10 Phrases That Don't Belong in Your Cover Letter

Think your cover letter is perfectly crafted? Check to make sure you're not including any of these no-nos in it. 1. "I meet the requirements for the position." Hundreds of candidates will meet the requirements for the position. That's not enough to get you a second look. You want to explain why you're an excellent candidate, not just an adequate one. 2. "I'm hard-working and a great communicator." And probably a team player and an independent self-starter, too. These are cliches that cause hiring managers' eyes to glaze over. Worse, they don't convey anything of substance--the fact that you've assessed yourself as these things will hold no weight whatsoever with employers, who prefer to assess these things for themselves. 3. "I'm a visionary leader." But not very humble, apparently. If you're truly a visionary leader-or a master communicator, or whatever other brag you're tempted to make--it should be evident from the accomplishments you've listed on your resume. Proclaiming this about yourself comes across as, well, weird. 4. "You won't find a candidate better qualified than me." Unless you've seen the rest of the candidate pool, you have no way of knowing that. This comes off as needlessly cocky hyperbole--and it's generally inaccurate, to boot. If you're really stunningly qualified, the hiring manager should be able to spot that on her own. Simply proclaiming it, especially when you have no basis to know if it's true, doesn't reflect well on you. 5. "Dear sir or madam." In most industries, this will come across as an antiquated, stuffy salutation. If you know the hiring manager's name, use that instead, but if not, simply writing "dear hiring manager" is fine, and won't make you appear as if you come from an earlier century. 6. "I'll call you in a week to schedule an interview." Job seekers can't unilaterally decide to schedule an interview, and inappropriately pushy to pretend otherwise. Some people believe that asserting themselves like this will demonstrate persistence and good salesmanship, but in reality, it just annoys hiring managers. 7. "I'm willing to work for below the salary you're offering." Candidates who write this generally are hoping that it will get them an interview when their qualifications alone wouldn't have. But it doesn't work, because hiring managers want to hire the best person for the job, have budgeted a certain amount for the position, and aren't going to take a weaker candidate just because she offers to work for less than the budgeted salary. 8. "I've attached my college transcripts, a list of references, a 15-page writing sample, and my last performance review." Unless the job posting specifically asked for these items, don't

include them. At this stage, employers just want a resume and a cover letter. Don't overwhelm them with items they haven't asked for and might not want. Wait until you've progressed further in the process, and then ASK if they'd like these items. 9. "Please contact me if you'd like to see my resume." Job seekers occasionally send a letter of interest in a job without including a resume, to the great mystification of hiring managers everywhere. If you're writing to a company about potential work, you must include your resume. It's the first thing an employer will want to see, and they have no way of knowing if you're someone they'd like to speak further with without first seeing that. 10. "I really need a job. I'm desperate." Hiring managers might feel sympathy for you if you're desperate, but that's not going to make them hire you. Your cover letter needs to focus on why you'd excel at the job you're applying for, not how badly you need it. Alison Green writes the popular Ask a Manager blog, where she dispenses advice on career, job search, and management issues. She's also the co-author of Managing to Change the World: The Nonprofit Manager's Guide to Getting Results, and former chief of staff of a successful nonprofit organization, where she oversaw day-to-day staff management, hiring, firing, and employee development.

10 Things to Leave Off Your Resume

What you don't include on your resume can be as important as what you do include. Here are 10 things you should leave off: 1. An objective. Resume objectives never help and often hurt. Not only do they feel outdated at this point, but they're all about what you want, rather than what this stage of the hiring process is all aboutwhat the employer wants. Your resume should be about showing your experience, skills, and accomplishments. If you want to talk about how this particular position is the perfect next step in your career, use the cover letter for that. 2. Short-term jobs. Short-term jobs raise red flags for hiring managers, who will wonder if you were fired, couldn't do the work, or had trouble getting along with co-workers. Plus, a few months on a job won't typically be useful in showing any real accomplishments or advancement anyway. One exception to this rule is if the job was short-term because it was designed that way, like contract work or, say, working on a political campaign. Those won't raise the sorts of questions above, because you'll have an explanation that doesn't reflect on you poorly.

