Michael Betrus - Perfect Phrases for Cover Letters

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Michael Betrus conducts seminars and workshops in career guidance and has written numerous career guides, including 101 Best Cover Letters and 101 Best Rsums. A sales director and hiring manager for a Fortune 250 company, he has spent much of his career coaching candidates and enjoying the successes of how they execute their job searches.

I hear it all the time as both a hiring manager and a career coach: Cover letters? Rsums? That stuff is of the past. Now its all about e-mail, job postings, and networking. Ive interviewed hundreds of candidates for middle- and upper-level management for some giant firms, and this is what they tell me.

I interview candidates for six-figure jobs and some have absolutely horrendous rsums and cannot draft a well-written letter. I never understand it.

Now, some others do a great job on their letters and rsums. You know what? Simply because they have a well-written letter or rsum will get them recognized amidst a sea of responses that make Mad magazine (dating myself here) look like the Wall Street Journal. A great letter or rsum will get looked at just because it stands out.

My group has passed on some great candidates who have good pedigrees but such poorly written letters (e-mails, actually) or rsums that I cannot fathom them sending me a coherent weekly report.

Writing great letters and rsums is important because it is the first opportunity a recruiter or hiring manager gets to see an example of the work you can perform. If the rsum or letter has a typo or is not grammatically correct, thats not a great sign. I promise, I decline to meet with anyone that takes such little care.

This book will provide you with the best concept for cover letters, the consultative sales approach. This principle teaches you to spin your job search around the needs of the employer, not your skills or background. It will also provide you with many sample letters, letter formats, and guidelines, and thousands of phrases you can use when crafting that letter or e-mail to respond to an opportunity. Crafting a great letter or e-mail will get you noticed.

I have been involved in this type of work for years. In college, I wrote an article to help give my fellow college students at Michigan State University tips on getting hired when not pursuing the on-campus recruiting channel. As an accounting graduate, I had no more aptitude for getting published than anyone else. But even before I ever thought of writing that first book on rsums or cover letters, I did write effective cover letters and took a lot of time to spin my key messages around the needs of the employers.

Your attention to detail sends a message far beyond the words used in your response to a posting or a contact you are making through a colleague. Please pay attention to what you write! You will never know how many doors are closing because of imperfect writing; you just may not get the callbacks.

To include name, address, phone number, fax number, e-mail, etc.

Patrick D. Dudash
1801 West Cortney Street
West Palm Beach, FL 33409
Phone: (561) 555-1234 / Fax: (561) 555-4321
Pdudash@xxx.com

The heading does not have to include all of the items listed here. Name, address, and telephone are critical, but fax number and e-mail address are optional. If you include your e-mail address, make sure you check it often. If you list a fax number, make sure you check it as well. And of all things, do not use your current employers fax or e-mail address unless you have their approval.

E-mail note: You do not need to use this heading if youre sending an e-mail. Place this information at the signature line on an e-mail.

September 5, 2006

E-mail note:You do not need to type in the date, since it will be time stamped anyway.

Ms. Maria Lane, Executive Vice President
PGR Industries, Inc.
1011 Dame Kate
Nashville, TN 23244

The only critical thing here is to make sure you include the company name and the recipients title, if you know it.

E-mail note: Like the Heading, this is not required in an e-mail. However, in the Subject line in the e-mail, reference the specific position and recipients name (if known). If you are responding to a Marketing Manager position, type in Marketing Manager Candidate Dudash in the subject line, to make it easier for the recipient to open and file and forward.