The cover letter
The application letter and email: layout, you-me-we plan, proof instead of adjectives, request for an interview and unsolicited applications.
- 24 cards
- 5 topics
- Free
The outline, topic by topic
Each topic is weighted the way the exam weighs it.
- Concepts
- Questions
- Sort and link
- Scenarios
- Understand
A few cards from the deck
Cover letter: what is it?
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A one-page text written for a single company, explaining why this post and why you, without repeating the CV.
The CV says what you did; the letter says why it matters to this employer. A letter that could go elsewhere unchanged has failed.
Which subject line suits an application to a web developer work-study posting with reference DEV-14?
- Application: web developer work-study, ref. DEV-14
- Application for the post you are currently advertising on your website
- Hello, I am very motivated and would like to join your company quickly
- Unsolicited application for a job in your fine and large company
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Application: web developer work-study, ref. DEV-14
A good subject line carries the contract type, the post and the reference. The others make the reader open the message to know which posting it is about.
The three-beat plan of the letter is: …, …, ….
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The three-beat plan of the letter is: you, me, we.
The order matters: you talk about the company before yourself, and finish with what the collaboration will produce.
Subject line and posting reference: what is it?
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A line that says in a few words what the message answers, repeating the advertisement's code when it has one.
A recruiter receives applications for several posts: the subject line spares them from guessing and the message from being misfiled.
A company has published no posting, but its team page names the technical lead. How do you send your unsolicited application?
- I write "Dear Sir or Madam" to the general contact address, with my standard letter and my CV
- I ask for "a post, any post" to show that I am flexible and highly motivated
- I write to her by name, cite a company project and ask for a conversation
- I wait for a posting to be published, since an unsolicited application is never read
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I write to her by name, cite a company project and ask for a conversation
Naming the person and citing a project proves that you searched. A precise request is easier to grant than "a post, any post".