“You had me at Hello!”

by Phil Baker,

“When I write a cover letter, I don’t want an employer to think it’s good. I want them to call me faster than 911.” – Phil Baker

Cover letters are the “You had me at hello,” of job hunting. Your cover letters can make employers write or call you immediately to schedule an interview or forget you faster than a sleazy pick up line.

Your cover letter must cause an employer to contact you immediately.

Nothing else will do.

No matter how great your resume is, a resume does not cause action.

A resume is your past relationship. Your cover letter is your “hello.”

Can you imagine meeting someone you would like to date and they start with:

“Hi, my most recent relationship lasted for three years. My accomplishments include remembering birthdays, ordering wine in Italian, and consistently using the correct name of the person I am with at all times. My skills include flirting and picking movies.”

A resume is your specification sheet. Your cover letter is your advertising. Pizza restaurants, car dealers, furniture stores and businesses do not send out or broadcast specification sheets to get you to buy their products. They make commercials that tell you what their product can do for you.

When you are job hunting you are marketing. Your cover letter is your advertising. The most successful advertisers know the basic principle of advertising is AIDA – Attention – Interest – Desire – Action. There ads have to get your attention, spark your interest, create desire, and cause action.

If you are not using this principle in your job search and cover letter YOU ARE WASTING YOUR TIME. If you happen to get an interview without using this principle run for the closest convenience store – for a lotto ticket because you are one lucky son of a gun! (if you are a female would that be one lucky daughter of a gun?)

Look, I see cover letters all day long that do absolutely nothing.

Dear Mr. Baker,

I am submitting my resume for the Account Rep position you have posted. Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

Compare that cover letter to this one:

Dear Mr. Baker

Your posting for the account rep caught my attention and prompted
me to immediately contact you. My knowledge of your company’s reputation
preceded my discovery and subsequent elation regarding your opportunity.

An interview with you would be a welcome invitation to demonstrate my enthusiasm and give us the opportunity to discuss your needs. I have a small window of availability before making any decisions and would appreciate your immediate attention.

See a difference? This cover letter “had me at hello.”

Letters like this work!

Your cover letter must cause an employer to contact you immediately.

The good news is there are many ways to do this.

The Cover Letter Experiment

With years of experience behind the scenes screening resumes and cover letters, creating processes for hiring for employers, and conducting some of the most successful advertising campaigns in the world with copywriting, I decided to apply my knowledge and experience to cover letters. Why is any of this important to you?

Because you can use what I found to get interviews; road tested proven cover letters that work like crazy.

Extensive split tests were performed by sending the same resumes with different cover letters.

We sent these all different types of employers for a variety of open positions.

The results were astounding! I used focused phrases that changed how employers reacted.

These were controlled studies. By changing only one sentence I invoked a dramatic 277% increase in requests for interviews from employers. There are sentences that attract employers like ants to a picnic!

What we discovered:

By using one of my “cause to action” phrases in closing the response from employers increased by as much as a whopping 1,298%!!!

Here is another surprise: The same resume with a standard cover letter that did not get even one response from any employer after three weeks, when sent again with one of my cover letters got seven calls for interviews within 24 hours!

By applying the science of marketing language, the inside knowledge of the resume selection process, the psychology of human behavior, a study of chosen cover letters from the personnel files of employers, and NLP type principles, I have cover letters for you that will get you calls and open doors like magic.

After years of research I have packaged the results into powerful cover letters in the OneClick Cover Letter Creator that you can use instantly. These cover letters have been tested and proven to get interviews. You are going to be using the MOST POWERFUL COVER LETTERS ON EARTH. This program is packed full of my powerful proven cover letters all ready to insert in most any email or word program with one click.

Hyo’s Note – Not only is Phil the creator of the OneClick Cover Letter Creator Software Program  (a ridiculous easy to use, yet effective software that creates cover letters tailored to your needs) which you can visit here, or you can read my review of it here, but he also has a tremendous website, www.ResumeDictionary.com.  Resume Dictionary might just be the best, free resume resource site out there – jammed with great information and tips on getting your resume water tight and rocking.