10. Cover Letters and Fair Reads

You are listening to career compass, aHimalayan learning audio course. Be sure to check out all of the other awesomeexclusive content in the Himalaya app or on himalaya.com. Welcome everyone.Thank you for joining us today. This is Nereda Selenas, your host for careercompass, an audio course for those on a journey.

[00:00:28] To find work that moreaccurately aligns with their career compass. Yes. You know, to keep an eye onyour financial, mental, and physical wellbeing in order to keep your best selfin the game, we can turn our attention back to the career journey. You'veinvested time into the important introspective work needed to create anauthentic career compass.

[00:00:55] You've practiced how tocommunicate it effectively. You've also begun to cultivate a community ofconnections to yield good conversations with individuals whose organizationsand roles intrigued you. Sooner or later you're going to come across anopportunity that interests you either because you found it through yourpersonal offer search as our Stanford life design lab, friends like to call itin the video I flagged, or because someone sent you a formal job description,regardless of the sourcing, you need to decide how to respond.

[00:01:33] In this episode, we'll spendsome time talking about how to respond. Once you have a specific opportunity.Our episode will be focused on three areas, how to ensure a fair read the roleof the cover letter and resume and how to write a solid cover letter.

[00:01:59] So let's focus on the fair readfirst. Let's start off by talking about the importance of understanding theopportunity in front of you. I really encourage you to read the job descriptionseveral times, find articles on the organization regarding how this role fitsinto the larger priorities. And if there's nothing explicit, try to make theconnections on your own.

[00:02:27] Jot down the main ideas thatemerged from the job description and the other written pieces that you'll findon the organization's website or perhaps on their LinkedIn page, or just doinga Google search on them. One exercise I really encourage people to do is on awhite board or just a general white piece of paper, create two to four circlesand have spoke stemming out from each circle.

[00:02:56] What you want to do now isreally begin to think about the main themes that emerged from the jobdescription regarding what this hiring manager really wants out of thisposition. From your point of view, you'll then drop one of these themes intoeach of the circles. Again, you have about two to four circles on this sheet ofpaper.

[00:03:17] And there's spokes stemming outfrom each circle. And on these spokes, you can then write examples ofexperiences or knowledge that you have related to this specific theme. Forexample, maybe the themes that are jumping out to you about a particular jobdescription are project management, stakeholder engagement, and strategicpartnerships.

[00:03:42] After reading the jobdescription several times, these three themes. Are the ones that really emergeas the most important buckets of what they're looking for in this position. Andthen you start writing, which are the project management experiences that youmight want to highlight in a potential cover letter.

[00:04:01] And you're writing these phrasesand ideas and projects on the spokes around each of the three circles or fourcircles. Again, you've got two to four circles with each theme inside. One ofthem. So once you have these themes drafted on this sheet, you can askyourself, can I connect with someone on the inside of the organization who canflag my interest to the hiring manager or to the hiring committee.

[00:04:31] Now, some companies have formalreferral programs where people can flag your interest or your application inothers. And most actually it's a lot less formal. One method to use is to tryto connect with the hiring manager before you apply to see if the opportunitymight be the right fit for you. This gives you the excuse to ask questions tosomeone on the inside and to highlight your candidacy before you apply.

[00:05:00] Many hiring managers are happyto do this with recommended candidates that have serious potential because a 15to 20 minute phone call can often save both sides of great deal of time in thelong run. And it might source a great potential candidate for the job. Sothere's a few stages in doing this first.

[00:05:21] Can you connect to someone onthe inside that can shed more light on the opportunity? Perhaps, you know,someone already, if, so you reach out to them with a message along the linesof, I'm curious about this position that I saw posted at your company and waswondering if you know of anyone who might be connected to this search ordepartment, if not, perhaps, you know, someone who knows someone at theorganization, LinkedIn is a fabulous resource for this type of purpose.

[00:05:51] You look up the company. On theleft-hand menu look up there. People look for any first degree connections thatyou might have there. And these are people that you are directly connected to.As a side note, this is why many of us in the talent executive search industryonly recommend that you connect with or accept LinkedIn invitations from peoplewhom you already know that way.

