The Beeline Broadcast, #11

Cover Letter Coup

Someone once told me that writing covers letters is easy. You basically make a template and plug in all the necessary information. Somehow I missed the memo, because writing cover letters takes me an awfully long time.

I'm not sure why it takes me years to write them. Maybe it's because I'm acting like a typical Type A perfectionist, or perhaps it's because I'm applying to a variety of positions that require different skill sets, but writing the cover letter takes a really long time. It's kind of a pain.

Back in November I was really confused about how to even write a cover letter. I asked some of my Career Services friends for help, and they gave me a basic rundown. I like to look at examples though, so my law school friend recommended that I visit the Vermont Law School website for sample cover letters. In all honesty, their Career Services website has been incredibly helpful in crafting my cover letters.

There are so many samples to look at. Some of the examples are geared toward internship applications, but others are for job positions. Law writing is very concise, which is a great style to emulate for a cover letter. I've swiped things like transitional phrases and basic structure from the examples the website provides. Then I just adapt everything to my SA experience. The "company" I research is the college. My skills and research reflect my work in higher education.

I know it's a bit of an unorthodox approach, but it works. If anyone else has cover letter resources that you really like, please let me know!

I provided the link to the examples below. After clicking the "useful downloads" link, simply click "Cover Letter Preparation" for tips about cover letter structure and examples of cover letters.

http://www.vermontlaw.edu/Job_Search_Resources/Useful_Downloads.htm 


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P.S. My post is a little early this week because I'm headed up to Portland (Maine) this weekend for my last moments of spring break. Woo hoo! But really, I love Maine.