Cover letter dread
April 29, 2019 11:08 AM Subscribe
I'm starting to look for a new job after finishing my masters degree (hooray!), but I've found myself paralyzed at the mere thought of writing a cover letter again. I have no idea where to begin.
There's a job that I want to apply for which closes on May 1, so I want to get a cover letter written by the, but I literally have no idea what to say. I haven't written a cover letter in years! I'm feeling overwhelmed and anxious, like I have nothing to say. My mind is blank.
Are there any good blogs, books, etc. that you can recommend to get my mind flowing with ideas of what to write? I know about AskAManager, so anything else would be appreciated. Are there any websites with real, well-written cover letters that I could read to inspire myself? I'm applying for librarian positions, so any specific advice in that area would be appreciated, but any cover letter advice is appreciated.
My University has a career center, but there's no way I can get to them before Wednesday, so online resources are preferred.
There's a job that I want to apply for which closes on May 1, so I want to get a cover letter written by the, but I literally have no idea what to say. I haven't written a cover letter in years! I'm feeling overwhelmed and anxious, like I have nothing to say. My mind is blank.
Are there any good blogs, books, etc. that you can recommend to get my mind flowing with ideas of what to write? I know about AskAManager, so anything else would be appreciated. Are there any websites with real, well-written cover letters that I could read to inspire myself? I'm applying for librarian positions, so any specific advice in that area would be appreciated, but any cover letter advice is appreciated.
My University has a career center, but there's no way I can get to them before Wednesday, so online resources are preferred.
Are you also updating your LinkedIn profile to reflect the topics/details mentioned in your cover letter? I mention this because a lot of evaluation of your candidacy is also based on your LinkedIn presence. (Your mileage may vary by industry but this is certainly true of any job requiring a master's degree like you have) Here's a cover letter primer from LinkedIn that I've found helpful.
posted by caveatz at 11:35 AM on April 29, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by caveatz at 11:35 AM on April 29, 2019 [3 favorites]
Hey, I have written a few cover letters and have helped friends with theirs.
I think of cover letters as playing connect-the-dots with the job posting - I go through the required skills/experience/etc in the job post, highlight the things I have experience with, and then talk about them in the cover letter in the context of my existing skills/knowledge. For example, if the job posting states "X years of experience with events hosting," I then say "I have Y years of experience with hosting events from previous positions at companies A, B and C, including (e.g.) preparing and submitting grant applications, designing and executing event budgets, administrating event expenses. Most recently, I have [talk about a large event I've organized that I'm proud of, and why it's an accomplishment - short timeline? small budget? etc]. This experience has prepared me for challenges such as [specific job requirements]. "
I'm not a librarian but I do work at a university - if you think my experience would be helpful, I'd be happy to take a look at your CV and the job posting.
posted by elsmith at 11:38 AM on April 29, 2019 [10 favorites]
I think of cover letters as playing connect-the-dots with the job posting - I go through the required skills/experience/etc in the job post, highlight the things I have experience with, and then talk about them in the cover letter in the context of my existing skills/knowledge. For example, if the job posting states "X years of experience with events hosting," I then say "I have Y years of experience with hosting events from previous positions at companies A, B and C, including (e.g.) preparing and submitting grant applications, designing and executing event budgets, administrating event expenses. Most recently, I have [talk about a large event I've organized that I'm proud of, and why it's an accomplishment - short timeline? small budget? etc]. This experience has prepared me for challenges such as [specific job requirements]. "
I'm not a librarian but I do work at a university - if you think my experience would be helpful, I'd be happy to take a look at your CV and the job posting.
posted by elsmith at 11:38 AM on April 29, 2019 [10 favorites]
This is mainly based on my experience in the biotech industry, so things might be somewhat different for you if your field is more traditional and/or the company you're interested in is traditional as well.
It's been a while since I wrote a cover letter, as I've mostly worked with recruiters on my past few positions, but I have previously been advised to keep cover letters short. At least in my industry, and certainly in tech, cover letters are generally brief. HR does not have time to peruse lengthy covers, especially those with flowery language, so you would tweak your resume to the job posting and let that do the talking for you. Cover letters many times don't even reach your hiring managers, so your letter may not have the impact you want it to have. At most, the main paragraph in your cover letter would have 2-3 sentences why you're a good fit for the posting. More than that, and you lose whoever it is that's reading the missive.
