Career Quest discussion topic
otokola 
CoverLetters.docxA cover letter is another tool to persuade prospective employers to select you for a job interview. It introduces your résumé and specifies how your skills and experience match the position requirements.
The cover letter is generally one page long, consisting of opening and closing paragraphs with one or two paragraphs describing your qualifications. In the opening, indicate the position you are applying for, how you learned about it, why you are the person for the job, and what is discussed in the rest of the letter. You want to capture your readers' interest here. The body expands on your experience, skills, education, and so on and relates them to the job requirements. Emphasize what you can offer the organization. In the closing, you must urge your readers to action: to offer an interview. Request an interview positively, yet formally. An assertive request for an interview might look like this:
I will contact your office next week to determine the time of my interview.
A more subtle request for an interview might look like this:
Please contact me at your convenience to discuss the possibility of an interview.
The tone in each of these examples could be more effective; the reader might regard the first as too assertive. An effective, positive request for an interview might be worded like this:
When you contact me about an interview, we can arrange a convenient time to meet and I can give you more information about my qualifications for the position.
In this example, you indicate your belief that the prospective employer will contact you for an interview, and you show your willingness to supply more information. Your request is projected positively, yet formally.
The cover letter has the same style, conventions, and format as business letters , discussed in module 1. Address the letter to a specific person in the organization. If you are unsure of the name and title of the appropriate person, contact the organization to find out. Because your résumé is included, make sure the enclosure notation appears at the end of the letter.
Review these two sample cover letters and notice their different presentations.
Example 2 uses a table to focus the recipient's attention on the writer's qualifications and the organization's requirements. Notice the difference between how Barbara presents her skills, experience, and education in this letter and in the previous one. The table highlights her skills and experience in relation to specific requirements for the systems analyst position. This table enables readers to compare the requirements to Barbara's qualifications.
See your textbook for additional examples and more information about the content and organization of cover letters.
Exercise 5.3: Cover Letters
Think about a situation in which you might use the more traditional paragraph-style cover letter and one in which you might use the tabular-format cover letter.
References
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Interview Doctor. (2005). Tips for writing your resume. Retrieved March 24, 2009, from http://www.interviewdoc.com/documents/ResumeTips.pdf
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Lindsey, R. (2009). Resume writing tips & formats. Retrieved March 24, 2009, from http://www.taonline.com/ticpages/ticreswrite.asp
Markel, M. (2010.) Technical communication. (9th ed.). Boston: Bedford/St. Martins.
Scott, J. S. (2000, February). Portfolios for technical communicators: Worth the work. intercom, 47(2), 26–28. Retrieved December 8, 2004, from http://www.stc.org/intercom/PDFs/2000/200002_26-28.pdf
Thibodeau, P. (2008, December 22). As unemployment rises, so may use of video resumes. ComputerWorld. Retrieved December 22, 2009, from http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9124198&source=NLT_AM
University of Maryland University College. (1997). Technical writing course guide.
