April Leadership, Values, and Benefits Presentation - HonorSociety.org

COVER LETTERS & LETTERS OF REC

©HonorSociety.org, 2015. All Rights Reserved.

Your cover letter is more powerful than you might think…

During your job search, you should never underestimate the power of a cover letter. Your cover letter can be the deciding factor in getting you the interview over someone who has essentially the same resume.

Hiring managers do take the time to open your cover letter. However, if they see that someone does not take the cover letter seriously or that they’ve copy pasted it from another job that they had applied to, it’s an automatic no, regardless of past experience.

Keys to a great cover letter

● Keep it concise

● Tell a story

● Don’t use the same cover

letter for every application

● Don’t write out your resume

in paragraph form

● Share why you’re excited

about the opportunity

● Don’t sell yourself short


Keep it concise

Keeping a cover letter short and concise is sometimes harder than it sounds.

Keep your cover letter to one page. This makes sure that even if the reader is skimming it, they’ll get the main idea right away.

It’s important that you have someone read over and edit your

cover letter because they’ll be able to help you decide where to cut something out or where you

can make sentences clearer and shorter.


Tell a story

Your cover letter is your chance to let your personality shine through and to tell a story that relates to

the position that you are applying for.

You could share about a time when in class or an internship or

past job you had to overcome something or how you got

assigned a project that let you realize what you are passionate about.


Don’t use the same cover letter

This one can be pretty tempting, especially when you are applying to so many jobs. You might think that substituting a word here and

there will customize it enough to work. Most hiring managers can

see right through this.

Think of your cover letter as you having a one-on-one

conversation with someone. Even if it’s the same topic, it’s going to be different depending on who

you are speaking to.


It’s not your resume in paragraph form

Your cover letter is not a chance for you to write out your resume in paragraph form. That’s what

your resume is for.

If a hiring manager is reading your cover letter and it looks just like your resume, they’re going to

move on to the next candidate who is ready to put in the effort to go above and beyond in their job

application.


Share your excitement

While your resume tells a hiring manager why you are qualified for a position, the cover letter is your

chance to share why you are excited about the opportunity.

Hiring managers want to hire candidates who are excited about not only the job, but about being

with the company long term. They want to see that you are

excited about building a career there.


Don’t sell yourself short

Too many times applicants use the cover letter to apologize for their lack of expertise in something or to talk about their weaknesses.

Whether this approach is to sound humble or honest, it’s not the

time or place.

This is the place to sell yourself and explain why this job is the one for

you regardless of your past experience.


Recommendation Letters


How to ask for a recommendation letter for a job or grad school application:If you’ve started the application process for graduate school, then you already know the importance of lining up your three recommendations letters.

Even if you aren’t applying to graduate school and instead are applying for full time jobs, you’ll see that you need to line up your references as well.

These tips work for both situations and will ensure that you are asking for recommendation letters in a professional, polite, and successful way.

Keys to asking for a recommendation letter

● Ask someone who knows

you

● Be mindful of the timing

● Let them know your goals

● Give them a copy of your

resume

● Say thank you


Ask someone who knows you

When it comes to choosing who you are going to ask for a recommendation letter from,

make sure that you ask a professor, mentor, or manager who actually does know you and

how you work. Ask the professor whose office hours you attended or whose class you raised

your hand in. Even if you didn’t get an A in the course, they’ll still be able to write you a

quality letter because they’ve gotten to know you.

What you don’t want to do is ask a professor in your 150 student lecture who might not even

know your name. The people who read recommendation letters read hundreds of

them and they can tell the difference between a letter written by someone who

knows the student and someone who is writing a generic letter that could work for just

about anyone.


Be mindful of the timing

It is important that you are respectful of the time of the

person you are asking to write your letter.

Make sure that you ask well in advance so that they know that

they have an upcoming deadline and can plan their schedule

accordingly.

What you don’t want is to make them feel rushed to meet the

deadline and they feel stressed or aren’t able to provide a high

quality letter. Ask if they would be willing to write the letter about two months in advance. About four weeks before the deadline,

follow up with them letting them know that the deadline is four

weeks away.©HonorSociety.org, 2015. All Rights Reserved.

Let them know your goals

In order for someone to write you a great recommendation letter, it’

s important that you let them know why you’re applying for

something.

Let them see your passion in this next academic or professional move so that they can see the

importance of you being accepted.

The more details you give them, the more specific and compelling

your recommendation letter will be.


Give them a copy of your resume

If you’re asking a teacher to write you a recommendation letter,

they may know what you’ve been up to in the classroom but not

outside of the classroom.

By taking a look at your resume, they will be able to get a holistic

view on how you spend your time and your experience.


Say thank you

Don’t forget to say thank you and send a handwritten thank you

note.

They have taken the time out of their schedule to help advance your education and career, so

make sure that you let them know how much they appreciate it.


April Leadership, Values, and Benefits Presentation - HonorSociety.org

Education

Transcript of April Leadership, Values, and Benefits Presentation - HonorSociety.org