Looking for a job is tough even when times are good. In a deteriorating economy it provides new challenges. But, then it also provides you new ways to differentiate yourself and stand out from the crowd. As a career coach I repeatedly encounter some behaviors that get in the way of clients being seen favorably by those who encounter them. Here, I am not talking about your job knowledge or your ability to overcome adverse chemistry with the hiring manager, but I am talking about many simple things that can make you stand out from the crowd. Here is a list:

1. Always write a great cover letter in response to all “A” jobs that you want to pursue.
2. Send your response in the required manner (Website, email, or whatever they have stated in the job posting) and, in addition, send it by some differentiated way to the hiring manager (US Mail, FedEx). You can even have it forwarded to the hiring manager internally through someone you know.
3. Follow-up after a week and remind the hiring manager of the way you had delivered the response (“My package had a picture of the Statue of Liberty on top”). It is a memory jogger!
4. When you send an email (to anyone) make sure that you completely identify yourself. It is best to have your complete name, email address in parenthesis next to your name, phone number, and even a clever tagline that defines you! This way if the recipient wants to call you right after they get your email they can simply pick up the phone and contact you. Even as a career coach I get over 300-plus emails every day. The ones I respond immediately are the ones with all these parameters I just listed. Others, I wait until I have time to look up who they are and their contact information. Hiring managers receive much more traffic because their regular job is not just to hire people! Make it easy for them to contact you
5. Make sure that you have a personal greeting on your voice mail. Most have their mobile devices as their primary contact point. Most of these devices, too, come with a generic greeting identifying just the telephone number and nothing else, in a robot-like voice. Take the time to record your own personal greeting in your own voice and completely identify yourself. I cannot even tell you how many times when I call a telephone number that I get this generic greeting, leaving me to wonder if reached the right person or I simply misdialed. Not doing this makes you look lazy; not a good thing!
6. When you have the first phone (or subsequent) interview try using the land line. Mobile connections are notoriously unreliable and you may lose key parts of your conversation with the interviewer. Even portable or cordless phones are not a good choice because they are noisy and can dropout when the power is out.
7. Always send a thank you note after each interview (even phone). The note should also have some additional points about the interview to fortify your position.
8. For important interviews send thank you notes by Mail. This is so rare that people will remember you, just for that!
9. Do not leave an interview without knowing what the next steps are and holding that person accountable. “So, if I do not hear from you on Monday, I plan to call you on Tuesday. What is a good time?”
10. Be positive, enthusiastic, and cheerful during each encounter. Even on the phone it is easy to “read” a person’s mood on the other end.

It is not that difficult to incorporate all of these habits into your life! Try them all and see how much difference it makes in how people respond to you!

Good luck!

Whenever I mention to my clients, who are going after open jobs, to write cover letters in their response I get incredulous looks and an insinuation that I am hopelessly out of date and impractical. Why? They have heard from many recruiters that cover letters are a waste of time because no one reads them!

Wrong!

Yes, recruiters see thousands of resumes and their job is to winnow the stack to a few and present them to the hiring manager for further action. Typically, recruiters spend from three to 20 seconds scanning a resume and then making a decision about the resume. A cover letter takes time away from this. Beside, most (90% of the applicants) do not know the real function of a cover letter and how much impact it can make in the hiring manager’s mind about your candidacy.

In all my writings about resume design I categorically state that a resume is not about you, rather, it is about how what you have to offer aligns with the job that you are pursuing. If the resume is about the job, then the cover letter must be about the company and the hiring manager’s pain!

Right on!

Most applicants, typically, summarize their credentials in the top part of the cover letter and in the bottom, they copy and paste the key attributes from the job description. The final line in the letter is typically a claim of how well-matched the two narratives are and hence their qualifications for the job!

Only a fool would fall for this trick. To make a cover letter mean anything to the reader (the hiring manager) it must have the following elements:

1. A clear statement of what you bring to the job and why that is going to be important to the hiring manager
2. A clear understanding of the state of the industry, the company, and the specific pain points of the department where you would be hired. How can one get all this information? If you are on top of what is going on in your own area of expertise the first two items are not that difficult to glean from the research that you can do. Now, for the specific hiring manager’s pain you must make some inferences from the available information and by talking to your network embedded in the company. All you need to make is a plausibility argument, not a forensic one!
3. In your letter you must clearly show that you understand these three vital elements and that you will deliver on your promise to eliminate the hiring manager’s pain if they hired you. It is that simple.
4. The entire package must be delivered to the hiring manager by some unusual means, in addition to the regular channels (responding on the company’s Website). Sending a package by US Mail or by overnight courier usually does the trick.
5. You MUST follow-up in a week by calling the hiring manager!