As caveatz upthread mentioned, your LinkedIn profile is key. Use a portion of the time that you would spend drafting a cover letter to work on your LI profile. My recruiter friends, as well as recruiters I've worked with, interviewers, and hiring managers I've worked with have all mentioned looking at my LI profile - it's much more than just a networking tool these days.
posted by Everydayville at 12:29 PM on April 29, 2019
It's been a while since I wrote a cover letter, as I've mostly worked with recruiters on my past few positions, but I have previously been advised to keep cover letters short. At least in my industry, and certainly in tech, cover letters are generally brief. HR does not have time to peruse lengthy covers, especially those with flowery language, so you would tweak your resume to the job posting and let that do the talking for you. Cover letters many times don't even reach your hiring managers, so your letter may not have the impact you want it to have. At most, the main paragraph in your cover letter would have 2-3 sentences why you're a good fit for the posting. More than that, and you lose whoever it is that's reading the missive.
As caveatz upthread mentioned, your LinkedIn profile is key. Use a portion of the time that you would spend drafting a cover letter to work on your LI profile. My recruiter friends, as well as recruiters I've worked with, interviewers, and hiring managers I've worked with have all mentioned looking at my LI profile - it's much more than just a networking tool these days.
posted by Everydayville at 12:29 PM on April 29, 2019
My general cover letter format is 5 paragraphs:
1. why I'm qualified for this
2. relevant job experience 1 (older)
3. relevant job experience 2 (recent)
4. relevant degree knowledge
5. recap of why I am so great
posted by sleeping bear at 12:32 PM on April 29, 2019 [1 favorite]
1. why I'm qualified for this
2. relevant job experience 1 (older)
3. relevant job experience 2 (recent)
4. relevant degree knowledge
5. recap of why I am so great
posted by sleeping bear at 12:32 PM on April 29, 2019 [1 favorite]
You already know about Ask a Manager, but I wanted to plug this specific article, because I wrote my first cover letter in years yesterday and it helped a lot.
This part in particular: "If you’re still stumped, pretend you’re writing an email to a friend about why you’d be great at the job. You probably wouldn’t do that by stiffly reciting your work history, right? You’d probably talk about what you’re good at and how you’d approach the work. That’s what you want here."
I wrote it fresh with an eye to the requirements and job responsibilities in the posting, trying to cover what wouldn't be obvious from my resume. My mindset was basically "pretend it's a MeFi comment, I can write those forever." I can't say yet whether it's going to get me an interview, but it was the least painful experience I've ever had writing a cover letter and I got it done, so that's something, right? Either it's getting read by an actual human who will appreciate being written to as an actual human, or... not, and at least I didn't stress out about it too much if that happens.
posted by asperity at 1:04 PM on April 29, 2019 [9 favorites]
This part in particular: "If you’re still stumped, pretend you’re writing an email to a friend about why you’d be great at the job. You probably wouldn’t do that by stiffly reciting your work history, right? You’d probably talk about what you’re good at and how you’d approach the work. That’s what you want here."
I wrote it fresh with an eye to the requirements and job responsibilities in the posting, trying to cover what wouldn't be obvious from my resume. My mindset was basically "pretend it's a MeFi comment, I can write those forever." I can't say yet whether it's going to get me an interview, but it was the least painful experience I've ever had writing a cover letter and I got it done, so that's something, right? Either it's getting read by an actual human who will appreciate being written to as an actual human, or... not, and at least I didn't stress out about it too much if that happens.
posted by asperity at 1:04 PM on April 29, 2019 [9 favorites]
Don't sweat it just do it. Keep it short and direct. In my industry (tech in non-tech corp) the people reviewing your docs aren't slowly pondering your full profile, they are trying to quickly sort people into nope vs maybe. The maybes get called and possibly interviewed. The goal is to avoid the nope pile. In my opinion the only way a cover letter could put you into the nope pile is if you don't have one and it's required (even though nobody is going to read it) or if somebody does read it and it's full of grammatical or spelling errors or has the wrong company or some such.
posted by everythings_interrelated at 1:27 PM on April 29, 2019
posted by everythings_interrelated at 1:27 PM on April 29, 2019
I usually make mine about three paragraphs. The first introducing who I am, my interest in the job and why I'm a good fit. A second explaining how my experience connects to what they want, where I specifically explain some things I am good at or have done successfully in more detail than my resume can provide, and then lastly a paragraph that explains things not at all in my resume, like my passion for X, or why I want to relocate to Y. Then I close with a final sentence about looking forward to discussing how I can help Z organization (technically the fourth paragraph) and then I close.
