By Rick Fromme
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| Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: P-40 Warhawk with "sharktooth" nose (Photo credit: Chris Devers) |
Ok, so you’ve read my previous blog, “Résumé
Rules for Health Care Industry Applicants,” checked out its Related Article
section, and, after hours of word work, you now have a well-crafted résumé. Well
done!
What else is left to write right? Your Cover Letter, of
course.
Alas, the conundrum of the Cover Letter. Most of us have had to wrestle with this challenging
element of the job application process. Writing them can be a pain in the “S” as
we Strive
to Succinctly
Sell
our Salient
Skills to a Specific Someone Successfully.
It’s not
easy to accomplish all the S’s stated above. But in knowing more about the objectives
of a well-crafted Cover Letter, you can better accomplish — here comes another “S”
word — this Sisyphean task.
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| Sisyphus (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Cover letters do make a difference, even brief ones. But just like
the faux pas of smacking on a wad of double bubble gum during your interview, you
never, ever want to send a standard
form cover letter with an opening statement such as, “Enclosed please find my
résumé.” And while not being too informal, you may want to include an anecdote
and, if appropriate, inject a little bit of humor.
All
this in a tightly constructed document of about 150 to 200 words.
Not
the easiest of writing chores, even for professional writers, let alone for
someone whose skills lean more towards the clinical, diagnostic, treatment or
sales side. It reminds me of an anecdote one of my college professors was fond
of repeating. (See? I was able to include one!) Senator Abraham Lincoln was
writing a letter to a colleague where he began, “Dear Sir, forgive me for the
length of this letter, but I did not have the time to make it shorter.”
Objectives of the Cover Letter
Personalization: It generally offers the job seeker an
opportunity to personalize and target their resume to a particular person. This is one of the
major strengths of a cover letter. While a résumé is detailed and succinctly
organized, it can be impersonal. When submitted without an accompanying cover
letter, it can give the wrong impression; that is, the job seeker is just doing
a résumé blast campaign. While it takes
more work in today’s world of online applications, ideally you want to identify
a specific person to whom you can send your cover letter. (By the way, this is one of the numerous advantages of
networking on a niche site such as MedMasters, where you can make connections
and more easily contact specific individuals.)
You want to target your cover letter to a specific
individual within an organization, preferably the person who’s most likely to
have decision-making authority about the position you’re applying for. Never address a cover letter with the ambiguous salutation, “To Whom
it May Concern.” If necessary, contact the company to obtain your target’s
name, its correct spelling, their title, and correct email.
Directing Attention to Skills: It allows the applicant to direct particular attention to specific skills that are important to the reader. One of the questions a well-crafted cover letter addresses
from the outset is, “If we hire you, what can you do for us?” It allows a potential employee to highlight
particular skills or accomplishments that are especially relevant to the
position. While that specific skill may be among many cited in the résumé, its
emphasis in the Cover Letter communicates several key concepts: A) The applicant
has researched the company and the position; B) S/he has identified some of its
specific needs; C) It verifies the applicant is ideally capable of fulfilling
them. Using a handful of bullet points in this section of your cover letter is
appropriate and useful, as Succinctly is one of our target “S” words.
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Clear Statement Indicating Reason for Interest: It enables the
applicant to clearly state why the organization is in their “want to work for”
radar. This objective is the “yin” to the
above objective’s “yang.” Whereas the above objective highlights a specific skill
or set of skills, here the applicant is stating where and how the organization
can best utilize those skills. It also demonstrates the candidate has
researched the organization and is industry savvy as well.
Creates Professional Proactivity: It opens the
door for further communication and follow-through. Depending
upon the organization and the nature of the application process, this aspect of
the cover letter facilitates the job seeker’s ability to initiate the exchange
of further communication. It gives them some input into the Who, What and When
of the application process. Who is the job candidate taking the initiative.
What refers to future actions and follow-ups. When is the decision and
availability of the applicant.
Other points to consider:
·
Proofread carefully
before sending. Better still, get other people to proof it as well.
·
Mention mutual
contacts. (This can be an effective opening line such as “Jane Smith from
Medtronic recommended I contact you about the medical device sales position at
Johnson & Johnson.”
·
Even though today’s Cover Letters are usually an email with an attached résumé and sometimes other
documentation (awards, examples of work, letter of recommendation), it’s best
to use more formal prose. Avoid using common email abbreviations such as “u”
instead of “you.”
·
Minimize your use of
superlative adjectives. (Your project
was the best, you were the quickest to finish paperwork, you had
the highest success rate of closing
sales, etc.)
·
Orient your letter to
a specific position, but don’t copy the job description’s exact verbiage.
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| The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (soundtrack) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
There are numerous websites and pundits who provide very
good information on how to write effective Cover Letters, some of them citing
examples of “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” for you to peruse. Extrapolate
from the best, and, when appropriate, use some of those examples as models for
your own.
In this article, I cited some of the difficulties and challenges of writing effective Cover Letters. I then described the main objectives
of a well-written Cover Letter and also listed additional points to consider. If you found this
article helpful, please post a comment and share.
Rick
Fromme combines entrepreneurial enthusiasm with an insider's knowledge of the
medical industry to co-found MedMasters.com. Both
his drive and perspective helps provide health care professionals with a
superior mechanism with which to communicate, network and market their
strengths. Prior to founding MedMasters.com, Rick
operated a highly successful medical device distributorship. Other milestones
in his 12-year career in the medical industry include a key position at a
medical device start-up company that was later sold to the Ethicon
Endo division of Johnson & Johnson. You may also reach Rick
by connecting with him on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube.
