I'll say before I'll say it again. I have seen hiring managers
Really stuck between two candidates, they both excelled in the interview. They did great
They'll actually go back to the beginning and understand that initial sense of motivation
And fit for the team and that will be the make-or-break factor for who they're going to hire in that role
Hey Badasses, welcome back to the
Badass Career's YouTube channel, which was all about helping you to find your thing your dream career
Or maybe a business idea
brand yourself and then go out and get it and
Really do work you love. I had a client of mine asked me the other day if cover letters were dead, you know?
It's over we're in the 21st century, come on, and we still doing these cover letters motivation letters
Like what's the point and quite honestly, it's the exact opposite cover letters are so far from being dead. They're just being born
there's a new way of doing cover letters a
modern way and engaging way that's really gonna help you stand out from the crowd for your job applications and you absolutely
Have to learn how to do them well
it's a marketing document that you have to understand and you have to nail and
I've already done a few other videos on cover letters. I'll link those down below
I think can really enjoy them one video is around the biggest cover little mistakes
You might be making and the other video actually takes you through four key steps to building a perfect cover letter
So why a cover letter is so important? well
We're in the 21st century careers are changing works
transforming as a
completely different landscape out there and what we're gonna see more and more often is that it's gonna look a little bit more like a
gig economy
Roles are gonna be project based rather than super long term
Contracts where we assume that we're going to spend 20 years with the same company
And so because the work landscape is changing the way we sell ourselves has to change as well
We have to get really really strong on our personal brand
so what makes us us and getting really good at things like
Storytelling and being able to articulate your purpose and all of those kinds of things and that's where the cover letter comes into play
I'll say before I'll say it again. I have seen hiring managers
Really stuck between two candidates, they both excelled in the interview. They did great
they'll actually go back to the beginning look at their initial application look back at that cover letter and
understand that initial sense of motivation
And fit for the team in the cover letter
And that will be the make-or-break factor for who they're going to hire in that role
so the cover letter it's just such a huge opportunity for you to be able to communicate your
Drivers your passion and your hunger for this role the biggest challenge that you have to make sure it gets read by a real human
So not only is it going to be full of great keywords?
So that it can pass the ATS applicant tracking system get past the robots and get in front of the recruiters eyes
but when the recruiter sees it for the very first time
You want to make it them sit up and pay attention and say well
Who is this person and you want the hiring manager to do the same and the major difference between a cover letter that gets read?
and a cover letter that just makes their eyes glaze over and they stopped reading after five seconds is
The hook the opening paragraph. You've got to nail that hook and
If you've been hanging around for a while like you're subscribed to this channel
you will know that I put a freebie on this where I give you loads of examples of
cover letter hooks from my real clients that have scored an interview, so
Really inspiring, engaging cover letter hooks or opening paragraphs so you can grab that in the description box down below
but I highly recommend sticking around for the video because I'm going to talk you through a little bit about the thinking and the
Why these make such awesome or such terrible hooks?
we're actually going to cover some hooks that just
Mistakes to avoid things to not say at all and then opening paragraph as well and I can tell you after 10 years of working
In recruitment and HR. I've seen some really bad opening paragraphs for cover letters and I don't want that to be you
I've seen opening paragraphs that are incredibly vague
Generic sometimes downright arrogant and honestly from a recruiters perspective
It can be
Very very off-putting and kills any chance that you had of getting an interview and I don't want it to be you
So first, let's jump into some classic cover letter hook mistakes, and then I'll take you through what you should be doing
So a classic cover letter mistake
I like to call this the zero effort approach here's an example as a longtime admirer of company
I was excited to see your opening for a job title as seen on the
enter name of job board
as a
Job, title professional with over X years of experience. I am confident
I have the qualifications required to become a beneficial member of your team. So what's wrong here? Well, the hook is
incredibly generic you could be applying to any profession and any industry at any level like it gives you nothing and you can
truly just sub in and sub out different company names and that kind of
Generic approach and almost laziness there I say it recruiters can smell it from a mile off the next one
I like to call the letdown. So this one's just a little bit disappointing
it goes something like this. Your job posting really spoke to me because I'm certain that the position you described aligns perfectly with my
Skills and background which you will see details on my attached resume. Well, I actually love the wording your job host really spoke to me because
But then I want a real deep reason. I want something that's really made
You say wow, this is the job for me. Not just the generic like in alignment between my skills and experience
that's
Honestly just boring and also just say my skills and experience
But you'll see details on my resume if you go and look like honestly
You need to do the work for the recruiter
You need to pull out the skills and experiences that you want them to focus on and you'll put them in the cover letter
You don't just direct them to the resume. The next example is the vague AF this was just way too
Vague I know that with my extensive experience I can contribute to your position as a leader in the industry
I would welcome the opportunity to ensure company name maintains its growth and position in the field
I don't even need to go into this one
It's just vague a other cover little mistakes include being really desperate so that saying things like if you give me a chance
For the interview if you hire me, you will not be disappointed
Just coming across as someone who's quite desperate to be hired because humans it's just psychology
We want what we can't have we want what's scarse
So you want what there's not a lot of you like we want limited edition, right?
