August 2006

Writing Cover Letters That People Will Read

By Elizabeth Lions

The job hunting process has changed dramatically since the dot-com days of the late 1990s. In those heady days, whatever you had on paper in terms of a resume or cover letter got you the job. If you were even close to possessing the right skill set, you had a shot at landing a job — with a $10- to $20-thousand-dollar raise. Employers were willing to take a gamble on your potential, rather than what you were actually qualified to do. Unfortunately, employers were oversold on skill sets, and when the bubble burst, employers were left feeling gun shy about making hasty hires.

In 2006, employment trends on the West Coast indicate that, quantitatively speaking, more jobs are being posted, but few of them are actually being filled by U.S. engineers. Employers today are often slow to hire, and have even been known to retract offers at the last minute. Part of their indecision over adding another engineering salary to the payroll stems from uncertainty about what the next quarter will bring. Whatever the reason, their indecision is misleading to job seekers because it appears that there are plenty of job opportunities. But in reality, many of them will never get filled.

Slowly, we are shifting to an employee-driven market as opposed to an employer-driven job market. With fewer candidates to choose from, one would think that they would have better odds at the job they are seeking. But that's not the case. Employers often drag out the hiring process, looking for the perfect engineer to help with their project. Looming talent wars will likely change this trend, but for now, employers are thinking quarter to quarter, rather than long-term. That mindset puts today's job seekers at a disadvantage.

How do you improve your odds?

In today's job market, marketing yourself and your skills to prospective employers requires a different approach than what was effective in the dot-com era. Employers are routinely inundated with unqualified resumes, with just a few qualified candidates sprinkled in. You've got to grab a prospective employer's attention and set yourself apart from the other candidates from the start of your campaign.

Remember the purpose of the cover letter: to spawn enough interest so that the hiring manager turns the page to your resume. Think of your cover letter as that once-in-a-lifetime elevator speech where you've got the boss all to yourself and an opportunity to make a splash. Your cover letter should fill the reader with questions and curiosity, ensuring that he or she will keep reading. Engineers take a lifetime to hone their skills and talent. It's hard to believe that the hiring process requires you to boil your entire career down to just a few pages, only to be read in a matter of seconds by a hiring manger. But, if you don't capture them with the right buzz words in a confident manner right off the bat, they'll be on to the next piece of paper in the pile before yours has hit the bottom of the circular file.

Here are some simple, quick tips to ensure that your cover letter gets read:

• Keep it short and sweet: Engineers are inherently detail-oriented, but this attribute doesn't always translate well when you're trying market yourself on paper. One of the biggest mistakes engineers make is trying to summarize their entire job history in the cover letter. Use this brief missive to communicate your interest in a specific job opportunity, to convey your sincerity, and to tell them that you possess a certain skill set that they are looking for. That's it. More than five or six lines to illustrate this point will likely not get read. Give an employer just enough information to want to turn the page to your resume, which will further outline your skill set.

• You don't have to prove anything: The cover letter is not the place for you to prove that you are qualified for a job. If you only have five out of six required skill sets, be forthcoming about that in the cover letter. Choose your words carefully and deliver them in a respectful manner. Never tell employers explicitly or implicitly that you know better than they do what they really want or need for their position. Such an insult — even though unintentional — might prompt a prospective employer to skip over your information. Broaden your lens and imagine what it would be like to read your information when you have a stack of resumes to go through.
  
  Don't waste the hiring manager's time or your own. Only apply to positions for which you are qualified. The chances of landing a dream job without relevant job experience are slim. Spend your energy on opportunities where you are likely to get a call for an interview. This is one place in life where you should gracefully take "no" for an answer.

• Get it in the right hands: Focus your energy on getting your paperwork into the right hands, so that it will be read and acted upon. If at all possible, bypass human resources staff, because they are rarely technical enough to understand what you bring to the table. The task of finding the engineering hiring manager may be tricky, but it will be worth it in the long run. Be direct in your process. Call the company you are interested in working for and ask the receptionist for the name of the engineering manager. Send an e-mail along with a paper copy of your resume, and then forget it. You've done all you can do in eliminating any roadblocks in the hiring process. HR departments don't hire engineers without help. Typically, a team of people is involved in the process. Your goal is to start off at the highest point in the chain and work your way down from there.
  

In a fickle job market it's important to have clarity on what jobs you want and how to approach them. Writing a proper cover letter is the first step in the process. With a effective strategy, you'll find yourself getting the interview.

Elizabeth Lions is a technical recruiter at APCON, Inc., in Wilsonville, Ore. Comments may be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org.