A Cover letter is much like a closing argument a lawyer makes to the court before his case goes to the jury. It is the message that goes with each juror into the jury room and the one that carries most impact because of its freshness and the conviction it presents about your take on the case. Without that passion and conviction any closing argument will ring hollow!

If you are serious about a job opportunity you must send a great resume with an equally worthy cover letter and rest your case!

Good luck!

The cover letter must, then, go a step further and proclaim to the hiring manager, “I know you and your company.” A cover letter is, thus, a personal message to the hiring manager that is grounded in company’s pain and uncaptured opportunities. Done well, such a letter, at once, differentiates you from the pack!

How does one do that? The following suggestions are offered to create a winning cover letter for a “Gold” target; “Silver” and “Bronze” targets can be addressed commensurately:

1. Find out who the hiring manager is. Use your network, commonly available databases, or some research to find out the manager’s name and the correct spelling. If this is not available, research the company (through Hoover’s) and find the senior executive listed who might be in the chain of command of the hiring manager you are targeting and address the letter to them.
2. Research why the position is open. Also research what business cycle the company is in, and any particular challenges it is facing. For example, customer defections, product recalls, slow to market, quality problems, product costs, etc.
3. Talk to the company’s customers, suppliers, and alliances to learn more about how it does business and what perceptions those who touch the company have about it. In many cases pretending to be a buyer on the market for the company’s products and experiencing the selling process first-hand can be insightful. While on this topic, also find out about customer support, warranty, and how the company deals with outsiders (you are one here!). Translate this experience in the cover letter in an actionable way, and not as a complaint!
4. Learn how to read company financials and read the CEO’s annual/quarterly statement to glean what challenges the company is facing. Also learn how to interpret SEC filings, 10-K and 10-Q, which are available for a publicly traded company from its Website. Ask your stockbroker for investor insights.
5. Use this research to draft a letter with a Point-of-View (POV) that clearly shows how, by hiring you for the open position, you will be a change agent and make the company’s pain go away.
6. Spend time polishing this draft and reduce your letter to about a ¾ page. The message must at once be cogent, concise, and compelling. Show how you intend to create change that will improve things. Do not repeat what is in the resume or in the job description verbatim. Do not make a table of “Job Needs” and “I offer” side by side. This shows a lack of imagination.
7. Send the letter, along with the résumé, in a differentiated way, as FedEx, in addition to Website submittal, especially for an “A” or Gold target.
8. Follow-up with the person to whom you sent the original response with diligence.
9. If all this sounds like much trouble, it is. And, that is the point. Very few go through this effort to send a cover letter. Those who do get attention.

10.  Yes, it is time consuming! But, then again, how many jobs do you need?

11.  For a Silver” or “B” target, show some industry insights. This way you can leverage such a letter to other similar targets in the same industry.

12.  For a “Bronze” or “C” target present your credentials without repeating what is in the resume, but in ways that gets attention. Such letters can also be used in other responses without the need to redo them in entirety.

13.  Many examples of real-life cover letters that got attention are in the Author’s The 7 Keys to a Dream Job: A Career Nirvana Playbook!

A Sample Wining Cover Letter

March 22, 2005

Mr. David T. Chancellor

Senior Vice President & CIO

GroceryChain

5918 Stab Way

Oakland, CA 99999

Dear Mr. Chancellor,

I am pleased to respond to the open position of Director, Application Development, Tracking code #422-04, at GroceryChain. I meet or exceed all your job requirements.

With the highly competitive markets in the space in which GroceryChain operates, IT can play a key role in combating inroads by aggressive super chains as Wal-Mart and Costco. Driving costs down is key in successfully establishing a brand and presence for a grocery store chain in the emerging competitive markets and then creating an exceptional customer experience. With GroceryChain’s employee growth at nearly 10 times its revenue growth, there is a great avenue to increase margins by identifying opportunities for productivity gains and automation. I see the following factors as critical to this goal:

• Constantly evaluate how the overall vision for the organization is being implemented through technology initiatives and identify opportunities that remain untapped.
• Identify where costs can be driven down through automation and develop an agenda for prioritizing this across the entire value chain
• Automate as many of the manual functions as are customer friendly, while continually evaluate customers’ preferences to provide an exceptional experience than what is expected.
• Develop a community-specific technology implementation plan that provides most productive and cost effective store operations.
• Constantly evaluate if the current technology infrastructure provides the best ROI and then recommend appropriate initiatives to make sure that this does take place.
• Develop a highly disciplined software development and implementation process that makes businesses drive technology and not the other way around.

My track record will show you how I have used my technology insights and customer/client knowledge to provide the best solutions in a very cost effective and timely way.

I am excited about working for GroceryChain and looking forward to exploring this opportunity further.

Cordially,

Nick Packard

Enclosure: Resume