Ep. 038: How to Write a Killer Cover Letter, with Susan Rich
Find Your Dream Job: Insider Tips for Finding Work, Advancing your Career, and Loving Your Job
Mac Prichard
4.8 • 630 Ratings
🗓️ 8 June 2016
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Google the words “cover letter” and you will find lots of opinions on the best tactics: which format to use, the right salutations, and to whom you should address your letter.
Our guest expert this week, Susan Rich, author of How to Write a Kick-Butt Resume Cover Letter, says people are missing the most important point of all: an employer has a problem that needs to be solved. The applicant who shows she or he can solve problem has a huge advantage. Susan shares her advice how to focus your thoughts into to key talking points that address the employer’s needs. A dynamite headline and a powerfully structured cover letter showcases your skills in a way that is uniquely appealing to employers looking for help.
In this 26-minute episode you will learn:
- How to frame job seeking as a business transaction
- Why being a problem solver is the key to your job search
- How to organize your thoughts to focus in on your key points for a cover letter
- The elements of a strong cover letter headline
- How to structure a cover letter that actually gets read
This week’s guest:
Susan Rich (Twitter | LinkedIn)
Author, How to Write a Kick-Butt Resume Cover Letter
Portland, Ore.
Susan Rich deliver results, not promises. People call her an idea refinery, always creating a new way forward. She is widely recognized for her strategic business and marketing savvy, her internal & external communications strategies. She is an expert speaker and trainer, and professional journalist with more than one million words in print.
Listener question of the week:
- “With email as the primary form of application these days, how formal do cover letters need now? Do I still need to include the employer’s address?” - Beckie
If you have a question you’d like us to answer on a future episode, please contact Jenna Forstrom, Mac’s List Community Manager at jenna@macslist.org.
Resources from this week’s show:
- Weekend Resume Kit
- The Muse's 185 Powerful Verbs That Will Make Your Resume Awesome
- RichWriting.com
- Land Your Dream Job in Portland (and Beyond) – On sale through June 15!
If you have a job-hunting or career development resource you’d like to share, please contact Ben Forstag, Mac’s List Managing Director at ben@macslist.org.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode is sponsored by Plaud, the AI wearable gadget that takes notes of meetings and calls. |
| 0:07.2 | Plaud is your AI-powered secret weapon, at work or in the classroom. |
| 0:12.6 | It creates perfect transcripts, summarizes key points, and generates mind maps to visualize everything. |
| 0:20.7 | And Plaud doesn't just take notes. |
| 0:23.2 | It understands them. |
| 0:25.4 | Ask it anything about what you recorded and get instant answers. |
| 0:29.9 | It's like using chat GPT, but specialized for your conversations. |
| 0:35.0 | I use Plot myself here at Find Your Dream Job. Before every episode, I meet with |
| 0:40.2 | each guest to choose a topic and review key points. Plot gives me detailed notes I can use |
| 0:46.2 | in our interviews to make sure we cover what manners most to the guest. Ready to work smarter, |
| 0:52.3 | type PLA-U-D into Google and get a discount with my code Dream Job. |
| 0:58.9 | That's P-L-A-U-D. |
| 1:15.5 | This is Find Your Dream Job, a podcast that helped you get hired, |
| 1:18.0 | have the career you want, and make a difference in life. |
| 1:21.7 | I'm Mac Pritchard, your host and publisher of Max List. |
| 1:26.4 | I'm joined by my co-host, Ben Forstag, managing director of Max List, |
| 1:28.9 | and Jenna Forrestrom, our community manager. |
| 1:34.4 | This week we're talking about cover letters, one of the most popular topics here at Find Your Dream Job. |
| 1:43.7 | Google the words cover letter, and you will find lots of debate about tactical questions regarding formats, salutations, and who you should write. |
| 1:48.7 | Our guest expert this week, Susan Rich, says people are missing the most important point of all. |
| 1:51.4 | An employer has a problem that needs to be solved. |
| 1:57.8 | According to Susan, the applicant who shows that she or he can solve that problem has a huge advantage. |
... |
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