Your Cover Letter Is Too Long

I always hated cover letters, and, frankly, stressed out way too much about them. They’re mildly important, and can get you tossed into or out of the review pile, but they are not the make-or-break phase of your job hunt.

Your goal in a cover letter is to indicate that you have a reasonably good shot at being a plausible candidate for the job; to show that you’ve read even a little bit about the company and aren’t just blasting your resume everywhere; and to get the reviewer to actually read your resume. Here’s how you’re going to do that...

Somewhere between “Please find attached herewith my application for your open listing” and a 30-page biography covering your every major and minor accomplishment since high school lies the correct length for a cover letter – one that grabs enough attention without being a total snoozer and a bore to read. That is, a cover letter that gets your resume, and your candidacy, the important second look.

Thus, the perfect cover letter is only 2 or 3 paragraphs at most! We all get too much email, including me, including you, and, especially, including the person who is reading your cover letter and resume! So please, don't make it hard on them to love you – keep it short and sweet!

A great cover letter should make 1 or 2 key points about why you stand out relative to the job or company you are applying to:

- “I see you’re looking for large-scale infrastructure experience, which would be a great progression for me after managing 15,000 distributed servers for NASA.”

- “I would like to apply my 15 years of progressive sales management experience in the CPG industry in a related field, and believe the incremental gains I was able to produce would help me achieve your goals over the next few years.”

- “Having covered over 32 client accounts in advertising these past 17 years, I would welcome a chance to apply my broad expertise to your rapidly growing brand campaigns.”

A cover letter should indicate your willingness to take the job if there are any quirks:

- “While I am currently residing in Boston, I am moving with my wife to San Diego next month as she takes up her position as Chair at UCSD Medical Center, and would be very pleased to discuss your opportunity.”

- “Though I have been a stay-at-home Mom these past 6 years, I’ve kept up with industry trends through attending and, twice, speaking at the American Association Expo each year.”
- “I’m looking for the next challenge in my career, particularly a broadening of responsibilities beyond direct marketing, which I think fits in well with your growth plans for your new ’green’ brand extensions.”

And finally, it should tell them what to expect next. Usually it’s best for them to expect you to contact them:

- “Thanks again for your consideration, and I will follow up with your office next week.” (I always say “your office”, not “you”. Provides a bit of grandeur to the communication, and implies that you’re sophisticated enough to not hound them down by calling too much or too often.)

And then... that’s it. You’ve made your case briefly, covered the reasons you’re willing and able to take the job, and got out. That is all you need to achieve with your cover letter, folks.

So, thanks very much for reading, and I’ll be in touch with your office with my newsletter next week ;)