This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 162, Tips and Templates for the Best Cover Letters.
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Hi, Lindsay. How are you today? I'm feeling good today, Aubrey.
What about you? What's going on in Arizona?
Well, I'm glad that I don't have to write a cover letter today.
Not my favorite thing. No cover letters today.
We're talking about cover letters today, guys.
And I don't know about you out there, but I do feel like cover letters are necessary.
They're like a necessary evil. Necessary evil.
Great chunk, by the way, for our listeners today that'll probably be highlighted in the iOS Android app.
Absolutely. Right. This means something you have to do that you might dread or just isn't very fun.
Oh, my gosh. No one likes writing them. Most people don't like reading them, but we still do them.
Yes. And that's kind of the question is why.
Right. We got this question from a listener that said, is it still necessary to write a cover letter?
And all signs point to yes. Like, I definitely think so.
Lindsay, share your opinion. But I was kind of Googling and it seems like H.R. representatives and leaders in the industry are saying yes we still need cover letters I think we still do just because everyone else is still doing them right I think eventually they'll be gone but how do you start that that pathway so you don't want to be the one that neglects to send one and that you think your post cover letter living in a post cover letter world and then someone else gets the job because you didn't include that easy cover letter to write Yeah, because often this is the only thing they look at, right?
They might just be reading cover letters and then if something really stands out and grabs them, then they'll look at the resume.
So if there's no cover letter, you might just get skipped entirely and you don't want to risk that. yeah i'm not sure if we're going to get to this and if we are just let me know but do you typically put your cover letter as the email or do you attach it or like how do you present your cover letter when you apply in your email aubry yeah it depends on how you're applying but when i applied for this job for all there's english it was through indeed and so i did um email the cover letter and then the application was through indeed Oh, we're forever grateful to Indeed that we found you there.
Amazing. I know, right? We're lucky. I know.
It's awesome. It's awesome. Okay. So we have some advice for our listeners today to answer this question.
Where do we start? Yeah. So this is how you stand out, right?
I think it's tempting to see all of these full template cover letters online and just take one. and maybe use it and add your name, it's very dangerous because it's going to have very general information that applies to everyone.
Lots of filler. And I can't even imagine hiring managers reading these same template cover letters over and over.
That's not ideal. Oh, my gosh, terrible idea.
Definitely don't steal a cover letter. Write it from scratch.
Blank screen. We know it's not easy. We don't steal any anything.
We don't steal resumes. We don't know. That's the other thing to point out is like even if there are samples online, it's like, oh, this is a sample resume.
It still really would be considered plagiarism or just copying to take that full thing and and be like, OK, this works.
This is my template. You need to come up with your own ideas, your own and share your own experience. yeah and this might be a cultural difference but we're just saying if you're applying for jobs at least in the us and probably in most other english-speaking countries definitely don't do it i mean you're likely to get questions about things that are on that resume so let's get beyond that don't take anyone's template over templates are okay we'll have templates for you today but do not swipe other right there's a difference between being like a powerful starting sentence as a template to start out with and taking a whole resume right so Our next bit of advice is you want to be direct, avoid lots of filler, avoid sort of some flowery intro sentences, or that might be all they read and they don't get to your amazing experience and skills.
Yeah, I mean, some people have pet peeves.
Like for mine, when I see, I truly believe I'm the best person for this job, or this is the perfect position, that's very centered on you.
I truly believe that I am the best for this job.
There's nothing in there about the company.
And small businesses especially are going to be very sensitive to that.
They're really going to be looking for people that are highlighting actions.
How did you move the needle in the past and how are you going to help the company?
Of course, it's about you as well. It's an exchange about both parties.
But go up front with adding value, not about it's the perfect position for me.
Right. That's just a big PBI. It's so true, right?
When we're very ego-centered, right? Centered on ourselves.
This will show very quickly in a cover letter.
And all you need to do is paraphrase, reword, think about, like you said, Lizzie, you should have looked into the company you're applying to and have been very thoughtful about how you are the best fit for them.