So if you're saying I'm available, I mean here hire me, please please please it's like hmm
Not so exciting another huge mistake has been the hookers are really cocky or arrogant
And you're basically saying I'm the best if you don't take me you'd be a fool. I'll be your top candidate
I'm sure you'll say if you read my resume that I am the top candidate for your role
super off-putting the recruiters do not want to hear that because at the end of the day
Is the hiring team who will be the judge of who is the top candidate or not?
Not you and you couldn't possibly say that you you don't have all of the applications in front of you
So, how do you nail that cover letter hook well, I'm going to give you a few examples
But again, if you want all of them download my free be in the description box
But at the end of the day it comes down to influencing people to keep reading and the way you influence people
Very often is you make them feel special or you make them feel interesting
It's like when you're at a networking event, and you get the other person talking about themselves
It'll be a lot more influential and they'll remember you a lot more
Than if you're talking about me me me
So in a cover letter hook another huge mistake
I should have touched on has been it's very self-centered being like I
Want to work here because you're a successful company and I want a lot of growth and development
What they want to know is that you have a connection to this role
You've seen this role and it really appeals to you for some reason and the company appeals to you, too
Maybe you have a personal connection to the company. Maybe you're a customer. Maybe you saw your parents using this brand growing up
Maybe you've worked for a competitor. Maybe you've realized that the CEO of this company
They also started out as a graduate on the Graduate trainee program that you're currently applying for
Maybe if the company is involved with a charity that you're already
Volunteering for maybe you've had a life experience that's caused you to have a fundamental belief
or
important value or values that are important to you that aligns to the mission of the company basically what they want to know here in
This cover letter hook when you really draw them in is that you have a sense of mission or purpose?
Connected to this role connected to this company that's gonna drive you and it's gonna make you keep going when times are tough
When the teams under resourced when you've got a lot of pressure on you to meet the deadlines
What is it that's going to keep you motivated and hungry and moving forward
So you need to make them feel special and tell them why you've picked them and then you move into why they should pick you
Here are some concrete examples that are going to demonstrate exactly what I mean
So this person was a lawyer who was applying for a policy role at the Ministry of Education
So they had to sit down and think to themselves
What is it about the concept of Education that I connect with? That would make me feel really proud to work for that company
They call this Cabala de hook the we share the same convictions
There is something incredibly inspiring about the power of education as a legal professional
Specialized in human rights and policy issues, I think
Firsthand that in order to make a real impact on people and communities we need to start with education
So linking back there. It's past experience and what they've been working on and how they've seen how important and crucial
Education is in the big picture
even if she's never worked in the education directly before
this is why I'm leaping at the chance to apply my eight years of policy experience including education policy alongside my
Analytical problem-solving and relationship-building skills to help shape the future of Education with the Ministry of Education
so there was a lot there but she's really pulled out her three core strengths that she's gonna build her whole cover letter around which
Was the analytical mind the problem-solving and the relationship-building skills and she gave loads of concrete examples on those
Throughout the rest of the cover letter
But basically that's the only time she's kind of directly spoken about her in this hook if you reread it was really all about
them and the connection to their mission
Mission and the mission that they're on and so as a recruiter you can see is if she joins that mission she's gonna be there
She's gonna be in you know, the next one. I like to call that I grew up with you
So are you a customer and have you been for a long time with this brand? Have you used the product?