3. A functional format. Functional resumes (which list skills and abilities without including a chronological job history) are widely hated by employers, since they easily mask limited work experience or significant work gaps and make it difficult to understand a candidate's career progression. For most hiring managers, these resumes are an immediate red flag that you might be hiding something. 4. Your photo. Unless you're applying for a job as a model or actor, photos of yourself have no place on your resume. Since your appearance has nothing to do with your ability to do the job, including a photo comes across as naive and unprofessional. 5. A fancy design. Here's what most hiring managers think when we see a resume with unusual design or use of color: Does this candidate think that their skills and achievements won't speak for themselves? Do they not understand what employers are looking for? Do they put an inappropriate emphasis on appearances over substance? (The obvious exception to this rule is if you're applying for design jobs.) 6. Subjective descriptions. Your resume is for experience and accomplishments only. It's not the place for subjective traits, like "great leadership skills" or "creative innovator." Smart employers ignore anything subjective that applicants write about themselves because so many people's self-assessments are wildly inaccurate, so your resume should stick to objective facts. 7. Any mention of high school. If you're more than a few years past your high school graduation date, employers don't care which high school you attended or how accomplished you were there. Keep any mention of high school off your resume. 8. Extra pages. If you're in your 20s, your resume should only be one page; there's not enough experience to justify a second one. If you're older, two pages are fine, but you go over that limit at your own peril. Hiring managers may spend only 20 or 30 seconds on your application initially, so extra pages are either ignored or they dilute the impact of the others. Your resume should be for highlights, not extensive detail. 9. Your salary. Resumes don't typically include a salary history, so candidates who include it come across as naive. And by sharing that information unbidden, you'll also compromise your negotiating power later. 10. Any mention of references, including the statement: "references are available upon request." You don't need to say that you'll provide references if asked, because that goes without saying. You're not causing any harm by including that now somewhat-dated statement, but it takes up space you could use for something else. Alison Green writes the popular Ask a Manager blog, where she dispenses advice on career, job search, and management issues. She's also the co-author of Managing to Change the World: The Nonprofit Manager's Guide to Getting Results, and former chief of staff of a successful nonprofit organization, where she oversaw day-to-day staff management, hiring, firing, and employee development.

The 7 Deadly Sins of Cover Letter Writing

A cover letter is designed to inform and interest an employer to read on to your resume. All too often, though, the cover letter bores, offends, or sometimes amusesbut not in a good waythe people who read them. Successfully achieving the former is the first step to gaining an interview with the company, but commit the latter and your job materials will be sent to a hiring manager's "no" pile quicker than you could write "References Available Upon Request." What are some of the gravest sins you could make when composing a cover letter? Read on: 1. If you're starting with "To Whom it May Concern," you're not as concerned as you should be. File this greeting with smoke signals and pigeon post under obsolete communication strategies. "The employer should say who they want the letter to be addressed to," says Louise Kursmark, the author of 15-Minute Cover Letter and 20 other books on resumes and job search. In other words, using "To Whom it May Concern" as a default greeting, particularly when the name of the appropriate addressee has been given in the job description, would be one of the worst missteps. If the job post doesn't specify whom you should address, it's not wise to resort to guessing games. Say you're applying for a position within a specific department. Addressing the letter to "Dear Well-Known Department Head" might not be a good move, because perhaps the "Also Well-Known Department Head Assistant" is the hiring manager. Or the human resources department might be handling all first-level correspondence. Either way, you run the risk of