[00:06:19] You know, that you've at leastmet or had a conversation with everyone that is a first degree connection toyou. You also look for second degree connections. If you can't find any firstdegree connections. Second degree connections are people that you may not know,but they are first degree connections to your first degree connections.

[00:06:40] And what this means is thatsomeone you do know can connect you to them. So for example, say you're reallyinterested in a finance role at companies Z. You don't know anyone at companiesZ off the top of your head, you look up companies on LinkedIn and find thatthere are a number of people who are second degree connections to you.

[00:07:02] Meaning that they know someonewho knows you, what can you do? Well, one thing you can do is look at whatconnections you have in common with these people and you reach out to them andsee if one of your first degree connections is willing to introduce you totheir first degree connection at company Z.

[00:07:21] The excuse you can use is thatyou have some questions about culture or some other topic that you might becurious about. Remember to use your first degree connections to connect withsecond degree connections at the company where you found this opportunity.Another thing you can do is to write an easy to forward message and send it toyour first degree connection.

[00:07:46] For example, say, I'm lookinginto applying for this marketing position at companies Z, but I don't knowanyone there. However, I see that my former colleague, Michael does knowsomeone there. I can write one of these easy to forward emails to Michael andin a succinct message. I would include first a brief greeting.

[00:08:09] Second a summary of my introstory. And third, my ass. I saw that company Z has an opening for a position inmarketing. I want to learn more about whether this might be a good fit for me.I saw that you were connected to Gabriel who works there in marketing. Wouldyou mind introducing me to him now when you send this kind of email, you'llwant to include your PDF resume.

[00:08:36] After you've looked at it forresonance with this specific job posting, meaning revising anything that youfeel you need to revise for this specific job opening a brief bio that's alsoPDF and your LinkedIn profile inserted in your signature so that people caneasily connect with it and be able to see what you're about.

[00:08:57] What you're doing here is makingsure that it's very easy for Michael to forward this over to Gabriel, because unlessMichael and Gabriel are really close, Michael will most likely ask Gabriel forpermission to introduce you to him. And in that ask, Michael is going toinclude your email in a forward.

[00:09:19] So you want to make sure thatwhat is being forwarded presents you in the best way. Right?

[00:09:33] So if you're lucky enough to geta conversation with the hiring manager or someone on the inside, what do youtalk about? You should always be prepared, do your homework on the individual,on the department and the company. Always open any conversation with a briefstatement of gratitude. This person's taking time out of their busy day to talkto you.

[00:09:57] And then I would move into yourunderstanding of the role. And this is where the buckets come in. Thosecircles. We talked about with the spokes at the beginning. So you can saysomething to the effect of my understanding of the role within the organizationis that you're really looking for someone with strong project management.

[00:10:16] Skills who also understands howto engage various stakeholders and really knows how to build and sustainstrategic partnerships. Then you might follow with questions such as, is thereanything else about the job that you think is important that I may haveoverlooked? So now this person be at the hiring manager or a member of thesearch committee gets to listen to you.

[00:10:41] And what you saw in that jobdescription and gets to reflect back to you. Anything that they think isimportant that you may have missed. You can also ask questions such as, is thisa new position? Is it one of several, maybe they're bringing in several ofthese individuals, um, almost like a group hire.

[00:11:01] Or is it the only role of itskind? Another question you can ask is, is there anything that this individualvalues that is not explicitly stated in this role? There may be some reallyvaluable context, but simply wasn't able to make it into the job description ormay have come to light after the job description was already printed andposted.

[00:11:26] You want to listen carefully andtake notes. Although you already had your own ideas about what this job wasabout after the call, you can revise your language to integrate the verbiageyou heard during your conversation. The degree to which you do, this is reallyup to you. But the closer that the information you heard comes from the hiringmanager.

[00:11:52] The more, you're going to wantto incorporate it into your cover letter and resume and possibly even bits andpieces of your LinkedIn profile. For example, if you happen to learn that theenvironment is quite relaxed and the hiring manager hates wearing ties, maybethat suit you were thinking of wearing for to a potential interview.

[00:12:13] If you made it that far mightnot be appropriate for this organization. Also, if you learn that sayingrecruiting is probably going to get you more points than using the termsmarketing, then you'll want to revise your cover letter and resume and LinkedInprofile appropriately. This is why I often recommend that you try to have thisconversation before you submit your application when that's possible.

