Cover Letters that Stand Out from the Crowd

The first thing you need to do is grab the reader's attention. You must get the reader's attention before he or she can become interested and desirous of your offer to come in for an interview. We're all busy and we all have several things going on in our lives. So how do you cut through the clutter and grab the reader's attention?

There are several ways actually. One way is to create an attention-grabbing opening sentence or headline as copywriters call it. Think of it like the headlines in newspapers and magazines. You choose which articles to read by quickly glancing at the headlines, don't you?

And that's exactly the reason you want to use a headline on your cover letter. The fact is that most cover letters are dull and hiring managers are bored stiff going through them all so a cover letter with a headline will jump out of the pile and get read which is exactly what you want. When you see the results you get from sending cover letters with well-crafted headlines, you'll wish you started sooner.

Imagine you're at a fraternity party and you see an old friend across the dance floor. For this example, your friend's name is Jim. What's the best way to get Jim's attention? Would you start waving your arms and screaming, "Hello! Look this way!" That could do the trick. But you'd have better luck if you screamed "Hello Jim! What's Up!" You'd be more likely to grab Jim's attention that way, wouldn't you? It's because Jim hears his name being called. When people hear (or see) their name, the message is personalized and stands a better chance of getting noticed.

Now let's take that thought and apply it to your headline. Adding personalization to your headline is a great idea. Use the recipient's name right there in the headline. It makes the message more personal and increases the chance the message is read. With a personalized headline your cover letter will instantly stand out from the crowd. The reader will be so curious to learn more about you that they'll immediately read the rest of your cover letter. Try it. It works.

Discover "How to Transform a Boring Message into a Killer Cover Letter That'll Make the Phone Ring off the Hook"…includes sample cover letters.

- Robert Jobberson