I wouldn't make it too long. Personally, when I was hiring, I glanced at the resume first to make sure the person was even qualified, and then if I was interested, only then did I even look at the cover letter. So I'd just make it short and use it to explain anything not in your resume, and use it as an opportunity to prove you can write well or that you care enough to proofread.
posted by AppleTurnover at 1:43 PM on April 29, 2019 [1 favorite]
I wouldn't make it too long. Personally, when I was hiring, I glanced at the resume first to make sure the person was even qualified, and then if I was interested, only then did I even look at the cover letter. So I'd just make it short and use it to explain anything not in your resume, and use it as an opportunity to prove you can write well or that you care enough to proofread.
posted by AppleTurnover at 1:43 PM on April 29, 2019 [1 favorite]
My cover letter for the position that became my first job out of grad school was literally three sentences long. Cover letters aren't make-or-break.
I do use cover letters to relate the skills I have in one area to the skills related to the posting if they're not obvious. I write a sentence or two about why the job is interesting to me that demonstrates that I've thought about what the job involves. I also included a sentence about why I was moving if the position is remote from where I lived.
Also, nobody I work with uses LinkedIn and I have a graduate degree. You probably know whether you need a finely-tuned LI profile or not, if unsure ask people from a previous cohort in your program.
posted by momus_window at 1:43 PM on April 29, 2019
I do use cover letters to relate the skills I have in one area to the skills related to the posting if they're not obvious. I write a sentence or two about why the job is interesting to me that demonstrates that I've thought about what the job involves. I also included a sentence about why I was moving if the position is remote from where I lived.
Also, nobody I work with uses LinkedIn and I have a graduate degree. You probably know whether you need a finely-tuned LI profile or not, if unsure ask people from a previous cohort in your program.
posted by momus_window at 1:43 PM on April 29, 2019
Kevin Fanning's 99c zine, Let's all Find Awesome Jobs, has a perfect cover letter template. Using it got me interviews (and jobs!) where previous cover letters hadn't.
posted by mnemonica at 1:56 PM on April 29, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by mnemonica at 1:56 PM on April 29, 2019 [4 favorites]
(If you can't afford the zine, memail me your amazon email and I'll gift it to you.)
posted by mnemonica at 1:57 PM on April 29, 2019
posted by mnemonica at 1:57 PM on April 29, 2019
I am not an HR professional but my personal advice on this is to make your cover letter sound...conversational? Personable? As part of internal searches, a good 80% of the cover letters I've read fell into either a) incredibly generic and obviously not tailored to the job or b) more tailored, but still sounded like a Mad Lib of keywords they thought we wanted to hear ("confident that I can bring success and passion to your team!")
This is your one chance to write like an actual human they'd want to work with! Tell them why you personally think you'd be good at this job, without worrying about what you think they want to hear. Tell them about your favorite work project, or your hardest work project. Tell them what you think this job will give you a new opportunity to do. And then yeah, if anywhere, the generic "confident that I can effect change" can go in the closing.
posted by nakedmolerats at 2:39 PM on April 29, 2019 [5 favorites]
This is your one chance to write like an actual human they'd want to work with! Tell them why you personally think you'd be good at this job, without worrying about what you think they want to hear. Tell them about your favorite work project, or your hardest work project. Tell them what you think this job will give you a new opportunity to do. And then yeah, if anywhere, the generic "confident that I can effect change" can go in the closing.
posted by nakedmolerats at 2:39 PM on April 29, 2019 [5 favorites]
I feel like the "T format" cover letter" was successful for me in my previous job search.
posted by vespabelle at 6:27 PM on April 29, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by vespabelle at 6:27 PM on April 29, 2019 [1 favorite]
Cover letters should be less about summarizing your resume and more about summarizing who you are as a professional. So who are you?
