Cover letters are kind of hard to write.  Maybe they are more of a pain, really, than they are hard to write. And anything that is a pain to job seekers is questioned… “waa, waa, do we really need to spend more than 3 minutes on this thing?  Waa…”

It seems that if we have to take more than a few clicks to do something in our job search, it’s a waste of our time.

Not true with cover letters.

Let me share an experience I had this morning.  It was with a LinkedIn introduction, not a cover letter, but the concept is similar.

I got a LinkedIn introduction request from someone who I didn’t recognize.  Turns out, I have a reason to recognize the name, but it had slipped my mind when I saw the introduction request.  The person was asking for an introduction to a really big name at a big organization.

I sent it on to my contact, who would forward it to his contact.  I wasn’t able to write a very strong “you must forward this on, this is a great person who isn’t going to waste your contact’s time.”  But I forwarded it on anyway.

My contact immediately wrote me back and said “I need more information before I forward this on to my contact, who I have to be careful with. ”  In other words, people are cautious about what they forward on… if there is something that might affect your brand, or your relationship with your contact, would you send it on for a stranger?

NO!

The original introduction was vague.  Here are two things that would have added a lot to the request, and put the request in context:

1. “Hey Jason, remember me?  I am the person who ___________….”  Even if you think you are close to the person you are communicating with, it’s always helpful to remind them of who you are and why you have a relationship (where you met, etc.).  It never hurts to add this information, which can help remind me of why we are talking.
2. “I’d like to talk to Ms. XYZ because _________ and __________.”  The reality is, I’m not in a position to be the gatekeeper.  And if I pass on something without substance to Ms. XYZ, do you think she is going to trust what I give her next time?  In this case, there was someone between me and Ms. XYZ, and as another gatekeeper, he wasn’t going to pass anything on unless there was a real reason.  I can’t tell you how many times people want to get on the phone just to chat and pick my brain. My contact wasn’t going to allow an introduction to get to Ms. XYZ just for a brain picking… or else he would risk his relationship with Ms. XYZ.

This is the exact same thing I’ve heard from people who get resumes.  If you send a resume in without some kind of context, and something to set you apart, or explain something that you can’t really explain within the boundaries of a resume, you end up in the pile with a thousand other undifferentiated resumes.

But when you use a cover letter to explain a little more about you, or why you are so perfect for this job, or to add context to your application, you are filling in the blanks for the recipient.

Will it be read every time, by everyone who touches your resume?  Not necessarily.  But it could mean the difference between which pile you go into (the No pile, the Maybe pile, or the Short List pile).

Take the extra time to prepare a customized cover letter, and don’t risk it.

You’ve heard the job search is a numbers game, right?  It used to be, for sure.

Julie writes:

I had someone apply for 15 of our job openings the other day. Fifteen! And all the job openings called for completely different skill requirements. Before even opening this person’s resume I’m thinking: What a waste of my time. Just seeing those 15 messages in my inbox, I was completely turned off.

Read the entire post here – excellent advice from someone who knows!

Are you working HARD?  Or, are you working SMART?

I worked really, really hard, doing all the wrong things. But I worked hard, and at the end of the day I could say “wow, I did a lot of work today!”  But it was the wrong kind of work.  And it got me nowhere, except depressed.

Also, if you have been on the fence about spending money in your job search, this might lighten the decision a bit.

Tax issues for job seekers is pretty easy – there are just a few things to know.  You can find all kinds of help online…

Here are links to the first few posts – you’ll see the advice is consistent… the main source is the IRS (you’ll have to find your own link, since it might change each year).

Tax Tips for Job Seekers: Job Search at About, Alison Doyle

Important Tax Tips for Job Seekers: Work Tree, Nathan Newberger

Tax Tips for Job Seekers: Business Majors at About, Karen Schweizter

Tax Tips for Job Hunters: 5 Deductions You Need To Know: Money Watch, Amy Levin-Epstein

Last Minute tax tips for job seekers: NW Jobs (Seattle), Randy Woods

There ya go – simple stuff, but plan for it!

In What HR Won’t Tell You About Your Resume, they have 10 quotes from people who are supposedly “in the know.”

Advice includes:

“Once you’re unemployed more than six months, you’re considered pretty much unemployable.” (#1)

“People assume someone’s reading their cover letter. I haven’t read one in 11 years.” (#4)

“We will judge you based on your e-mail address. (#5)

“Résumés don’t need color to stand out. When I see a little color, I smirk. And when I see a ton of color, I cringe.” (#10)

So what do you do with this information?