That's what you want to share. What can you bring to them?
Why do they need you? But in order to help, you know, fix their problems in order to solve what they need done.
Yeah, exactly. And in the process, obviously, you're going to grow your career, you're going to make money, you're going to be happy.
But it has to be kind of that angle. I think when you initially apply, adding value.
Yeah. Okay, what else? We're going to share two templates, and then a couple of tips as well for writing an impressive cover letter because you do need to stand out.
This is your first impression. And imagine they have a pile, and you need to stand out from the crowd.
Let's do it. Let's show our listeners how to do it.
So template one, what is it? Yeah. So this would be just like the very beginning sentence, right?
And this is an option is just to start with, I'm writing to express my interest in, right?
Express meaning to show, to share. So that first sentence might be, I'm writing to express my interest in the program coordinator position.
Because imagine an HR representative may be hiring for lots of different positions.
And there's a chance that if they see yours and they're not sure which position you're applying for right away, might just get tossed.
Oh, I agree with that for sure. Make sure you stay in the right pile and make sure that, you know, I think it also shows a little bit, any way that you can show attention to detail right off the bat, good expression right off the bat, attention to detail.
You've actually taken the time to fully understand the title and you've put that in your cover letter.
It's a simple thing. A lot of people just don't pay attention.
And I think a really good tip there, Lindsay, that you want to be very careful to share the exact right title, the right company name, these small details.
If you make an error with that, it will be very clear to the person reading it that you haven't done your homework, that you haven't really made sure because they realize you're applying for all of these other jobs.
But do you have that attention to detail to have that be accurate?
Oh, my God, for sure. If you name the wrong company, your email is just going to get deleted.
Like, forget it. You're not even getting past any.
They're not going to keep reading it. But by adding the position and the exact wording of the position, you can show that extra layer of detail beyond just knowing what company you're applying for.
I won't say that will impress someone, but that will get them started on the right thinking path. about you that's what i would say yes exactly absolutely and then you like we said you want to be direct you would want to dive in with a relevant a relevant accomplishment that will set you apart so let's share that in this next template i like that idea just before we uh take a quick break here immediately going into something the reason why you're interested in this position right exactly right the worst mistake would be to have this sort of template intro sentence and then have quite a bit of filler or general statements that aren't saying anything and you're going to lose you're burying the lead right you're going to lose their interest yeah or kind of disconnecting from the thought i'm ready to apply for this position because i did this that is a cohesive thought i think from the perspective of someone hiring that makes a lot of sense i'm going to keep reading right yeah yes See details online.
Okay. Second template. What do we do next?
So that's what we're sharing a template for here.
In order to share a relevant accomplishment, we can give you the structure for a very impressive sentence.
And you would just say, as, and then the previous position and company, and then comma, I have, and that would be immediately followed by the accomplishment.
So let's give an example sentence. Let's see.
As program director for the University of Michigan's MBA program, I led a team in increasing enrollment by 45%.
Very good. Your most impressive statistic, clean, clear, well articulated.
Yes. And I think you sort of said something here that was like a given in your mind is you guys might have a lot of experience, lots of different statistics you share.
This first one, you want to be the most impressive.
It might be the only one they read. If they're not impressed, then they might not get further.
So, yeah, hit right off the bat with your most impressive accomplishment.
Yeah. I mean, why not? Right. Because what you're going to do in the hiring manager's mind is they're going to immediately think, hmm.
Maybe they could do that for us. It's obvious.
Right. But get into the person's mind. And now they want to read your next sentence.
Right. Exactly. Right. Which is when you're going to share a couple of accomplishments that really show your qualifications.
And that is when you'd want to pivot, like you were saying, Lindsay, to share how these accomplishments could be used for this company that you're applying to.
So smart. Loving these templates so far, Aubrey.
And I want to highlight our grammar here.
Maybe we can come back another day and do an episode on this.
