Cover Letters – Use Facts, Not Gimmicks

Gimmicks are often very effective for selling things – from breakfast cereals to cars to political campaigns – but one place they don't work is in cover letters.

Business has always been about facts and figures. Presentation of those facts and figures needs to be clear and concise. The person to whom you address your cover letter wants basic information upon which s/he can make a quick, informed decision that will benefit the company. S/he does not have time to load an elaborate PowerPoint presentation or watch a fully produced video about an applicant's qualifications and experience. In fact, many HR representatives don't even like receiving Acrobat versions of resumes or cover letters, because it requires opening a separate piece of software just to read the document. And that takes extra time.

Here is a cover letter tip: Don't include fancy graphics, colored fonts, verbose sentences, or jokes. The cover letter is a business document, and it is not the place to try and express your personality.

Corporate business culture is the ultimate example of "conservatism" – in the sense that it adheres to tried-and-true traditions, customs, and procedures. Those procedures still serve the business community quite well, or else they would have changed long ago. A few years back, some "dot-com" renegades attempted to do things differently, and history shows how well those attempts worked for them.

While some aspects of business on the front end do and, in fact, must adapt to changing conditions, on the back end there are still certain expectations and requirements. One of these is communications. Regardless of changing economic conditions, new technologies for transmitting information, and new methods of marketing, communication in business remains essentially unchanged since the time of the ancient Babylonians – arguably, the first corporate capitalists and entrepreneurs. For the same reason it's doubtful a Babylonian merchant included a joke in his or her billing statements, neither should you be putting anything in your cover letter that doesn't demonstrate how you can help the company make or save money.

As the late Jack Webb said in his role as Sgt. Joe Friday on TV's Dragnet: "Just the facts, ma'am; just the facts." Although the business world may employ various gimmicks in sales and marketing, there is no place for them when it comes to hiring personnel and intra-departmental communications. So when you write your cover letter, following tradition and Standard Operating Procedure will put you ahead of the game.

Thanks to Teena Rose / Resume To Referral
http://www.resumetoreferral.com/blog/cover-letters-%E2%80%93-use-facts-not-gimmicks/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed

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