I’d say some of this is indeed best practice stuff. But you can take most of it with a grain of salt.

I’ve seen many panels with HR professionals telling resume writers what they like, what they look for, what turns them off, how they work, etc.

I’ve learned if you get 10 HR reps and ask them the same question, you’ll get 10 different answers.

How does HR work?  How do they make decisions?

It depends on so many factors… their age, the company culture, the tech in the company, the number of hires they do, what their role in HR is, etc.

Learn from HR, but don’t take anything from one HR person as job search gospel… if you really want to know what to do right or wrong as you try to get into a company, ask people at that company!

1. Verbal Communication Skills
2. Strong Work Ethic
3. Teamwork Skills
4. Analytical Skills
5. Initiative

Source: Job Outlook 2011, National Association of Colleges and Employers.

None of this is surprising to me. It shouldn’t be surprising to you. But the question is what do you do with this information?

Many people think they need to say “I have great communication skills,” or “I’m an excellent teamworker,” or “I have a lot of initiative.”

Guess what?  EVERYONE WILL SAY THAT!

Here’s what you do: figure out how to tell stories that demonstrate your skills.

Can you think of a time when you used your verbal communication skills to help make, or save, money for a company?

Can you think of a time when you were on a difficult team but used your ninja teamwork skills to pull it together and get the job down?

Can you tell me a story that shows you have exceptional initiative?

Get the point?

Don’t tell me you have the skill – tell a story that demonstrates that story!

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A few things I deduct from these suggestions:

• CEOs, COOs, CIOs, CTOs, CPAs, Controllers and CFOs are currently and actively looking for help with their job search marketing documents.
• People are looking for resume and cover letter help.
• If YOUR competition is paying for help to get their documents done well and right, what does that mean for people who are using a “do it yourself” approach?  Can their documents match up, or get past the screening, compared to professionally prepared resumes?

It’s amazing that executives, who can easily earn more than $100/hour will forgo a small investment without having any real understanding of what they are building?  A resume is much more than a 1 or 2 page document… right?

At the very least, send your resume to Career Resumes for a free resume review.

My most-commented post on the JibberJobber blog was titled Depression Clouds Everything, where I talk about what happened to my inability to remember and reason during my job search.  It was not fun.

I’m not going to pretend that job search depression is something you can just “get over” or “get through,” but I think in many cases there are tactical things we can do to help us.  Sometimes we simply need to visit a doctor and get medical help, but other times we might be able to work through it.

Yesterday on my JibberJobber blog I wrote a post about one of those tactics.  It has to do with creating a job journal, or listing your past accomplishments. There is a methodology to this, of course.  One comment to a previous post said that once she sat down and listed out her accomplishments, with the formula, it changed so much of what she was doing.

It sounded like it changed her entire job search.  This phrase sticks out:

“… it completely changed my approach.”

Do you feel like your job search strategy needs a complete change?

I suggested yesterday that you take the entire day off and just work on your accomplishments. Seriously – stop spinning wheels and do that one thing.

Here’s another comment, this time from Donna:

Another benefit of working hard on the PARs: you’ll do better in interviews, screenings and other human interactions. As you get clear about the problems, actions, results and the skills you relied upon, you internalize them and they clearly and naturally come out of your mouth during an interview. I have been amazed listening to myself! It also helps you guide the interview conversation in a direction you want it to go.

Isn’t that something that merits your time?

Career Resumes helps you create effective, targeted cover letters.  To learn about Career Resumes cover letter services, or see links to cover letter samples, click here.

Even if some people don’t read cover letters, still send a cover letter.  Always.

BUT, make sure your cover letter is “targeted” (the word I normally use is “customized”) – it cannot be a generic cover letter.

AND, make sure your cover letter doesn’t have mistakes, as it is used as a screening tool (”she didn’t take time to proof read her cover letter, so she must not have attention to detail, which is critical in this role.”).

This makes me think about other tools and tactics.  Some people say the resume is going the way of the dodo bird… but others (and their internal HR systems) completely rely on the resume.  You can’t neglect the tools and tactics that *might* be key in getting you to that next step.

It’s nice to think there are short cuts, but in reality there are certain requirements – be careful to understand what the current fads are saying, and make sure YOU have YOUR bases covered.