Yes, it's in present perfect. We have this great linking phrase to start as program director for the University of Michigan. comma you always have a comma comma after a linking phrase like that and then you can say i have done this in present perfect or in our actual example sentence past tense i led a team in increasing enrollment right yeah this is impressive grammar that you do want to make sure is accurate that's pretty vital in a cover letter so that's going to lead us into our first tip here right lindsay okay so are we going into grammar more here than that okay just like a couple of tips the first one being revise and proofread right you don't want to send like the first draft you ever write especially with all of the online tools at your disposal these days Oh my God, Grammarly is amazing for this, right?
I still am using Grammarly in my emails, correcting my grammar.
So definitely use it on a cover letter. Why not?
Why not? Why not? You know, have an AI thing like Grammarly and then have a human read it and then read it again.
There's just, this is not the time to save time, right?
Exactly, right? Not only do you want to make sure it's error-free, correct grammar...
You also want to make sure it's clear that your ideas are really being put across clearly.
And sometimes we're like, we understand what we want to say.
So we're assuming that's very clear to the person reading.
And that can be a huge help to have a real person read it and make sure it's clear.
Right. Because this is kind of the curse of knowledge.
You know your history so well. You get it all very clearly in your head, but someone else might not.
Of course they don't because they haven't lived your life.
Right. So ask a friend to read it. Are you really communicating what you think you are? exactly yes and our second tip is to make sure that it's appropriate for the country you're applying in a lot of you if you're immigrating to another country if you're going to work in another country you might be applying to lots of different countries and depending there's just differences with business culture all over the world we had an amazing episode not that long ago with pete from aussie english about this right lindsay yes our friend pete love it he is your go-to source for everything regarding australia right we talked about how to localize your resume for australia right versus the us it's going to be a little bit different so depending on where you're applying consult an expert in that country Yes, exactly.
Right. You want to have find a friend or an expert from that country to read it.
Make sure because there's a lot of vocabulary.
Pete shared quite a few words that you would use that would be different if you're applying for a job in Australia versus the US versus New Zealand.
Your vocabulary might be different culturally.
What you say first might be different. So you definitely want to consult an expert.
Oh my gosh, totally. I think at some point, Pete and I talked about the tall poppy syndrome.
Do you know that term? Right. So how do you navigate that?
And does that carry over into interviews, but you do have to communicate your value, but people are often saying Americans are so self-promotional.
So we're opening up the questions that you guys want to be asking yourself.
You should be asking yourself these questions if you're applying in different countries, right?
We're not giving you the answer. Yeah. We have a very good idea of how this works in the United States.
Definitely not the same in every country.
So this is definitely something to keep in mind and be aware of what the differences would be. my gosh this is so good i do think another day aubry we should go into using just the present perfect versus the simple past in a resume or on a cover letter right like how do we know when to use present perfect are we still doing the job are we finished with the job how long ago was it it could be nuanced and you could have a choice in some cases so that would be a great topic for another day yes that's really a very good point should you be saying i led a team or i have been leading a team or i have led It's true.
That's a great idea. So be sure to follow guys so you don't miss that episode.
We'll have to do that coming up. Yeah, hit follow.
So what's the takeaway today? Where should we leave our listeners?
Yeah, guys, cover letters are still vital to get your foot in the door, right?
That initial first impression is so important.
And we know that the people who read these resumes often read or receive thousands.
So you definitely want to have your cover letter help you stand out.
Oh my God. I especially love, I love these templates today because it makes it clear, you know what you're applying for and you've done something comparable that makes that interviewer want to keep reading.
That's the key, right? You always want them to want to keep reading.
That's all you have to do. That's really the function of a cover letter. right Aubrey absolutely right yes use these two templates to get it started plug in your information and then of course follow these tips as well to make sure to have someone look it over to be able to send as perfect a product as you can so that you can get that job we are rooting for you I love it good stuff thanks for bringing in these templates today Aubrey and we'll see you in the next one take care awesome see you next time bye Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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