After reading these articles, it’s clear that the most important part of crafting a cover letter is to tailor it in a professional manner to suit the requirements of the position. Both Instructor Blog #3: Cover Letters and Junk Cover Letters Kill Good Resumes provided many good strategies to achieve this. Kairos and the Cover Letter gave several examples of what and what not to do while writing cover letters.
All three of the articles shared the idea that one cover letter will not suit all companies; they must be tailored to reflect what each company is looking for. One suggestion that was shared between Instructor Blog #3 and Junk Cover Letters Kill Good Resumes, was to be sure to use keywords that are pertinent to the job that you are applying for. I believe that this is the best piece of advice from the three articles. Doing so not only tailors the cover letter for the position but also aids in the structuring of the cover letter. By choosing a few keywords, the writing the body of your cover letter will be a breeze. Kairos and the Cover Letter, focused on choosing the correct tone for the audience. Some of the examples were a bit too exaggerated, to the point where I feel that not even the shadiest used cars salesman would dream of using them as a cover letter. Despite the exaggerations, they did serve as adequate examples.
All three articles provide good ideas of how to tailor your cover letters for the positions that you are applying for. I feel that the best piece of advice given was to find keywords that pertain to the position you are applying for and to build your cover letter around them. All in all, I feel that these readings will help increase my ability to write an effective cover letter.
Tailoring Cover Letters
The suggestions from the reading were great to have. Since I have never written a cover letter knowing the format and material that goes into it was vague. With reflecting upon the 3 different readings I can determine: how to begin, what’s included, the ending, how it should be formatted, and what to leave out. With keeping these principles in mind; I can tailor my cover letters for more than one company making it a custom fit. With choosing a few key words, I also think it will be easier to write a cover letter and tailor it to meet a companies needs.
Zebulon Rouse
Keywords
I also now appreciate the importance to tailor a cover letter to a particular position and company. And in many applications, the same should be done with a resume. One of the suggestions that I will apply from reading the articles is creating a cover letter more personal. I also agree with you and the articles and strategically inserting keywords to attract the reader. But to me the cover letter is a personal effort different from the resume tone. Much like a first acquaintance, the cover letter should bring a friendly tone suggested in “Junk Cover Letters Kill Good Resumes.”
cover letters
The information about cover letters provided from the articles were helpful. I've have written a cover letter before but, I just make it a “stock” type cover letter and wasn't tailoring it for the job position. I think that's one of the most important aspect of writing a cover letter is tailoring towards the job position and using keywords.
The example used in the “Kairos” article did have some exaggerated approaches, but it got the point across what not to write. In addition, the article did a good job on conveying ways to set tone for your cover letter.
Different Cover Letters
I think that your observation is right on key. Just like resumes, cover letters need to be properly "tailored" for each company that they are sent to. A prime example of needing to change the letter is, not every company is going to have the same mindset on what they want for an employee. A more serious company might not accept humor unlike a company that really wants to higher an outgoing fun person. Really all that can be done to properly create a cover letter, to fit the company of your choice, is to do a lot of research and find out what kind of person they want and try to incorporate that in the letter.
Bad Examples
Do revisit the "Kairos and the Cover Letter" reading to discover that several of the examples were explicitly offered as bad examples.
Key Words
Ben I absolutely agree with using key words. This will show that you have actually looked into what the employer is looking for and also hopefully make you seem a little more qualifies. I would also recommend using some synonyms to those keywords. They don't necessarily stick out as much but may still strike a key with the possible employer.
Also, using these keywords to describe yourself in actual situations that demonstrate your qualifies makes you seem even more qualified. So like you basically explained, it’s not just using these keywords, but also using them in describing yourself. Never really considered how much you could structure your cover letter around these keywords but, good point!