Replacement Hire Insight: Cover Letters
Recently, I've been screening applicants for a coworker's position at my work. The process has been very illuminating--it's not often that you get the chance to be in a hiring manager's shoes if you're not working in the HR department. That said, I thought I'd share some thoughts with you about what I've learned from reading through these applications, particularly the cover letters. 1. Think carefully about how you close your cover letter. A surprising number of applicants have closed their cover letters by saying something to the effect of "I will call you to inquire about an interview later this week." For the applicant, I imagine this seems to imply they are assertive and take initiative. However, I find this statement problematic for several reasons. The first is that the hiring process takes longer than a week, so if an applicant does call within a week, the likelihood is that we're not even ready to decide on who to interview. The second issue is that most applicants don't actually call. Even an applicant that wrote a specific date and time when they would call to inquire didn't follow through, which then makes me as the hiring representative question if you are as interested in this job as you would have me believe. The third, and final issue this kind statement raises is to my mind is whether or not the applicant understands how the application process works--we are hiring you, you are not hiring yourself. So while I would encourage applicants to call about a job they are interested, at least a week after applying, it's my opinion that closing your cover letter this way is not necessary. 2. Spell the hiring manager's name right. If the name of the hiring manager is included anywhere in the job description, address your cover letter to that hiring manager, and make sure you spell their name right. This particularly important for applicant's who would like to advertize themselves as detail oriented--this is a mistake you cannot afford to make. Even if you're not trying to portray yourself as detail oriented, missing information in the job description or misspelling the hiring manager's name is still a mark against you. 3. Proofread your cover letter. I don't know how many spelling, grammar, syntax, and other issues I have seen from reading through these cover letters. But what's worse is when the cover letter is obviously recycled from a previous application. Several cover letters I saw included the wrong job title, the wrong application date, the wrong department/address, etc. If you are recycling your cover letter, you had best not make it obvious to the person screening your application--it's one of the fastest ways for the hiring manager to determine you are not genuinely interested in the position, which brings me to my last point. 4. Don't recycle cover letters. Recycling cover letters tends to result in vague or very general applications. This does not play in your favor. The hiring manager wants to see a customized cover letter, expressing genuine interest in the position, the company, the responsibilities, etc. A hiring manager won't be impressed if you don't discuss why you want to work in that particular position. In effect, that means if you want to write a good cover letter every single time, then it should be a different cover letter every single time. If you do your research, and put in the time, the hiring manager will take note. Best of luck! College Girl Career
