Communicating Your Fit in a Cover Letter - Staci Collins and Ivy Exec

Communicating Your Fit in a Cover Letter
Staci Collins, Senior Resume Specialist, Ivy Exec

Want more info? Go to IvyExec.com 1

About Staci
• Senior Resume Specialist at Ivy Exec

• 15 years as Executive Career coach

• 7 years in consulting with Accenture, Ernst & Young

• 7 years Staff and Adjunct Career Adviser at Haas

• 1,100 managers and professionals coached

• MBA in organizational behavior from Haas; BA in anthropology from Harvard

• Specialist in technical career changers, consulting, high tech, healthcare, and
non-profit - and finding the career & fulfillment you want

Want more info? Go to IvyExec.com/Resume or email us at Resumes@ivyexec.com 2

Outline

 What’s the Purpose of a Cover Letter?
 Cover Letter Trends
 Aesthetics and Formatting
 Content

o Your Fit
o Recent Experience
o Relevant Accomplishments
 Don’ts

 E-Covers

Q &A

Poll Questions

Poll Question: How many of you are actively looking for a new job?
What’s different today vs. five to 10 years ago?
Senior execs and retained recruiters are your audience now
Executives are busier than ever, their share of mind for you is smaller
Online media has changed how people are vetted & how we take in
information
The bar is higher: you must deliver more information in less space
Markets can be flooded. You must make the case very quickly
There’s a greater demand for specificity, authenticity, credibility and
transparency
Times have changed. . . has your cover?


Purpose of a cover letter:

 To get them to read your resume
 To show how your background fits with their needs
 To get them interested in your background
 To deliver a taste of your brand (what it would be like working with you)
 Tohighlight the overall areas you’ve worked in and results of what you’ve
done; (you provide details in the resumes)
 NOT: go on and on about how you believe “you can sing like the next
American Idol”

 Note:A dose of humility is always helpful. Not really about you, about
what you’ve done for others.


When someone looks at your cover letter, he/she

Forms an opinion in 4 - 10 seconds
Has no doubt looked at many cover letters before looking at yours
Looks for key information in expected places
Wants to know what you do immediately
Would like to be taken on an easy journey to understanding your fit for the
position


 In fashion now:  Out of fashion:
o Begin with paragraph about the o Claim “Idol” statements
company & your interest/fit
o Thick blocks of text
o Use key words from actual job
description for fast or computer o Multiple fonts/sizes, graphics, colors,
matching (narrative or list) too much bold; Underlining
o 2/3 of a page o More than one page
o Lots of white space for notes o Large blocks of text without numbers
o LinkedIn URL/website o “Chatty” or overly clever covers
o Brief client quotes o Lots of personal information about
your goals
Charts linking your skills to their
needs are very welcome


Aesthetics: Inviting to the Eye

 Match the type to your resume
 Use a serif type face (as opposed to a sans serif):

 Garamond: 10.5 or 11

 Palatino Linotype: 10 or 10.5

 Cambria: 10

 Times New Roman: 10.5+
 Same font and font size throughout
 Not too small (makes your background seem small)
 Use bullet points and chart formatting where possible
 Use bolding, italics, and ALL-CAPS with discretion

Location of Information:

 Poll Question: What are you using your cover letter for?

 Most letters should have 4 to 5 brief paragraphs or sections.

 Paragraph 1: Introduction

– State who you are and how you learned of the opportunity - from
networking, from a colleague, friend, or job board. Then say what attracts
you to the company and the specific position.

– Explain why your role / skills / experiences matches whatever you’re
applying for

– Keep this short - 2 to 3 sentences is best.



 Paragraph 2: Your Background

– This is usually your longest paragraph. Start out by writing what you’re
currently doing, and your most recent accomplishments. Focus on
keyword skills (e.g. customer data analysis) and whatever you did that’s
applicable to whatever you’re applying for.

– A reverse chronological structure works well because most of the time,
your most relevant experience will also be the most recent.

– Use no more than 5 sentences for this one.



