How to Make Your Cover Letter đź’«Sparkle
You’ve got the skills. Here’s how to make sure they stand out.
One common thing we hear from repro workers who are searching for a new job is that despite having all of the necessary qualifications, they aren’t hearing back from the hiring organizations, and they’re wondering why. This could be for a lot of reasons, particularly as organizations are receiving hundreds of applicants for single positions. But, in our experiences as hiring managers, lackluster cover letters are another. We have read thousands of cover letters and there are many commonalities that make some cover letters sparkle and shine, while others get quickly sorted to the bottom of the pile. Here are some of our tips to make your cover letter stand out.
Consider your audience. Take into account what the reviewer might be doing as they read your cover letter. We all work in repro and are overworked and there just aren’t enough hours in the day. There’s a good chance your reviewer is reading your application late at night, on the weekend, or in quick moments in between meetings and patient care. A great cover letter draws the reader in quickly, not only addressing the skills you possess that are perfect for the position, but also tells a bit of a story that interests the reader. They are assessing your skills and fitness for the position, as well as whether you’re the right fit for their team. Demonstrate it by bringing your personality into your cover letter, as you might in a workplace.
In some organizations, the person doing the initial sorting of applications is a recruiter or HR staffer who is gathering qualified candidates for the hiring team. They’ve been given an assignment to find candidates with certain skills and personality for the team. Reviewers in this position are looking for specific things to check off of a list—usually skills—and then of course an engaging writer catches their eye too. They’re scanning your cover letter for specific keywords and information based on the reviewing task they’ve been assigned. They may not be as well-versed in the specific functions of the job, so making sure that you spell out your qualifications (without random acronyms!) is critical to making it past their screening.
Cover letters and résumés are different. We say this a lot, and we’ll say it again: Your cover letter is not a narrative of your résumé. People read applications in a variety of ways, sometimes the cover letter first and other times the résumé first. If they’re reading the résumé, they’re often looking for a skillset, and then move to the cover letter to learn a bit more about you. If they’re reading the cover letter first, they’re sometimes looking to be engaged through your pitch of yourself and then to your résumé to learn more about your past work experience. When your cover letter is a regurgitation of your résumé, it’s not giving them any new information. It should bring the experiences on your résumé to life. It’s your pitch about why you’re a fit for the team and how you can bring your skill sets to the job. Your cover letter should answer the why you question for the reviewer. Remember: Your cover letter is not a dramatic reading of your résumé.
Be something beyond “passionate.” One of the most overused words in cover letters in cover letters is passionate. I’m passionate about abortion rights. I’m passionate about reproductive justice. You’re applying for a job in the repro movement—we know you’re passionate. The problem is everyone’s cover letter says they’re passionate, but very few explain what their passion looks like, where it comes from, and how it shows up in their work and values. Passion is great for volunteers, but when hiring for a staffer, hiring teams are looking for more. Rather than flatly saying that you’re passionate, tell a story to describe how your passion shows up in your work. If you’re already working in the movement, highlight your skills because you already have a foot in the door over the passion-only applicants.
Tailor it to the job. The job description is a road map of the position and what the organization is looking for. The organization spent time crafting the job description to describe what it is you would do in the position and the skillset they’re looking for. Some of the best cover letters we’ve read do something really simple: demonstrate they’ve read the job description. Don’t just tell the hiring team about your experience, be clear about why your skill set matches what they are looking for as outlined in the job description. Demonstrate that you read the job description. It will help them see you as a top fit for the position because you’ve explained why you’re what they’re looking for. We understand that you’re applying for a lot of jobs and it’s a lot of work to write cover letters from scratch each and every time. You don’t need to rewrite it each time, but customizing the cover letter to the position will go a long way.
Talk about the why. Many cover letters are long forms of a person’s résumé and not a pitch letter as to why they’re a fit for a position. A good cover letter should answer the why questions for the reader: Why do you want to work there? Why are you the best candidate? Why are you in this field? Why do you care about this issue? Imagine being asked in an interview the why questions and then addressing them in your cover letter.
Show who you are. Again, cover letters that are full sentence rewrites of a résumé are explainers about your work history and tasks you’ve done, but leave little space to tell a little story about you, your work, and what you’d bring to the position. Use a paragraph to tell a little story about yourself—again, show the why.
Remember, in many cases, they’re reading hundreds of applications. The more you make yours stand out and sound different, engaging, and qualified for the position, the better chance you have of making it through the initial sorting.