have a broad range of experience that I think applies to this position:"
A recent career counselor recommended this format and I really like it. Not only is scannable, but It helps you stay focused on the specific position and its needs. (And yes, as many others have said, the detailed stories about your experience belong in the interview, not here.)
posted by booth at 11:21 AM on March 25
Look at the job posting. Pull out the three biggest requirements for the position. Write a brief bullet point for each of them, mentioning how you meet it. Bullets are easier to scan than a paragraph of text, and prefacing each with a bold label ("Customer Service," "Sales Experience," etc.) makes them even easier. And, of course, start off with a sentence like "I have a broad range of experience that I think applies to this position:"
A recent career counselor recommended this format and I really like it. Not only is scannable, but It helps you stay focused on the specific position and its needs. (And yes, as many others have said, the detailed stories about your experience belong in the interview, not here.)
posted by booth at 11:21 AM on March 25
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Functionally, you are writing a note to someone with the goal of catching their eye so that they want to talk to you further. You are not writing a letter to get the job. Keep that in mind as you consider brevity -- you really just need one good anecdote, or some other turn of phrase that indicates you are a savvy senior operator in the field who they should talk to.
For me, this means that my cover letters are brief and direct and steadfastly avoid the common bullet-by-bullet explanation of how I fit a job description. Instead, I focus on the unstated parts of the job that only a skilled-senior-operator would know to talk about.
I've helped make tens of millions of widgets and have followed along your widget making factory since I met Joe Wingdings at WidgetCon '97. Everything I've heard about your new conveyer belt is that it's exceptionally reliable, but can need workers familiar with European spanners to operate - I helped Gizmo'R'Us and EuroWizBang with similar issues and really enjoy recruiting and training people for European spanners. I'm happy where I'm at, but I really admire the work WingDings does and would kick myself if I didn't at least reach out to see if this role may be a good fit for both of us. Thank you for your consideration.
posted by matrixclown at 10:05 PM on March 21