addressing the letter to the wrong person. "My recommendation is not to use a salutation at all but to use a subject line," Kursmark says. "Salutations are work-arounds that don't work very well." When in doubt: If your cover letter feels naked sans salutation, Kursmark suggests addressing a greeting to "Dear Hiring Professional." You can also call the company directly to ask to whom you should address your letter. 2. If you're including typos and misspelled words, "your" going to miss a good opportunity. Often, it's not on obvious spelling errors that job seekers get snagged, but on the little niggling slip-ups that spell check might not catch. Quadruple-check all their vs. there sentences and watch out for its vs. it's mentions. You should also be diligent to avoid common grammar mistakes, and know when to use "that" vs. "which" or "its" instead of "their." These tiny boo-boos won't seem tiny to the grammarian hiring manager. "Your letter is an indication of your communication skills," says Kursmark. "If you can't write a letter for a job, what are you going to do when you're writing emails, or speaking to people on the telephone?" Also falling under typos and misspellings: botching the name of the hiring manager. Leslie Smyth won't appreciate receiving Lesley Smith's mail. "People are sensitive about their names," Kursmark says. "They want their name spelled correctly, and they get offended if it's spelled wrong. All might not be lostit depends on how sensitive the [hiring manager] is. But you should still avoid making this mistake entirely." When in doubt: It's always harder to spot your own mistakes. Ask an impartial friend or a mentor if they'd be willing to proofread your job materials. 3. If you're using a form letter, it will come across as _______________________ [insert an adjective for "impersonal"]. It's a good idea to have a boilerplate that you can use for most cover letters. It's a bad idea not to customize that boilerplate every time you apply to a new position, addressing what specific qualifications you have that will fulfill the job description. "You don't want to give the impression to the people reading it that you're applying for any job. A custom letter explains how you can be of value to the position and how you can help the company," Kursmark says. Before finalizing your letter, make sure you've touched on how you, as a job candidate, will help the company achieve its mission. And refer to the job description to explain what qualifications you have to best do the job as the duties have been explained. Also be sure to follow the directions as specified in the posting. Don't send a Microsoft Word copy of your letter if you were asked to send a PDF attachment. When in doubt: This is a cover letter, not a Mad Libs puzzle. Read two of your letters back to back to compare your writing style. If you've just cut and pasted in various action words, you're not doing enough.

4. If you're bringing up something new and different from your resume, you'll appear forgetful and ... something or other. Don't use your cover letter as an explanation of issues you didn't address on your resume, such as not having a college degree, or your two-year employment gap. "I think you have to respect the short attention spans and busy lives of people," Kursmark says. "First of all, a lot of people aren't going to read a cover letter. You have a challenge if it's something important [that you need to explain], but I wouldn't put it in the cover letter." When in doubt: You'll need to play offense in your activities and when writing your resume, not defense when sending your cover letter. For example, fill an employment gap with career-related volunteer work that you can add to your resume. 5. If you're too wordy, you're probably going to bore the reader, leading them to put your letter in the trash bin, and then... You get the point. Keep it short and simple. A two-page resume is acceptable based on qualifications and level of experience. But the two-page cover letter? Verboten. In fact, you're entering the danger zone if your letter reaches a full page. "Now everything is sent by email, and employers are looking at cover letters on their smartphones and tablets. You don't want to give them too much information too early in the process," Kursmark notes. When in doubt: Kursmark suggests sticking to a couple of paragraphs, and maybe including a few eye-friendly bullet points, but that's it. 6. If you're using big, outdated SAT words, you'll appear supercilious. Do you actually know anyone who uses the words "bathetic," "perspicacious," and "supernumerary?" Neither does your hiring manager. Save those antics for Scrabbleyour manner of speech will convey your intelligence more than the number of syllables per word. "Be crisp and clear and use short words and sentences," Kursmark says. "You don't actually impress people by using $5 words. Especially if you misuse them." When in doubt: If you're using Microsoft Word to compose cover letters, you can adjust your spell-check preferences to also "Show readability statistics." This tool will estimate the grade level of the writing in your document. Kursmark recommends sticking to a sixth- or seventhgrade writing level. 7. If you're too folksy, then no one will take you seriously, dude. Don't overcompensate on the above-mentioned tip by using too much colloquial speech. The purpose of your cover letter is to help you land a job, not arrange weekend plans with your peeps. "At any stage when applying for a job, whether it's in writing your resume and cover letter, or determining your personal appearance for an interview, you need to be on your absolute best professional behavior," Kursmark advises. "You have to show that you're making an effort. The same thing goes for your correspondence."
When in doubt: If you wouldn't use certain phrases of speech or words with your parents or clergy, they're probably not appropriate for an employer.