How the Art of Writing a Cover Letter Has Changed
The state of the economy does strange things to people. Many who have had solid jobs for twenty years now find themselves unemployed and having to sit down to write a document they haven’t considered in decades: the cover letter for a job application.
A lot has changed to the cover letter in the past few decades, most notably through the introduction of the internet. Before, you could be sure that a cover letter attached to a resume that would be handed directly a person. You would meet the person who did the hiring, or if not that person, at least a secretary. Now a huge portion of applications go through online systems. It’s increasingly rare to meet your potential boss and for a boss to meet a potential hire before reading a cover letter and resume. The cover letter, therefore, is even more important now than it was then.
As interactions move online, so to do the ways people hear about jobs. Nowadays it’s very likely you found out about a job through a website like monster.com or linkedin. Neither requires you to know an individual in a company before applying.
The consequence is that very rarely do cover letters begin with a phrase such as, “After speaking with Miss So-and-So in the Commercial Products department, I was told to….” Or “Mr. Such-and-Such said you were interested in someone with my skill set….” Personal introductions, specific names within the company—all these are left out of today’s cover letters. More and more of them are directed to an abstracted individual, the infamous “To whom it may concern.” So, if cover letters have become more abstract and general due to the dislocation between the potential hire and potential boss, how have job seekers compensated?
It’s obvious, first of all, that anyone seeking a job wants to be remembered. In an atmosphere where fewer people actually know each other than ever before and where names are without faces, job seekers have the unwritten obligation to make themselves better known through their writing. In sum: to stand out.
It was always important in cover letters to stand out before the internet cut into face-to-face interaction. Now, however, the way to be individual is not by including a personal note to the reader, but to use tone, style, and content to set one apart. This new paradigm requires much more in the way of writing skills from the writer.
The cover letter now is the first impression a reader has of the applicant. Before, it was just a reminder that the applicant had already spoken with the reader, and here was the official document (the resume) that the reader had asked for in their last encounter. The cover letter was the next step in a continuing encounter. Now, it is the first encounter. For that reason the person the writer is will be judged solely based on the style and other qualities of the cover letter. The cover letter, therefore, is more necessary, relevant, and essential than ever.
Erin Kennedy, CPRW, CERW, BS/HR, is a Certified Professional & Executive Resume Writer/Career Consultant, and the President of Professional Resume Services. Read more about Erin at: http://exclusive-executive-resumes.com
