Was happy to be included among PhDs, Career Experts and Staffing Pros for my thoughts on a great cover letter.
Hope this is helpful to anyone looking to gain an edge in their career or creating partnership opportunities.
Original article here: https://upjourney.com/what-is-the-purpose-of-a-cover-letter-when-applying-for-a-job
A cover letter indicates an applicant’s desire.
Someone that puts the effort into a unique, non-canned cover letter is someone who has done their research and actually visualized a future at my firm. So the desire they bring to the table is already high in my eyes. Plus!
A cover letter gives a picture of the applicant’s personal brand.
The cover letter already begins to tell the story of one’s journey to my desk, and hopefully the aspirations they have for themselves once they work with me.
What they hope to learn and gain. How they already apply these things in their work and personal lives – just little check marks that are noted along the way to – “Can I picture this person working with and meshing with my firm and the company’s brand?”
A cover letter reveals the skillset
The cover letter acts as a writing sample. So, this can be telling of how comfortable they are reaching out to people, putting their personality on paper, and how much thought they’ve put into things like; titles, paragraphs, ideas, and long-form thought.
Are they convincing? Compelling? Do they “get how this works”?
I will qualify this by saying, I own a Public Relations and marketing firm, so the comfort level of employees who ‘get’ how to stand out, and how to write and form creative, intelligent, and concise prose, is going to shine through for me. – That’s part of the skill sets I look for.