Your cover letter, in combination
with a winning resume, is your primary self-promotional tool
and should reflect your main strengths as they apply specifically
to the position you are interested in. The following are 15
ways to ensure that your application gets noticed!
1. Be concise. Cover letters should be
reasonably short and to-the-point. Generally 3 to 4 paragraphs
will do to introduce yourself, state what position you are
applying for, and why they should choose you. Recruiters almost
always have a ton of applications to go through and do not
have time to process long documents.
2. Be creative. You would like to make
an impression, without getting off topic. What makes you uniquely
qualified for the job? Describe your skills in a way that
brings them to life.
3. Sell yourself. Show what you have to
offer. Give clear examples of your past performance and what
you are capable of at this point in your career.
4. Do your homework. Find out as much
as you can about the company, the position and the person
they hope to hire, then explain exactly how you intend to
benefit their organization using their own criteria. Show
that you care enough to do this kind of investigating ahead
of time.
5. Use examples. Demonstrate how past
experience and accomplishments could specifically benefit
their organization.
6. Show a little personality. You are
giving a prospective employer a glimpse of the person behind
the paper; try to give an accurate sense of who you are. How
well do you fit into their corporate culture?
7. Personalize. Try to address your letter
to a real person; find out who is in charge of hiring, and/or
their title. Once again, this kind of attention to detail
will set you apart.
8. Be professional. Maintain an appropriately
formal format and tone.
9. Use a writing style that is appropriate,
yet distinctive. Do not be afraid to use humor in small doses
if this reflects who you are, or if you have a particularly
relevant anecdote.
10. Customize. Write a different letter
for each position, or at least modify the details to maximize
your use of pertinent information.
11. Attention to detail. Don’t skip
important steps such as proof-reading, spell-checking, and
including the date, position title, and your up-to-date contact
information.
12. Show some enthusiasm. Employers want
to attract employees who will contribute positive energy to
their work environments.
13. Pay attention to the flow of your
letter. Try to avoid beginning each paragraph with “I.”
And keep paragraphs short.
14. Show sincere interest, without excessive
embellishment. Qualify your claims, showing how past experience
demonstrates your dedication to a shared cause, etc.
15. Be honest about your experience, not
overly humble or exaggerating. You want to get the interview,
but not only to have them discover that you are not who you
claimed to be.
Ryan Stewart has coached
hundreds to pharma sales success (and he's done it all for
free). To jump-start your pharmaceutical
sales career go to pharmaceutical-sales-representative.com
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