* You have a master's degree; maybe there was a key event or deciding factor that defines your interest in your field and drove you back to school. In any case, there's a sub-field that you know a lot about; you probably have some feelings as to whether that's a specialty you're really gung-ho on continuing, or whether that one deep-dive was an example of the kind of work you're interested in and you're ready to bring those skills into a related but parallel deep dive (i.e. are you selling yourself as an expert in exactly what they need, or as a person with general/related competency who will quickly become their expert?).
* You have a job you're really interested in; presumably there are also jobs you're not really interested in, so that means you have a feeling about what you'd be good at, what kinds of skills you bring, what general career path you want to head towards (eg academics, creating a product, research (creating info), working with people, etc) Sometimes, this can also be the section where you effectively say "look I know you'd expect X for many people with my background, but for me it's Y" whether that's PhDs not wanting to be professors, or programmers not wanting to work at Google/Apple/etc, or whatever the stereotype is for your field.
* After a Master's, or maybe you have work experience too, but you probably have a reasonable idea of what parts of the work you really like - nobody enjoys ALL the tasks involved in their job, that's ok, the thing that really shines is when you can talk enthusiastically about what you DO like doing, and why, especially because people are usually good at the things they like, so knowing what you like is part of a convincing story about excelling at that aspect of the job.
* You've said who you are, who you want to be, and what you excel at; but the cover letter is not really about you, it's about how you can help them, so a bit about what you think they need this new hire to do (if you know - but don't speculate too wildly) and how that matches with things you just said about yourself.
Cover letters can be kind of a tightrope - you definitely don't want to just tell them what you think they want to hear, you want to tell them who you genuinely are as a professional. But it's not about what you want, it's about how you can help them. Tone on all of this should definitely be professional but conversational - less of the powerpoint chart bullet list, and more what you'd say if you were talking with a colleague or mentor.
Yes, cover letters are a lot of work to write, but they can really do a lot for your application, they're totally worth the effort!
posted by aimedwander at 7:41 AM on April 30, 2019
* You have a master's degree; maybe there was a key event or deciding factor that defines your interest in your field and drove you back to school. In any case, there's a sub-field that you know a lot about; you probably have some feelings as to whether that's a specialty you're really gung-ho on continuing, or whether that one deep-dive was an example of the kind of work you're interested in and you're ready to bring those skills into a related but parallel deep dive (i.e. are you selling yourself as an expert in exactly what they need, or as a person with general/related competency who will quickly become their expert?).
* You have a job you're really interested in; presumably there are also jobs you're not really interested in, so that means you have a feeling about what you'd be good at, what kinds of skills you bring, what general career path you want to head towards (eg academics, creating a product, research (creating info), working with people, etc) Sometimes, this can also be the section where you effectively say "look I know you'd expect X for many people with my background, but for me it's Y" whether that's PhDs not wanting to be professors, or programmers not wanting to work at Google/Apple/etc, or whatever the stereotype is for your field.
* After a Master's, or maybe you have work experience too, but you probably have a reasonable idea of what parts of the work you really like - nobody enjoys ALL the tasks involved in their job, that's ok, the thing that really shines is when you can talk enthusiastically about what you DO like doing, and why, especially because people are usually good at the things they like, so knowing what you like is part of a convincing story about excelling at that aspect of the job.
* You've said who you are, who you want to be, and what you excel at; but the cover letter is not really about you, it's about how you can help them, so a bit about what you think they need this new hire to do (if you know - but don't speculate too wildly) and how that matches with things you just said about yourself.
Cover letters can be kind of a tightrope - you definitely don't want to just tell them what you think they want to hear, you want to tell them who you genuinely are as a professional. But it's not about what you want, it's about how you can help them. Tone on all of this should definitely be professional but conversational - less of the powerpoint chart bullet list, and more what you'd say if you were talking with a colleague or mentor.
Yes, cover letters are a lot of work to write, but they can really do a lot for your application, they're totally worth the effort!
posted by aimedwander at 7:41 AM on April 30, 2019
Insight from someone on the other side of the table, in the [city/ regional/ transportation] planning field:
The best cover letter I recently read was one that tied their experiences to one of our guiding documents (a long-range plan), showing that 1) they had relevant experiences, and more importantly 2) took the time to get to know our agency.
With that, when looking at cover letter examples, look for examples that make sense for your given field, and if possible, your specific job.
