As he sifts through the colossal mountain of job applications he receives every day, a recruiting manager uses that data and his impressions to rank: Who’s on top, who’s on the bottom? The one with a master’s degree or a bachelor’s degree? Every part of your cover letter is measured in the calculation of who to see for the job. Every element of your cover letter can be a reason to move you to the front of the line.
Check out some great strategies below that will make you the candidate to beat:
Tell the hiring manager who to hire.
To the extent you can, take control of the hiring criteria for the position you want. The recruiting manager has already figured out what he wants in an interviewee and chances are, unless you’re moving laterally, it’s not you.
One of your highest priorities in your job search should be to reset the hiring criteria for your recruiter. This is one of those things that a cover letter can do that a resume can’t.
What resets the hiring requirements?
Data and examples. Take this as an example. In his cover letter, he says: “Too often, managers look for managers who have already worked in departments like theirs. And then they regret it when they encounter the same kinds of scheduling conflicts and lack of cooperation that they had before. .. Compounding the problem, “when I worked at Account Master, we found that 19% of late deliveries were due to an inability to coordinate work and meetings between staff in separate groups.”
Then change the line of reasoning to illustrate why you are so effective. “Coming from across the aisle, I know the reputation people in your department build up and can speak directly and help attract groups.”
Express your benefits in numbers.
Numbers are 4.29 times more credible than generalities (see what I mean). You know that executives are based on numbers. So give them what they want. When making claims about what you can offer an executive, provide figures whenever possible and make them as accurate as estimates allow.
Precision suggests that you also be thorough, which is another thing they look for in an administrator. And precise numbers are often more credible than rounded numbers. Get evidence if you can. If not, take the trouble to calculate roughly from memory and do the math to figure out numerically what you’ve accomplished. How much better is attendance at meetings? How much more efficiently does the office run? How much less often does the boss overload on her schedule?
If you have to guess, use the best guesses you can and keep in mind how you put the numbers together in case they ask. And end your numbers at 7. No one is sure why, but it’s the most persuasive number.
