How to Write a Good Cover Letter

From the Wall Street Journal |Mar 9, 2010

It's something job seekers often wonder: Do you really need to submit a cover letter with your résumé?

Tim Bower

Some
hiring managers confess to ignoring these introductory notes, while
others say they read them attentively. Hiring managers say that despite
the vast advice available on writing cover letters, many job hunters
don't submit them. But applicants who take the time to craft a cover
letter stand a fair chance at setting themselves apart.

And given the stiff competition for jobs these days, career experts
say writing an introductory note may be worth the effort, especially
for career-changers and individuals whose résumés show a red flag, such
as an employment gap.

To make a favorable impression, hiring managers say job hunters
should craft different letters for every application and tailor them to
both the employer and position they're targeting. Cover letters should
be brief, says David Loeser, executive vice president, human resources,
for baked-goods company Hostess Brands Inc. in Dallas.

One way to customize a cover letter is to reference an employer's
products or services or point out content on its Web site. Another is
to comment on a trend within the organization's industry. If you know
the name of the hiring manager for the position or a human-resources
manager at the firm, you should address him or her directly
and-whenever possible-acknowledge something personal about the
individual.

High-Priority Candidate

Last spring, a job hunter wrote in a
cover letter to Chris Willis, vice president of human resources and
general counsel for Dallas-based distributor Interstate Battery System
of America Inc., about how he had just graduated from Mr. Willis's alma
mater. The job hunter, who was seeking a legal position, also noted Mr.
Willis's involvement in the Texas General Counsel Forum, a trade group.
Mr. Willis says Interstate Battery didn't have any legal jobs open at
the time, and still doesn't, but the writer will "be top of mind"
whenever one is available. "We'll keep him on file in a database of
high potentials that get higher priority when it comes to recruiting,"
Mr. Willis says.

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To
customize a letter for a particular position, applicants should show
how their backgrounds line up with the requirements outlined in the job
description.

"With a cover letter, you can get more context than you might get in a résumé," says Craig Campbell, director of staffing for Dolby Laboratories Inc., an entertainment-technology company in San Francisco.

A recent applicant for a director of business-development position
at Dolby described how his background matched the four qualifications
listed in the ad for the job, says Mr. Campbell, adding that the
applicant was granted an interview.

Cover letters also are ideal for clearing up anything in a résumé
that might confuse or concern recruiters. Clare Shanahan, senior
director of talent acquisition for Fireman's Fund Insurance Co., a high
net worth insurer in Novato, Calif., says she recently received a cover
letter from a job hunter that explained why his résumé didn't list an
employer after 2008: He had spent the past 18 months unsuccessfully
trying to launch a business.

"It showed that he was honest and entrepreneurial," she says, adding
that she extended this person an interview invite for a senior-level
sales and marketing position at Fireman's Fund. "Had he not done that,
there would've been too much room for doubt."

Similarly, Natalia Schultz, chief talent officer for Grey Group, a
New York-based advertising firm, says she granted an interview to an
industry outsider after reading the person's cover letter about why she
wanted to change careers and join Grey in particular. "It was such an
incredibly compelling note that I had to meet her," she says.

No Mistakes

Make sure every cover letter is error-free or
your hard work could backfire. About 20% of applications for jobs at
Fireman's Fund include introductory notes, says Ms. Shanahan. Of those,
she estimates 30% contain mistakes, most commonly because they're
addressed to the wrong company or recruiters' names are misspelled.

Sloppiness can automatically eliminate an applicant from
consideration, says Ms. Shanahan. "The person's résumé and credentials
would have to be really outstanding to compensate, and many recruiters
may not look past the cover letter to make that assessment," she says.
Factual, spelling and grammatical gaffes indicate "a lack of attention
to detail," she adds.

Cookie-cutter cover letters also can derail an applicant's shot at
landing an interview. "I can tell if it's a form letter and they just
inserted my name or my agency," says Ms. Schultz. "I'm immediately
turned off." An original, but lackluster cover letter will likely
generate the same reaction, she adds. "If it's boring, I don't want to
meet you," she says.

Job hunters should further keep in mind that many employers use
tracking software to store and share information about applicants and
can therefore tell if someone submitted the same exact cover letter for
more than one position.

And while mailing handwritten cover letters through the postal
service may be a way to avoid this, recruiters say doing so is unlikely
to win their favor anyway.

What's more, even sending a well-crafted note this way, rather than
via email, also may not be wise since doing so prevents recruiters from
forwarding it to other decision makers.

Write to Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com