10 Tips cov. letter

How to impress your reader….. mostly before he reads a thing!

The picture?  Delphi in Greece.  The Delphic Oracle was sought out by leaders to offer prognostications regarding big decisions like battles etc.  The Oracle’s reponses were almost always enigmatic.  She told one leader something like: « O Great King, tomorrow’s mighty battle will bring an even mightier victory! ».  The king left a fortune in the Delphi treasury in gratitude for what he took to be a clear sign of his great victory.  There was, of course, a great victory …. but for the Great King’s enemy!

I will try to be far less enigmatic and far more specific in my recommendations and exhortations!

So what are these ‘tips’ (astuces), then?

Remember, you are trying to distinguish / differentiate yourself from others and the more, positive ways you can do this, the better!

1. Go for Gold and treat this as a serious competition you are going to win: there may be 400+ applicants for the post you want (maybe far more!).  There is no point in submitting if you are not going for perfection in all respects.  There is no Gold , Silver and Bronze in the Olympics … in fact it is worse: the one who comes second is likely to kick him/herself for missing out – it is gold or nothing!  So make your mind up. Go for Gold!
2. Find out the name of the manager to whom you are writing – don’t write to a title like everyone else: write to the person.  Look at the website or phone the company so you can get the name and spell it correctly. Letters addressed to titles get opened by secretaries.  Letters addressed to a named person get opened by that person.  You will have the boss’s eyes for perhaps 30 seconds: make those seconds count.  If he / she is impressed by your  homework (finding his/her name) and your audacity, you might  just be put on the ‘interview list’ already……   Others won’t have this advantage – they’ll be in the pile with hundreds of others waiting for the attention of a lowly employee in HRM.
3. Use real quality paper (110 / 120 gms), perhaps a tint of buff colour with matching envelopes. 99.9% of people will print their letters on poor, see-through, photocopier-quality paper (of 70/80 gms) and put them in cheap, white, windowed envelopes – so avoid this: it says ‘ordinary‘ – and you are trying to show that you are anything BUT ordinary.  The first sensation here is touch, remember… and that touch MUST say here is something / someone of ‘quality‘.  You will, like everyone else, have your printer set to print in ‘draft (brouillon) quality mode’: not this time!  Go into your printer dialog box and change the quality to normal, or better yet: premium quality!
4. Make it look good in terms of use of space, choice of font, paragraphing, margins and do full pages.  There needs to be an immediate ‘hook’ – a WOW factor!  Before one reads a word one takes in how it looks.  If it doesn’t look good – no-one will want to read it.  Look at documents critically yourself: what makes you yawn and turns you off… what makes you want to start to read?  Often it is to do with the use of space and proper paragraphing.
5. Abide by conventions. In letters in English-speaking countries there are significant differences to France: the addresses reverse, the opening and closing salutations are different, the position and translation of ‘objet’. The dates can even vary (is 9/11 the 9th of November or the 11th of September?).  The answer is that it depends who is reading it and where they are! I will go over this in class.
6. First, give the manager a vital piece of free information: where you saw the post advertised – it shows you are thinking of him/her, as this is critical information.  The word ‘further’ can help here at the start of your first paragraph: « further to the advertisment for the above position as viewed on the Company’s website on 23rd Feb….. ».  That shows the employer you are thinking of him and his needs and not just your own.  Think: why is this information vital to the recruiter?
7. Get the perspective right: your letter should be about what you can contribute to the organisation NOT what you hope to get out of the deal.  Letters that start: ‘I am a student… I need a placement / I am looking for a job…I think you are a great company/organisation… I think I could develop my career with you and learn a lot, I am perfect for the position ‘… these are a total turn-off to an employer because you are not seeing things from THEIR perspective.  You need to.  They have taken a LOT of time & trouble to tell you what THEY are looking for.  You should be ‘mapping‘ yourself directly to them and their requirements and not the other way round.
8. Actively use the Job Description and Person Specification (especially the latter). They will tell you clearly what skills, capabilities, qualifications and experience the company requires – YOU MUST demonstrate in your letter that you have them.  In effect you need to be a ‘mirror‘ reflecting back a convincing image of what the employer wants.  NB. You can also use critical terms and phrases straight out of the documents (though don’t overdo it): saves translation and the potential for mistakes.  Also remember that the employer is not so much interested in the subjects and books you read as to what you are now capable of doing for him/her.
9. Make sure you have a clear, powerful structure:  It’s like a song: Intro… verse….chorus…verse… chorus….big finish. In fact it is effectively a love song the words of which are already written in the Job Description and Person Specification – you just have to sing it!  Accentuate the structure with the use of space.  In terms of structure I would strongly suggest four key components: 1. The introduction : ‘further to...etc (see above).  2. You matching yourself to certain of the key elements in the Job Description and giving examples and evidence. 3. You matching yourself to certain of the key elements in the Person Specification and giving examples and evidence. 4. The ‘outro’.… see below.
10. Do not just DUMP company information!  They know they have 40,000 employees in 27 countries and had a turnover of 987,000,000 dollars – they don’t need you to tell them.  If you are applying, they should be able to take it as read that you have done some basic research.  However, if you can link yourself to certain aspects of what the company is doing, then that can be VERY useful. Example: « I found it interesting to read the Chairman’s statement concerning the principal growth targets for the future suggesting that exploiting SE Asian markets would be critical; because, as the son of a diplomat, I spend a number of years in these countries and have a good understanding of their cultures and some language capability.  I would like to think that this might enable me to play a role in the achievement of the company’s strategy. »  Now that adds something positive which will differentiate you and which is memorable for the reader / interviewer.  Trust me: after you have interviewed five or six candidates it becomes difficult to tell them apart, so doing something memorable can serve as an anchor.
11. Provide examples and evidence as proof that you can do something.  If they want someone with good interpersonal and communication skills, the fact that you have served as Class Representative (Délegué), discussing student views, representing them to teachers in Course Committees, negotiating then feeding back decisions.  If they want someone who is particularly creative you could perhaps provide a link or QR code to your personal blog where you have housed photographs and artwork that you have produced using Illustrator or Photoshop.  Just saying ‘yes I’m creative’ isn’t enough!  Remember the adage- ‘seeing is believing’!  This gives you a memorable ‘anchor’ too!
12. Hand the responsibility over to your reader and round the letter off nicely double-checking that the closing salutation matches the opening one.  Do NOT, however, attempt to translate a French closing salutation … ‘With my most sincere and respectful sentiments’ … just sounds plain awful to the English ear (and maybe even a bit sycophantic or groveling too). Use: ‘Dear Sir => Yours Faithfully’  or ‘Dear Mr. Jolley => Yours Sincerely’. Also make sure you remember to actually attach the CV!
13. Check it over and over again to the best of your ability (and that of spell and grammar-check facilities like Grammarly and WordReference) and then go and find a native English speaker to add precision and a bit of style.  ALWAYS proof-read OUT LOUD because you will ‘catch’ more errors…. if you find yourself struggling to read it properly, imagine how the reader will feel!!

OK, that’s 13 (which we call ‘A Baker’s Dozen‘ in English …. why? Do you know?) = 10 + 3 for luck!

You need to work these things into your Covering Letter assignment! [Although I don’t expect you to buy and use high-quality paper for me!

T