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You’re all set to
make the next big move in your career.
Your resume is a work of art.
You’ve been scouring all the right journals, mailing lists, and
websites for job postings, and now you’ve found a job you want so much
you can taste it. So now
you stick on a cover letter that hits the highlights of your resume,
drop it in the mail, and you’re in the money, right?
Think again.
While a good resume is absolutely essential, many job seekers
make the mistake of treating their cover letter as an afterthought. That letter, though, is going to be the first thing your
potential new employer sees, so you want to make a good impression.
Before you put that envelope in the mail, read this list of tips
to make sure your cover letter is really working for you.
Cover letters should
...
- Include
the name of the position and where you saw it advertised.
In the first paragraph of your letter, your potential
employers should know what you’re applying for and how you found
out about it. Larger
institutions usually have multiple searches going on
simultaneously and don’t want to guess at what you’re applying
for. Telling them
where you saw their position serves two purposes: it shows them
where they’re getting the most bang for their advertising buck,
and it demonstrates that you’re familiar with professional
journals, know how to search the Web, subscribe to professional
discussion lists, or at least can
read a classified ad.
- Add
value to the resume. Don’t
just repeat or rephrase information that they’re going to see
again in your resume. Your
resume should be more or less standard no matter what job you’re
applying for – though some tinkering can be a good thing – but
your cover letter needs to be a bridge between your resume and the
position announcement. In other words, it should bridge the gap between your
background and this job.
- Preview
things to come. Doesn’t
that contradict the last point?
No. Use the
cover letter to make them want to continue on to your resume.
Give them some teasers of what they’re about to see so
they’ll want to learn more.
- Be
tailored to the position.
This can’t be stressed enough: directors or search
committees don’t want to feel like they’re reading a generic
cover letter. Even
though you know you’re applying for several jobs, and they
probably know you’re applying for several jobs – especially if
you’re right out of school – make it look like you’ve given
some thought to this position and not just changed the name and address from
your five other cover letters.
Search committees want to see that you are the best person
for their position, not
just that you’re a great person in general; your letter should
say, “Here’s why I’m right for this job,” not just
“Here’s who I am and what I know.”
Do a little research into the organization and work it into
your letter as appropriate.
- Be
positive. This is
not the place to say bad things about your current or past
employers. Your cover letter is the first time these people are
meeting you, and if you immediately start out by badmouthing
others, it’ll make them wonder what you’ll say about them
behind their backs if
they hire you. And
keep in mind that the library world is deceptively small: your
potential employers may know the people you’re criticizing,
especially if you’re coming from a nearby institution.
Your cover letter shouldn’t say, “I want to work at
your place because they don’t know what they’re doing over
here.”
- Be
professional in tone, not casual.
You’re introducing yourself to people you want to work
for and with, so approach it as you would an actual interview.
This isn’t the place to wow them with your GRE
vocabulary, though – try to sound natural but professional.
Write directly and concisely, so your letter is easy to
read. This isn’t to say that your letter should read like a
telegraph (“Need job. Send money”) – just don’t confuse
your audience by using bizarre sentence constructions and flowery
prose. Rather than
being dazzled by your literary skills, they’ll wonder what
you’re trying to hide behind the smoke and mirrors.
Don’t write more than a page or a page and a half, and
leave out personal information such as hobbies or family status
that aren't relevant to the position.
- Be
conservative in formatting and presentation.
Look at style manuals and other professional
correspondence. Don’t be whimsical or show your artsy side.
It may be boring, but this is the place for a classic font,
not Comic Sans Serif. Use
a good quality laser printer on white paper.
Also, use standard paper as employed in business
correspondence: crazy paper is a huge frustration for the
potential employer. Very
thick paper or paper with an odd pattern doesn’t photocopy well
for search packets. It
may sound petty, but you don’t want to immediately irritate them
by jamming their photocopier.
- Be
checked by you and several others you trust for typos.
It sounds obvious, but it’s amazing how many cover
letters arrive full of typos and grammatical errors.
Librarians tend to be very literate people, and for better
or for worse, search committees often pounce on silly errors like
it's feeding time at the shark tank.
A cover letter with errors shows one of two things: either
you’re unable to communicate in writing, or you’re careless.
Either one could cost you the job.
To go a step further, it’s a good idea to put your letter
aside for a day or two and then come back to it with fresh eyes.
You’re more likely to catch errors if time has passed,
and it’s easier to imagine how people who are seeing your letter
for the first time will perceive it. If something makes sense to you now it will probably
make sense to you thirty seconds from now, but you might read it
differently in a couple of days.
- Close
with a positive statement regarding future action.
Something like “I look forward to speaking with you,”
not “If you don’t find anybody better than I am and are really
desperate, I’ll be here.”
Clearly
there’s a lot to keep in mind when you’re writing your cover letter,
so take some time and put a lot of thought into it.
Think of your cover letter like your grand entrance into a
ballroom in an old movie: you want heads to turn because you look
stunning and elegant, not because you’re falling down the stairs.
About
the Authors
Tiffany
Eatman Allen is Assistant Personnel Librarian at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill. Richard
A. Murray is Catalog Librarian for Spanish & Portuguese Languages at
Duke University.
Article
submitted March 2002
Disclaimer: The
ideas expressed in LIScareer articles are those of their respective
authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the LIScareer
editors.
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