I am a little anxious. I am trying to finish up a cover letter for a job that I really, really want. It's a government job, but it has purpose. I hate cover letters though. I can do anything (well almost anything) except market myself. How do you effectively write a cover letter that explains your KSA's as it relates to the position? I'd be great in this position...can't I just say that?
You know back in the day, you got a phone call and an interview. You sat down and talked to a potential employer. Employers actually got to know a little bit about you. You had a conversation. Now, your resume is thrown into a stack with thousands of others, and as the experts put it, that HR person is looking for that one person who stands out! Hence, the almighty cover letter with flair. And, for the love of God, how do you keep flair down to two paragraphs?
When I was the one doing the hiring, I read every cover letter and every resume. Sure sometimes something jumped out at me, but I knew that these letters and resumes were mostly glorified templates from some damn book for dummies or Resumes 101. Yeah, I know. Now there is a whole industry offering experts who will write the perfect cover letter and resume for you. Someone who knows nothing about you will sit down for $600. and produce the sacred, "this will get you interviews" resume. I looked into these companies and after me, yes me, spending all the time filling out their 700 page questionnaire and creating the job description, the expert suggested a few buzz words.
I always found what I was looking for through conversation. And, that conversation meant not asking those "where do you see yourself in five years" questions. Good grief, if I wanted to know that, I'd conjure up Nostradamus. Conversation tells you if someone is motivated, ambitious, and passionate. I just can't write passion as well as I can speak it.
Back to the drawing board.
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