There really isn’t a good clean template for an introductory letter. The introductory letter should whet the reader’s appetite and have them come back for more (I.e. read your resume). Personally, I write a fresh resume for every job to which I apply. However, one of the purposes of a cover letter is to highlight the points on your resume that are most applicable to the job for which you are applying.
First of all there is the awkward matter of the salutation. “Dear Sir and/or Madam as the case may be.” Just doesn’t seem to get it.
If you have a name, use it. Dear Robin Jones works just fine regardless of which rest room Robin normally uses.
If you don’t have a name, try using the position, “Dear Human Resources Manager,” “Dear Hiring Manager,” “Dear Director of Engineering” will work in the appropriate situation.
If the introductory letter is in response to an ad, use something like:
I am interested in the XXX position posted on <date> in <paper name or board>
I am a <industry name> professional with XXX years’ experience in the following areas:
· <bullet 1>
· <bullet 2>
· <bullet 3>
Don’t admit to more than 15 years’ experience. If you have 30 years’ experience, then you have at least 15 years’ experience. Most jobs do not require even as much as 10 years of experience, and what you did more than 15 years ago is most likely obsolete anyway. So don’t admit to being a geriatric case. If they like your cover letter they’ll be impressed enough to read the resume for your merits and not your age.
Unless there is some compelling reason, I also chop off my resume at about 15 years. This is not “dummying down” the resume, it’s just putting in only the relevant facts.
If the letter is in response to an ad, then one technique that works sometimes is a side-by-side comparison of what they want, and what you did. For example, the ad may state that experience with MS-Excel and customer contact is required.
You need: ----- I did
MS-Access ----- Set up weekly spreadsheets for plant operatins
Customer Contact ----- Made client presentations with marketing staff.
If you can pull off a side-by-side comparison it’s great. Otherwise talk about the things you did that are applicable to the job and that make you valuable to the company, (E.g. “I reduced turn-around times on report production by 75%.” “I increased sales by 32% in one year.” “I cut the error rate in customer billing by 45%.”) Be specific if you can. Don’t tell them how you did these wonderful things in the cover letter. Let them read about it in the resume.
I happen to have my own web site in which I post my past work experience in a more narrative (and hopefully more humorous) way. So I plug it. “If you want additional information about my qualifications check out my web site at
www.xxx.com or call me at (555) 555-1212. People have read my web site, but I am not sure if it’s before or after they decided to call me.
As a variation on this theme, if you have a telephone number, try something like the following, “I am interested in discussing this position with you. If it is convenient, I will call you next Tuesday at 2 PM.” This way when you call Robin Jones and get the assistant, you can honestly answer that, yes, Robin is expecting my call.
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