Sarah Babu

English 15
Professor Zack

`Genre: Cover letters for Caregivers (see examples on bottom) (script follows after examples)

Example Example Example

#1 #2 #3

Ideas they can implement if hired No yes No

Name of company they are applying to yes yes yes

Knowledge of first aid procedures. yes No No

Salutations yes yes yes

Candidate's strengths yes yes yes

Candidate’s no no no
weaknesses

Candidate’s contact info yes yes yes

Date yes yes no

Physical stamina Yes no no

How they found out about the job yes yes yes

How the company will benefit from gaining them as yes yes yes
an employer

Talks about caring personality yes yes no

Good communication skills yes no no

 Past work experience yes yes yes

Goal while working there no yes yes

Mentions meet up for interview yes yes yes

Includes Candidate’s availability dates yes no no

Part 1 :

Affordances: Cover letters allow the caregivers to sell themselves to a potential employer in a
way that the resume format can't convey. They grab an employer's attention and really highlight
their strengths. Overall, cover letters, include a candidate’s best qualities without sounding
repetitive.

Constraints: The most effective cover letters are custom-tailored to each prospective employer
for maximum impact. This can increase the amount of time required to apply for each job,
possibly resulting in fewer resumes being sent out and missed.

Organization: cover letters begin with both the candidate’s and the employer's contact
information (name, address, phone number, email) followed by the date. Then, in paragraph 1,
the candidate tells the employer why they are writing and interested in the job. In paragraph 2,
they try to sell themselves to the employer. They show them why they’re a good fit for the
position and get an interview. All cover letters are concise and to the point.

Tone: The tone for all three cover letter examples were professional, friendly and upbeat. They
tried to show employers that they were very enthusiastic about their possible upcoming job.
They all had a good attitude towards the company and tried to sell themselves in a positive
way.

Evidence: Employers get hundreds of resumes. Therefore, including a cover letter will show
one's eagerness to get the job. It Separates Serious Candidates from the 'Browsers’.
Part 2: Determining the Rhetorical Situation (Underlying the Textual Genre)

Exigence: when a caregiver writes themselves a cover letter, it introduces themselves to an

organization, demonstrate their interest in the company or a specific vacancy, draws attention to
their resume and motivate the reader to interview them. Often this letter is the first contact they
have with a prospective employer. It is a way for employers to make them stand out and get a
call back faster.

Writer: Caregivers applying to nursing home/ rehabilitation facilities

Primary audience: nursing home/ rehabilitation facilities managers

Secondary audience: those who are higher in command in the employment process.

Writer’s Goal: The ultimate goal of caregiver cover letters is to stand out and get a job at a
nursing home/ rehabilitation facility

Background info: a cover letter is pretty straight forward. It is a tool to help introduce yourself in
a memorable, personal way during a job application. It expands on some of your greatest career
and life achievements.
Example #1
Example #2
Example #3
Script:

Good morning Immaculate Mary managers! You might constantly find yourselves asking
“Why is it so hard finding reliable employees?” Well, if your hiring process has multiple
breakdowns, then the chances of finding good employees is greatly diminished. So, how do you
fix that? You start by requiring your applicants to make a cover letter. You probably haven’t
done that in the past because it just lengthens the process and or you might assume a simple
resume will suffice. Well, a cover letter is pretty straight forward. It is a tool to help introduce
yourself in a memorable, personal way during a job application unlike a resume. It expands on
some of your greatest career and life achievements.

Let’s first take a look at the affordances of a cover letter. Unlike a resume, a cover letter
really highlights a candidate’s strengths without sounding repetitive. A resume tends to be fact-
based and somewhat formal, but a cover letter can be infused with personality. In addition,
employers get a sense of the person and what they’ve accomplished, and it’s easier for them to
picture the candidate in their next job. On the flip side, this might take employers longer to go
through applications. Furthermore, effective cover letters are custom tailored to each job (this
takes longer to make) resulting in fewer resumes being sent out on the candidate’s part. Both of
these constraints however aren’t necessarily bad. This way, an employer takes time to really find
that perfect employee instead of just filling open positions quickly and a candidate can apply for
only great jobs she is actually happy to receive a call back for.

Caregivers are the ones who write these cover letters addressed to you the employers,
nursing home/ rehabilitation facilities managers. But the building director can also take a look at
them to make sure his employees are fit and that he’s still running a healthy organization. Most
caregivers find themselves needing to write themselves a cover letter, because it introduces
themselves to an organization, draws attention to their resume and motivates the reader to
interview them. The ultimate goal of it all is so the candidate stands out and gets a call back
faster.

Finally, I'm going to show you how do you look for a good cover letter. Today, I have
three different examples of cover letters. The first one I show you will be the most ideal cover
letter to present to an employer. Right off the bat, you can notice its neat organization structure.
In the top left-hand corner or dead center, the candidate includes contact information, the date,
their name and the company they are applying to. Next, the candidate starts to introduce
themselves. They do this by including their past work experience and personality traits. Diana
points out how much of a dedicated worker she is and that she has worked with a nursing home
company since 2014. Diana then goes on to talk about her include their strengths and why a
company will benefit from having them then ends with her availability dates. The second
example I chose is to show an ok cover letter, one Patrick didn’t notice was missing a couple key
elements. He establishes what the company will stand to gain by hiring him by including “his
effective speech skills” but he forgets to mention prior work experience and any prior knowledge
of medical procedures. These are vital strengths that could help him stand out from any regular
candidate. Finally, I picked example three as a what not to do example. Phyllis says she will
contact them to set up an interview appointment but never says when or includes her availability
dates. In addition, she focuses solely on one type of elderly patient (the disabled) but is applying
to a regular nursing home. She does however nicely wrap it up by saying “sincerely and her
name”.
So, overall it is really important to require cover letters. As an employee of this nursing
home, I see more often than not, that the staff don’t passionately or even properly do their jobs.
Here’s a real-life story. Two months ago, a caregiver came down to the kitchen saying one of the
residences didn’t get food. When he couldn’t find the chef right away, he dug into the trash can
with leftovers and made a tray himself for the resident to eat out of half eaten foods. That is not
ok! So, it is really crucial from now on that you take your time so that you hire good employees
instead of people to just fill up the available positions quickly.