Cover letters

Do it even if optional
Why youre a good fit, what relevant experiences do you have
Employer-focused, tailored, targeted
Do lots of research

Employer-focused
What do they want?
How am I a good fit?
Tangible skills (examples)
Application letter
Prospecting letter
Elements
Return address
Salutation
Interest generating
Value selling
Close, contact info
of a page (actual content)
Salutation
Dear (Specific name)
Dear Hiring Manager or Recruiter, if no specific name
Use first and last name if not sure of gender or marital status
Dont use To whom it may concern
Interest generating paragraph
First paragraph
How did you find out about the position (if someone referred you,
name-drop; careercat; job fair at school)
Who are you? Introduce yourself
Demonstrate your level of interest and knowledge about the
organization
o Research the company
o Get information from company websites (about us, in the news)
o Follow them on LinkedIn
o Like them on Facebook
o Join Professional Associations reduced fee, or for free
Professional Associations in [career youre interested in]
Start from general, get into specifics, but unique

Value Selling Paragraph(s)

Emphasizes your strong qualifications and key experiences
Connect the dots for them
Specific experiences/skills that apply to the position
Look at job description to see what skills theyre looking for
o Minimum and preferred
o Pick out all the skills you get from the job positing; match with
your past experiences how youll be a good fit
o If you dont have exact skill set, what can you offer that is similar
Focus on execution and outcome
o Talk about what youve done
o But also why does that matter
o What impact did you have? What did you achieve? Why is that
important?
o Use specific values, numbers shows depth and scope of
experience; I have done which resulted in
Resources for identifying important skills:
o Company website, look under careers, jobs, or employment
o Industry guides such as Valut/Wetfeet/OOH
o Alumni, contacts in the company/industry
o What kind of people are they looking for?
Give examples for your skills, previous job experiences; give proof,
evidence that you do have your skills, make it believable
Tell a story if you can, narrative
When given a long list, pick and choose. More about quality. The most
important ones might be at the top. Write about the ones you really
possess, or the most fundamental ones
Common skills
Ability to adhere to strict deadlines
Ability to lead the work of others
Ability to take initiative
Ability to work independently and remain self-motivated
o Set own deadlines
o Final result to being motivated, working on your own
Advanced quantitative skills
o Numbers, impact
o Analyzing data
o Research experiences
o Critical thinking, using numbers as data, probability,
percentages, collecting data, comfort with numbers
Analytical-reasoning and problem-solving skills

Teamwork skills
Entrepreneurial spirit
Design skills
Organization skills with an ability to juggle multiple tasks
o As secretary of Lunar New Year Productions, I had many
responsibilities. In the first few months of school, I had to
document and organize all the new and current members in the
club in an Excel spreadsheet. Then I had to enter all 200 or so
member emails into our club emails contact list so I could
communicate with them through my weekly emails, which
notified the members of upcoming meetings, events, and
performances. As a result of my organizational skills, our annual
performance had over 400 audience members.
Strong attention to detail
o As an intern in the Biochemistry lab, I performed approximately 5
assay experiments everyday. In doing these assays, I had to pay
close attention to the amounts of substrate, enzymes, and
buffers I was using since the (things) were all very costly. In order
to work efficiently and ( ), working in the lab required me to have
strong attention to detail.
Strong written and spoken communication skills

On resume, bulleted statements

On cover letter, more depth, detail, more of a story
Talk about what you can offer, how youre such a great asset, not what they
can give to you
For attachments, use PDFs
Usually use PDFs, dont copy/paste into the message of the email
Body of email:
Introduce yourself again
Repeat your contact information
Say that youre interested in applying for the position
Attached please find my resume and cover letter
Action steps
Follow up with the employer
Summary statement first
Thank you for your review and consideration.
I look forward to speaking with you in the future. You can contact me at
(phone numbers, email).
I will be traveling to New York during this time period, I would love to
spend some time to meet with you and discuss the opportunities.
I will follow up with you in a couple of weeks (10 days to 2 weeks)

Restate what you love about the company/position

Following up:
With phone call if possible
VERY IMPORTANT!
If not given specific name, follow up with the person you met at a job
fair; or call HR department. Let them know which department you
applied for, ask them to check that your application was received.
http://northwesternucs.wordpress.com/
northwestern.edu/careers
Christina (gave the presentation) c-siders@northwestern.edu