 Paragraph 3: Your Overall Career

– For most of you, you career is long enough that you must summarize your
experience, e.g. 7 years as a engineer, 3 in product development..don’t
just list every job in reverse chronological order

– Highlight your accomplishments most relevant to the job. Up to 5 overall
 Paragraph 4: Conclusion

– If you have any unique qualifiers (e.g. you’re from India and looking to
return there; or you successfully managed your family’s funds), you want
to mention it here as another selling point.

– Remind them that your resume is attached, and say that you look forward
to hearing from them soon.


Content: Charting

 Requirement/Responsibilities  My Experience

– Coordinate forecasting and – At Barclays Global
budgeting activities Investors, developed annual
operating budgets, and periodic
forecast updates thereon.

– Oversee adherence to – At Federal Home Loan
company financial policies and Bank, monitored interest-rate
procedures risk, capital adequacy, and
investment limits, all subject to
strict policies.


Accomplishments: a definition

A discrete project that you managed: scope, scale, on-time, under budget,
overcame obstacles
 Improvements over time (e.g. – annual % increases/decreases)
 Has a result/benefit (make money or save money; give #s whenever you
can)
 “Selected to”
 “First-ever”

 “In spite of…”
 “Grew revenues x% OR from $x to $Y”
 Replace:

o Did thus and such to improve something; with
o Did thus and such that improved something X%


Job Opening Cover Letter: Preferred Example
Your recent posting on IvyExec.com for Chief Financial Officer, Ref Code, captured my
attention. I have a strong background in financial management. My qualifications are an
excellent match for your key needs. The following summarizes my experience:

Having grown TVM Group from $13MM to $85MM in Sales Revenue and overseeing the
successful sale to XXX International for nearly $200MM, my position was eliminated, as
expected. I am now seeking a CFO position with a high growth, pre IPO, high-tech corporation.
My background includes extensive experience in Financial and Accounting Management with key
accomplishments and strengths in:

Sale of Corporation / Pre and Post IPO Successful sale of company for close to $200MM

Rapid Growth Management AR Collection Exceeding Industry Standards during
explosive growth from 20 to 20,000 customers
International Experience Establishing International Operations on time,
exceeding targets for 6 successive quarters

I look forward to meeting with you in person to discuss my background.


Recruiter Cover: Consultant Example

As a Senior Manager with heavy public consulting experience, I am forwarding my
resume for your review in the anticipation I will meet the needs of one of your clients.

My background includes 15+ years of experience in Business Process Improvement for
major American utilities in all regions. Highlights of my experience include:

● Conducted a decision analysis to recommend 20 actions to reduce $112M in
implementation project overruns by $62M

● Identified process and vendor improvement to streamline performance management
tool production time by 80%

● Created resource management process to identify cost-to-serve initiatives resulting
in 3% margin increase


Distant Network Cover Letter
Dear XXXXX,

It’s been too long since we’ve been in touch and I hope this letter finds things going well for
you. [Even when we do get together, we seldom talk business, so] the enclosed resume will
probably fill in some gaps for you on what I’ve been doing since B-school.

As you can see, I have been primarily involved in building new businesses in consumer
electronics. If you used an iPhone recently, you used one of my products. It would be great to
count on batting 500 forever!

Recently, I’ve made a career decision to look for a long-term position with a growing, but
stable, small to medium-sized CE company. And I would greatly appreciate your feedback on
my resume, particularly on the areas of SaaS Applications and my Cloud experience.

I would love to pick your brain for any business associates, friends, acquaintances, or
organizations who may be in the market for someone with my proven product and business
development abilities. Your advice has always been of great value.

I will call you next week to see if any opportunities have come to mind. I look forward to
catching up.

