Hey there!
Welcome to Work in Progress, a how-to series
that's meant to help you with everything from
prepping for a job interview, to boosting
your confidence or negotiating a raise. Here's today's question:
Job searches are hard.
And as if finding the job that you love and
can spend more time in isn't hard enough,
you also have to have a cover letter and a
resume that are tailored to the specific job.
And before you feel overwhelmed, because I
know if you don't have any experience, you're
probably thinking, "Where should I start?"
We're going to help you out.
Even if you've never worked a day in your
life, you do have skills and experience that
you can draw upon that will impress a hiring
manager for that entry level role.
All of us had to do this, so you're not alone.
Here are a few key pointers that you can snag
to write a great cover letter and land your
dream job.
Determine your skills.
You might be applying to your first full-time
job, and that's why you want to start by identifying
your skills.
If you're a college student, you can draw
on skills from classes you've taken and papers
you were assigned.
You probably have strong research abilities,
in addition to time management and teamwork
management.
Maybe you have experience presenting in front
of an audience.
Do you have volunteer or extracurricular experience?
Even if you can only draw on an experience
where you were required to be reliable by
showing up at a certain time, on a certain
day, that's okay.
That's experience, too, and it totally counts.
Think back through your achievements, or past
activities, and come up with a list of skills
that you were required to have.
Compare your skill with the job posting.
Now it's time to look at the job posting.
Inside the job posting, there's actually a
lot of clues on what exactly the employer
is looking for, including the skills that
they want you to have.
You might find these under responsibilities,
the description, or even the requirements.
A great thing to do is look at this job description,
see what skills are required, compare it to
your list, and see how you can actually change
your language of the skills you wrote down,
to match exactly what they're looking for.
And you're going to want to use this in your
resume and in your interview, but you're also
going to want to make sure that it goes into
your cover letter to really sell them on why
you're the best fit for the job.
Write your 5-part cover letter.
We won't get into the logistics here because
we actually detailed the step-by-step directions
that you want to follow for your cover letter
in a post.
But here are the five things that you want
to make sure to include.
The introduction, why you're the perfect fit,
why the company is a perfect fit for you,
your closing, and the postscript.
It's totally natural to be nervous during
a job search, but especially when it's your
first time searching for a job.
Something that you really want to remember
is that confidence is key to really conveying
your skills and your fit for the role.
So don't worry, take it from us, learn how
to create a great cover letter, and go in
confidently.
And remember, use our cover letter article
to help you walk through the writing process.
If you need help identifying those keywords
we talked about earlier, we have a free resource
to help you learn how to pick up on those
key phrases hidden in your job posting.