Have you been exposed to the product or the brand in some way?
So this one is someone that played to a staff writer role at Cosmopolitan magazine. I'll never forget the first time
I read a Cosmopolitan magazine
School camp 14 years old giggling about dating advice with my girlfriends in our tent today
It is my go-to pick me up empowering me to show off as the best version of myself in work and relationships
Coaching me in everything from skincare to finances to networking. We truly grew up together
There's no question here and the recruiters made what will keep this person driven in this role?
What what connects this person to this job to this company another example that I love is that we share the same passions
So maybe you have a thing that you really love you geek out a little bit of it
So you're really passionate about it and you found the brand or this company. That's kind of built around that thing
So in this example, she's actually a self-confessed excel geek she loves Excel
she does all the crazy things that Excel is capable of doing and no one knows how to do she was working their logistics and
She's just completely capable of doing anything
She wants in Excel and she's applying to a company that provides analytics and beautiful visual
Dashboards and data management services to other companies. Okay, so it's b2b so she loves the idea of
Taking the data and the stories in that data and the mission of the company
So let's jump into the example a self-confessed excel geek
I've always gotten a kick out of creating beautiful spreadsheets and dashboards that cut through the complexity and allow teams to take action
When I stumbled across Graphy I knew that I had found people who share similar passions
However, while everyone agrees on the fact that data measurement and monitoring are the secret sauce behind excellent business decisions
Most people are either a little data phobic or very much used to working away in their own corner without seeing the bigger picture
This is why I want to make it my personal mission as graphic content marketer to raise the visibility of this game-changing
Product and allow your ideal customers to imagine all the ways in which Graphy could revolutionize their work lives
She's nailed this hook!
She's nailed the mission of the company and she's absolutely connected to her passions what she loves
Self-confessed Excel geek and she's been able to take that one element about herself and make it really really obvious
That she'd be a great fit and she gets it and she's on that journey with you for the mission of this company
The last example that I want to share with you around how to nail your hook
It's called that I can solve your biggest problem
so this is when someone has
really really taken the time to read between the lines of the job description the job and really understand and
Put it into one sentence. What is this hiring manager looking for? What is the problem that they need solving in this specific example?
The business is a website
It's a website that you visit and they were hiring someone to look after the user experience design of their website
So something like this all the pixels and code in the world
Can't save a website from a bad user experience
when your website
literally is your business with six plus million customers worldwide relying on your interface to be all different flavors of Awesome it
Truly is a matter of survival
So, how can we take Deezer's website from really good to really great having customers shout Yay along the way
So again, they've absolutely nailed it here. They've recognized that it's not just the UX on our website. The business is the website
It's a matter of survival
They get it they get the importance and then I'll jump in and say something like as a UX and graphic designer with nine years
Of experience in designing new website functionalities, Blabla and I explain okay. I've got it
I've seen your problem and this is how I'm gonna help you solve it
So hope this is helpful and how can you guys understand the importance of a cover letter hook what not to do?
What to do instead download the freebie for more examples so you can make that link and start imagining, Okay, where am I at?
What makes me me?
What is it about my story my life experiences my professional experiences that who really helped me to thrive in this role
What is it about me as a human that no one else can replicate
That can make me excellent in this role and at this company
I'd love to know which of your cover letter hooks are your favorite in the comments below, please?
Let me know and if you guys have any
Examples of the time that you've applied and you've really used your personal story or a human connection
To make the link in your cover letter. Let me know
I'd love to hear those kinds of stories from people who have been very strategic and badass with their careers just like you and if
You're someone who gives a shiz about your career and you want it to be really successful
And fulfilling and to be able to do your career on your terms then hit subscribe
Because every single week I'm pumping out new content that's going to help you do it just that
So until I see you guys next time in the next video. stay badass and I'll see you soon