Best regards,

Poll Question
Don’t:
 Make claims “I am confident I would be the best choice…”
 Bury the lead or try to take them on an “intriguing journey”
 Repeat the same accomplishment in different places (even if stated differently)
 Use too much jargon (true professionals mix technical language with
colloquialisms)
 Write“successful” and “effective” all over the place (specifics of
results, companies and countries establish credibility)
 Givetoo much text, or over-explain your actions; results are more important in
sales process
 Take your accomplishments out of the jobs in which they occurred


E-Covers:

 Are even shorter
 Can be more informal
 Do include links to LinkedIn and websites
 Can include client or boss quotes
 Don’t include too many attachments, just resume


E-Cover: Example
Good morning:
Hope am not too late. I am writing to apply to join your team as a resume coach. I have
developed hundreds of MBA level resumes in my coaching career at Haas School of Business,
and for managers at all levels throughout the Bay Area. I have coached over 1000 in my 15+
year career. I specialize in High Technology, Management Consulting, and Healthcare. And as
an Ivy League gal, my undergrad is from Harvard, I particularly like complex roles/
accomplishments to tackle.

Listen to what my clients say about my resumes:

● "As a result I received three offers which I am currently evaluating. Thank you.“

● "While interviewing with a leading video game publisher, an executive I met with said right off
the bat, "This is the best resume I've seen. Ever." He's not the only one."

● "Well, your suggestions were fantastic, and I ended up getting an offer with them, as well as
McKesson and Genentech! You really helped me smooth out my stories and succinctly capture
the skills I wanted to communicate.“

Perhaps, one difference is, I am a published novelist. See more about my in the attached, on my
website, or on LinkedIn.


Outside the U.S.:

 Cultures can be more formal, even on email
 Use Dear Sir and Mr./Ms. Last Name vs. first name
 Using Mrs./Miss – varies by culture - Ms. Is safer
 But
that is often cut with corporate cultures, e.g. HP Way where first
names are always used
 Useyour best judgment, err on the side of formality, respect for
people, professions, and organizations…ask first
 In
some cultures, personal information is used, e.g. wife, children’s
names and ages; in the U.S. asking about these things is illegal, so
we suggest leaving them off; use your best judgment elsewhere
 But still, everywhere these days, less is more!


The Ivy Exec Senior Resume Writers
Staci Collins
specializes in making visible the invisible accomplishments of especially technical career changers.
She has over 15 years of partnering with 1100 executives, directors and senior managers to achieve
their career goals. She has consulted in change and coached 60+ senior managers at Accenture and
Ernst & Young, many now partners. She earned her MBA at University of California - Haas and BA at
Harvard.

Laura Hill
is an expert in designing career strategies and job search campaigns. Her industry experience
includes 10 years as a career/outplacement coach and recruiter, as well as 10 years in banking with
JPM Chase. She has been published in The New York Times, The WSJ, and Forbes, and has been a
featured expert on CNBC's The Wall Street Journal Report.

Kim Mohiuddin
was a TORI (Toast of the Resume Industry) Award nominee in the international category and has
been featured in Yahoo News, NBC Chicago and Time Out NY. She is the former certification chair of
the National Resume Writers’ Association and certified job search strategist whose resumes have
been highlighted in multiple publications.


The Ivy Exec Elite Resume Package
The Elite Package is a comprehensive evaluation of your career and
accomplishments which includes a career diagnostic, a fully rewritten resume
and a coaching session focused on overcoming any professional roadblocks.

 In-depth intake session with your certified senior resume writer
 Gain valuable insight on how to articulate your skills and accomplishments
when interviewing
 A finalized and re-written resume
 An enhanced Ivy Exec profile
 A full hour of Career Coaching (which can be used for a cover letter)

To set up a 15 minute appointment to inquire about next steps, please email
resumes@ivyexec.com or http://bit.ly/ivyappointment


Thank you!
To set up a 15 minute appointment to discuss
Ivy Exec’s Resume Services with either me or
Meredith LeNoir, our resume services
manager, please click on the link below:

http://bit.ly/ivyappointment


Communicating Your Fit in a Cover Letter - Staci Collins and Ivy Exec

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Communicating Your Fit in a Cover Letter - Staci Collins and Ivy Exec