Get A Job HQ

Hiring managers routinely receive responses from hundreds, perhaps thousands, of applicants for any given job. To avoid having your resume sink in this sea of paper, it’s imperative to write a cover letter that stands out from the crowd and makes a good first impression.

A compelling cover letter that follows five essential rules will convince a hiring manager to read an applicant’s resume.

Rule #1 -- Appearance

The resume and cover letter must be aesthetically pleasing and consistent in appearance. This would include using the same heading and fonts in each, both produced on a high-quality printer and paper (if documents are being “snail-mailed"). Save the designer stationery and stylish fonts for writing letters to friends. A professional employment package never sets a casual tone.

Rule #2 – Target Your Audience

Always use the hiring manager’s name in the salutation. If the contact’s name isn’t provided in the job posting, a bit of Internet research or a well-structured phone call can produce results. In using the contact’s name, the cover letter is personalized, while also showing the applicant’s interest in the company. Remember, a letter addressed "Dear Sir or Madam" or worse, "To Whom It May Concern," has the same impact as one addressed "Dear Occupant."

Rule #3 – A Strong Opening

A dynamic opening paragraph is essential to capture and retain a hiring manager’s interest. Pared down to basics, for a quick and effective read, it should include a reference to the position sought and a brief statement as to why the applicant feels qualified to fill the job. Emphasis should always be placed on what the applicant can do for the targeted company, while also providing quantifiable proof as to why this is true.

Rule #4 – Showcasing Accomplishments

Include a bulleted area to emphasize accomplishments pertinent to the targeted job. Not only does this break up large blocks of text that a hiring manager might find daunting, but it also draws the eye towards the most important part of the cover letter -- what the applicant has to offer.

Rule #5 – A Proactive Closing

Always initiate further action at the end of a cover letter. A proactive closing indicates that the applicant will call within a few days to see if a time might be scheduled to meet. To wait for a hiring manager to take that first step is to risk losing the opportunity to another candidate.

Curriculum vitae, or CVs, as these documents are also known, have widespread use overseas, where they are preferred to resumes.

In the United States, however, resumes are most often used. That said, CVs are warranted under the following conditions:

1.

The jobseeker is in an academic field (college or university professor), and is seeking a teaching position.
2.

The candidate is in employed in research, medicine, or a similar discipline and is seeking a residency, fellowship, or admission into a program (i.e. Ph.D.).
3.

The candidate has been published numerous times and has made many presentations, with details of these included in the document.

Differences between CVs and Resumes

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Content: CVs tend to be more comprehensive in the data provided to the hiring authority. This is especially true of CVs used for distribution overseas, where the inclusion of personal information (date of birth, marital status, religious affiliation, nationality, country of birth, etc.) is required.
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Length: Whereas resumes rarely exceed two pages in length, CVs can run from 10 to 15 pages and longer.

When to use a resume or a CV

Again, generally speaking, a resume is preferred over a CV in the United States, unless the hiring authority specifically requests a CV.

Executive resume formats generally have:

1.

A more conservative appearance.
2.

A separate area showcasing Career Accomplishments.
3.

A finished length of two or more pages.

That said, Executive formats can be used by any job seeker, especially those who have career or academic accomplishments and seek a more comprehensive approach to employment history -- if that comprehensive approach is relevant and enhances their candidacy.
Conservative Appearance

Executive Resume format generally employs the Times New Roman font, which is universal on PCs, easy to read, yet elegant in appearance. Designer fonts, which include BlackAdder II, Castellar, and Broadway, are best left for graphic designers, artists, and those in nontraditional industries. The ample use of white space and underscored section headings are aesthetically pleasing and provide visual cues about where one data area ends and another begins.
Career Accomplishments

This is the hallmark of the Executive resume and what hiring managers most want to see. In this economy, when dozens or even hundreds of applicants with essentially the same backgrounds vie for each opening, the only characteristic that will separate a candidate from all the others is what they accomplished in previous positions. In an Executive resume, these achievements are showcased near the top of the first page. What’s more, these accomplishments are generally quantified in terms of percentages, dollar figures, and time periods to specifically indicate what was done.
Finished Length

Executive resumes are usually two or more pages because of the sheer breadth of a candidate’s experience. However, a modern resume should be only as long as it needs to be to contain the data relevant to the current job search. It’s unwise to expand a one-page resume to two pages to meet an arbitrary page length, just as it is to cram a two-page document onto one page, reducing white space and font size to such an extent that the finalized document is hard to read and not aesthetically pleasing.