And a final, broad comment: your resume should already say you're qualified. Your cover letter should say that you're interested in the position and the company, and understand something about what they do and how they do it.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:23 AM on April 30, 2019 [3 favorites]
The best cover letter I recently read was one that tied their experiences to one of our guiding documents (a long-range plan), showing that 1) they had relevant experiences, and more importantly 2) took the time to get to know our agency.
With that, when looking at cover letter examples, look for examples that make sense for your given field, and if possible, your specific job.
And a final, broad comment: your resume should already say you're qualified. Your cover letter should say that you're interested in the position and the company, and understand something about what they do and how they do it.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:23 AM on April 30, 2019 [3 favorites]
Coming to this late, but also a librarian (and had really good results from my last round of job hunting 4 years ago, so...)
Length: Library job ads can have a ton of data in them and points to discuss. I generally aimed to make my letter about as long as the body of the ad (not the generic stuff at top/bottom, but the part that talks about job duties, and specifics of the position.)
My letters are:
1) I was excited to see you are looking for [position] at [library]. I'm particularly interested because [whatever, highlighting one thing in my background or what I'm aiming at]
2) Paragraph about major job duties (basically 'what is the job title here, respond to that'. For example, talking about reference, instruction, working with diverse communities of library patrons, etc. Includes one or two specific examples ("In my work at Place, I particularly enjoyed helping people find the perfect book for the mood" or "At Other Place, I worked with patrons from fourth graders to academic researchers, and everything in between, from a wide range of academic, social, and cultural backgrounds.")
3) Paragraph about secondary job duties (usually a sentence or two each) about other duties mentioned in the ad. Might be two paragraphs if there are lot of those duties, grouped by general category (for example, patron-facing vs. behind the scenes, reference/library duties and technology skills, whatever the logical split is for that position)
4) Paragraph about anything else worth mentioning specific to that position or my experience. Address any obvious questions they may have. For example "You're not local, why are you interested in this job" or "This is a change in direction, what makes you interested in us in specific" plus any specific experience that's relevant but not obvious in the resume.
5) General thank you, notes about any timing or logistics things that might be relevant to interviews (like if I'm going to be out of contact or whatever - last hunt, I wasn't working on Fridays, so I mentioned Fridays were particularly good days for me to interview.) Ended with something like "Thank you for your time and attention, and I hope to hear from you soon."
posted by jenettsilver at 11:23 AM on April 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
Length: Library job ads can have a ton of data in them and points to discuss. I generally aimed to make my letter about as long as the body of the ad (not the generic stuff at top/bottom, but the part that talks about job duties, and specifics of the position.)
My letters are:
1) I was excited to see you are looking for [position] at [library]. I'm particularly interested because [whatever, highlighting one thing in my background or what I'm aiming at]
2) Paragraph about major job duties (basically 'what is the job title here, respond to that'. For example, talking about reference, instruction, working with diverse communities of library patrons, etc. Includes one or two specific examples ("In my work at Place, I particularly enjoyed helping people find the perfect book for the mood" or "At Other Place, I worked with patrons from fourth graders to academic researchers, and everything in between, from a wide range of academic, social, and cultural backgrounds.")
3) Paragraph about secondary job duties (usually a sentence or two each) about other duties mentioned in the ad. Might be two paragraphs if there are lot of those duties, grouped by general category (for example, patron-facing vs. behind the scenes, reference/library duties and technology skills, whatever the logical split is for that position)
4) Paragraph about anything else worth mentioning specific to that position or my experience. Address any obvious questions they may have. For example "You're not local, why are you interested in this job" or "This is a change in direction, what makes you interested in us in specific" plus any specific experience that's relevant but not obvious in the resume.
5) General thank you, notes about any timing or logistics things that might be relevant to interviews (like if I'm going to be out of contact or whatever - last hunt, I wasn't working on Fridays, so I mentioned Fridays were particularly good days for me to interview.) Ended with something like "Thank you for your time and attention, and I hope to hear from you soon."
posted by jenettsilver at 11:23 AM on April 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
If you google "XXXXXX cover letter examples," you'll get led to a good number of those for whatever XXXXXX happens to be (your position you're looking for). I don't know what best-in-class is at this point in time, but Indeed had one for the cover letter I used to get the job I have now, so I'd start maybe with the job-hunting sites and go from there.
posted by xingcat at 11:29 AM on April 29, 2019