Between a pandemic, massive unemployment, the challenges of looking for a new job at the best of times, and the evil that is automated robotic application screening systems, it can seem like the job hunt is a never-ending stream of futile effort and torture.
Which…okay, fair enough. It kind of is.
But there really is light at the end of the tunnel. Job hunting, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, doesn’t have to be a pit of despair.
If you apply some smart techniques and upgrade your cover letter, you may well find yourself getting a lot more call-backs and interviews…and from there, job offers!
Best of all, these tips and tricks apply to any cover letter you write, not just during your pandemic job search.
Personalize It
This should go without saying, but some people are still not customizing every cover letter. So I’m going to be a broken record here and repeat: personalize every cover letter you send.
I’m not kidding.
This doesn’t have to be a huge thing, though – personalizing doesn’t mean slaving over a hot keyboard for 3 hours on every cover letter. Instead, it means playing Mad Libs with your Word doc, having a few highlighted places where you can drop in a company’s name, the exact role title, and a few keywords or target phrases related to what the job listing is looking for.
Fill those out for every individual job application and you’re already leaps and bounds ahead of most folks using the “spray and pray” approach.
Match the Tone of the Culture
If you’re really after a job, though, you’re gonna want to go a few steps further. While the Mad Libs semi-custom cover letter approach works pretty darn well, it’s always worth taking extra time when applying for a true dream job.
When that’s the case, take the time to match the tone and content of your cover letter to what you can see of the company’s culture. More and more companies are recruiting and hiring based on culture fit, even more so than on demonstrated domain expertise and skills.
That’s because skills can be taught, but if you’re a buttoned-up person in a freewheeling startup, or vice versa, you’re never going to be as effective – or as satisfied – as someone who meshes with the culture. So hiring for culture fit first and skills second makes sense from a business standpoint.
You can stand out from the crowd by demonstrating your culture fit before you even get to the interview process, in your cover letter!
Take a look at the job posting. Is it written casually, with a lot of approachable language and slang? Or are there repeated references to “role deliverables” and “synergizing” – in other words, tons of formal language and jargon?
Write your cover letter to match that tone.
Highlight Your Transferable Skills
Especially when you’re in a crazy job market, like during the COVID-19 pandemic, you want to show that you’re a flexible all-around champion who can contribute beyond the boundaries of the role you’re being hired for. Companies are pulling back on hiring, worried about resources, and trying to make sure that everything is optimized to the hilt.
You can stand out and make yourself look even more valuable by highlighting how you’ve contributed to other teams and projects, learned new skills, and transferred knowledge across roles in the past.
There’s a few ways to do this:
- Put a “Transferable Skills” section with bullet points on your cover letter.
- Write a paragraph emphasizing times you’ve brought your expertise to other teams.
- Write a paragraph emphasizing your transferable skills like writing ability, presentation and speaking skills, etc.
Make It Easy to Scan
While your cover letter usually won’t go through an automated resume system, whatever hiring manager (or intern…ugh) is going over all the dozens or even hundreds of applications for a given position isn’t gonna have a lot of time to read it.
Make their life easy. Give them visual cues for what’s important and let them see your expertise and potential to succeed in the role at a glance.
Personally, I advocate for using the heck out of bullet points on cover letters. They’re easy to scan, let you shoehorn in background that might not get noticed on your resume, and create clear organization.
Consider listing out 4-6 of your top achievements and results from your last few jobs and popping these out as bullet points on your cover letter.
Wham, bam, thank you ma’am, the hiring manager not only knows exactly where to look, but can see a highlight reel of your accomplishments. Awesome.
Action Steps
- Create a Mad Libs Cover Letter with 3-4 highlighted spaces for inserting a specific company, role, and references to the job posting.
- Add a short bullet-point list of key accomplishments to your Mad Libs Cover Letter.
- Practice scanning job postings for company culture and write a formal and a “business casual” version of your Mad Libs Cover Letter.
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