[00:12:41] If the pre-applicationconversation is not possible because some people are really busy and some firmsactually have policies against it. You can still use the process outlined aboveto get your application a fair read. This would be like everything we've talkedabout above minus the conversation. And in that email that you send to yourfirst degree connection to send to someone within the organization, you simplyinclude a PDF detachment that has your resume, your cover letter and yourLinkedIn profile, your signature.

[00:13:23] Now I want us to talk about therole of the cover letter. Although your cover letter and resume are going to varyfrom search to search in general, the resume is a summary of your experiencesand your skills, and you're going to tweak it depending on the job description,but a lot of the structure of your resume, isn't going to change a ton.

[00:13:48] The cover letter on the otherhand really is a unique case that you were making for your candidacy for aspecific position. Now, before you spend a ton of time on your cover letter,it's important to really understand the industry and even the company to whichyou are applying. For example, a lot of tech companies have done a way withcover letters.

[00:14:12] They don't require them. Theydon't expect them and really no use of investing any time into them. And manycompanies in the tech industry actually have done away with resumes as well.Relying mostly on your LinkedIn profile. Now you always want to have a resumeready whenever you walk in for an interview, but be ready for people to simplysay, Oh, don't worry.

[00:14:35] I already looked you up onLinkedIn. But I can tell you that in higher education, for example, which is amuch more traditional industry, tailored cover letters are expected and you'llrarely be considered for a position, even an internal position without one. Soagain, the lesson here is to do your homework.

[00:14:56] If you do need a cover letter,Again, the cover letter should not be restating your resume. The cover lettershould really be unique case that you are making for your candidacy for thisparticular position. And if you're applying for two different types offunctions in the same company, that really does deserve two different types ofcover letters, because ideally each hiring manager would be looking for adifferent set of skills.

[00:15:26] The goal of the coverage or isreally to get you the interview. It's basically sending the message. I've readyour job description. I think you really want someone with these two to fourcategories. And my experience and my knowledge base and my strengths reallybolster the argument that you would be a fool not to interview me.

[00:15:49] Of course you would never saythose last few words, but that's the impression that you want to get the cross.

[00:16:02] I want to give you some tips fora well-written cover letter. There are many ways to approach cover letters. AndI included a link to a great article from the muse in the episode resources.One approach that I have found to be successful is to take those two to fourbuckets that we talked about in the very beginning in the circles.

[00:16:24] Take the advice that youreceived from any of the conversations you may have had, or any of the articlesthat you may have read and converted into a case for your candidacy. Your firstparagraph consists of saying something to the effect of dear search committee,or if you actually know the hiring manager, you can explicitly state them byname dear search committee.

[00:16:47] I'm very interested in thisfunction at your organization. If you happen to have had a conversation with aparticular individual at the company, and they gave you permission to use theirname or this job description was actually forwarded to you from someone in thecompany. This is a great place in the second line to state that, you know, MarySmith forwarded this role to me thinking it might be a good fit.

[00:17:15] Then I would proceed to say,after reading the job description, I find that you are really looking forsomeone with a, B and C. And those are again, those two to four themes that youidentified earlier. Given my background, I feel that I'm an excellent candidatefor this position, period. Then you go in and make your case with a being one,paragraph B, being another paragraph and C being a third paragraph.

[00:17:46] Again, if these are allparagraphs in a cover letter, you need to keep them quite succinct. But eachparagraph is then bolstered with evidence from your experience, your strengthsand your skills, and then you close your case. Again, if these are the threeareas that they are looking for, and if you have something to offer that is ofsignificant value in each of those areas, they really would be a fool.

[00:18:16] Not to at least interview you.Now don't get me wrong. There are definitely plenty of foolish people outthere. And this doesn't mean that you are guaranteed to get an interview, butat least, you know, you've done your best. You've made your best case andyou've put your best foot forward. Good luck.

[00:18:39] Thank you for listening toepisode 10 of career compass, a Himalaya learning audio course. Be sure tocheck out all of the other awesome exclusive content in the Himalaya app or onhimalaya.com.