hi everyone its Andy la subida founder a
mile walk in the mile walk Academy and
award-winning author of the hiring
prophecies here with today's episode of
tips for working life today we're going
to talk about cover letters and when I
say cover letters what I really mean is
any means you're going to use to
introduce yourself to the employer so
that could be a cover letter if
companies still require one it can be an
email perhaps with your resume attached
and it could be an applicant tracking
system where they allow you to provide
some notes about you yourself things
that they should know about you so
really it's whatever means you're going
to use to introduce yourself now there's
a couple of precursors that I want to
mention right before we dive into the
four sentences there's three things that
your introduction should do and I
believe you can do those in four
sentences but I want to talk a little
bit about just cover letters what the
purpose was remember keep in mind cover
letters are from a long time ago when we
didn't have computers and we didn't have
emails and we didn't have applicant
tracking systems and you had to mail
your resume to an employer about a job
opportunity or a job opening that you
saw or was advertised you needed to
insert that cover letter to introduce
yourself to let them know what it was
you were applying for so they didn't
really understand that now we have these
systems that tag your resume and your
names a particular jobs that you apply
to it's much different now but
regardless you still need to effectively
introduce yourself so regardless of
whether you're doing that in an attached
document or whether you doing that in an
email introduction or whether you're
doing it through an applicant tracking
system there's three things you
ultimately need to do and you want to
make sure that when you do them you're
respecting the person's time the average
person today let alone the average
person who is recruiting for many
positions gets about a hundred and fifty
emails every day somebody who's hiring
for a position might get twice that many
or three times that many so you want to
make sure that whatever you do you're
being brief in your respecting their
time trust me when I tell you that most
people are moving at such a breakneck
pace
most of those recruiters just want to
open that resume look to see if you are
a good fit for that particular position
or another position
their company many of them are not going
to take the time to read a lengthy intro
or a lengthy cover letter so just keep
that in mind okay one other one other
little housekeeping item I talked a few
weeks ago about how to build your
ultimate professional resume if you
haven't seen that episode yet check it
out on my blog I've put the link down in
the notes but there's some good tips and
tricks and formatting items that I
addressed in that particular lesson or
episode that I think is going to be
really helpful for you to understand as
we talk about these four sentences that
you need to that you need to do the
first thing how to address that that
intro dear whoever it is and I know
there are many ways you can figure out
who that is or dear sir/madam or to whom
it may concern or whatever intro you are
comfortable using I'm writing to inquire
about the opening form so now you're
telling them exactly why your inquiry
it's just one sentence period that's it
let them know why go to the next break
make up make a new paragraph so that
they now can get the meat and potatoes
this is the what you offer why you're
qualified and I would just say that I
offer X years of experience in whatever
your specialty is and which make me a
strong candidate for this opening that
that's your obviously your opinion but I
think it's a nice way to collect that
and give them some insight that you do
believe you are a strong candidate they
want to hear that then what I would do
is I would just add one more sentence in
that in that paragraph and just say the
top portion of my attached resume
highlights my career profile and three
significant accomplishments that are
also in alignment with this position now
what you're doing is you're creating
intrigue you're telling them exactly
where they can find the information that
they need in order to know whether or
not you'd be a good candidate and it
won't take them very long to see it and
then I would make a break and then the
last little sentence I would make is I'd
welcome the opportunity to speak with
you if you feel I'd be a strong
candidate for this or any position in
your organization it's extremely
important that you
at the any other position in your
organization people need help with how
to think these days everybody is moving
so quickly it's not because they're not
smart but you just want to make sure
that they recognize that number one
you're open to it and number two that
they should be thinking that way you
don't want them to just open your resume
look at it and say yeah he or she's not
a fit for the position that they applied
for you want to remind them to make sure
that they think about all positions in
their company it may sound very obvious
it may sound like common sense but when
you're moving so quickly it's not always
kind of practice okay so there it is I'm
writing to inquire about what the
position is I offer X years of
experience I have strong these skills
top portion of my resume highlights my
career profile and my significant
accomplishments which put me in
alignment with the position I'd welcome
the opportunity and so on now one other
thing you might be thinking why not put
those highlights in that detail in the
cover letter the cover letters purpose
it should be brief it should tell them
why and why you're qualified but you
want to create intrigue you ultimately
want to get them to open your resume
most of them are going to be inclined to
do that anyway so you don't need to give
them more in the email you don't you
don't want them to see this much so I
recommend reserving that for the resume
for the resume
perhaps you put one significant
accomplishment but I think you can do
this in four sentences five at the very
most so that's it for today one other
one other item I want to let you know if
you like this type of information I've
got a training course coming up with
everything that's careers related so
it's all this and much more depth
everything from finding your purpose
writing resumes cover letters
interviewing all the way to career
acceleration and all that good stuff so
everything careers related and I'd also
I love to hear from you so if you have
any insight any questions about this
drop down to the comment section let me
know you're here ask me any questions
share it I always welcome the shares and
until next week we'll see ya