The Psychology of the Cover Letter

Posted on June 04, 2022 by Michael McCutcheon, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.

Cover letters are still important—whether it’s a digital version on LinkedIn or an e-mail attachment. Resumes are the only way for employers to get a sense of your skills and experience. Creatives may be able to get away with using a digital portfolio of their work in lieu of a resume—but to work for a large company or major corporation, even creatives are likely be asked for a standard resume at some point, even if it’s just as a formality.

A common misconception is that cover letters are less important, especially as large companies use portals to upload resumes to job posts (and many don’t even ask for a cover letter). Yet, portals often send your resume into a black hole with hundreds of other applications. Thus, if you are applying to a job via portal, you should also be reaching out directly to the hiring manager as well (see Job Search 101). When reaching out to anyone directly about a job, you will need to write something in the body of the e-mail explaining why you are sending your resume their way—which is, in essence, a cover letter.

WHAT IS THE GOAL/PURPOSE OF A RESUME?
Most people would say, “to get a job”. But, that’s not the most accurate answer. The point of a resume is to get an interview—to convince an employer that you’re worth meeting. The goal of the interview is to land the job.

WHAT IS THE GOAL/PURPOSE OF A COVER LETTER?
To orient the reader. That is, to help them to understand what position you’re applying for, why you’re interested in them as a company/organization, and what you can offer them.

What to Write in a Cover Letter?

The area people struggle most with resumes and cover letters is with content. Job-hunters with the extra finances to work with professional resume writer get strong, purposeful content, and get interviewed at higher rates than many people who go at it without. However, you can learn how to do it on your own. It’s not that hard, but it does take some focus/effort (which is painful, I know!) and the payoff is HUGE. Focus and effort here can translate into a higher salary later, so it’s worth it.

The most important thing to remember about writing a cover letter is, It’s about them, not about you. That sentiment goes for a resume as well. What we mean by that is the point of a cover letter is to (a) tie your resume to the job of interest (i.e., the rationale for why submitting a resume at all and how you got here; and (b) to explain why you chose them. Most people write a cover letter all about themselves—I did this, I did that, I came from here, etc. In reality, it needs to be much more about them—why you are coming to them, why you think they are great, what you can do to help them.

The other most important thing to know is that the cover letter must be written to a specific job and company—no general letters! It should also be addressed to a specific person (do your research). You can easily do some exercises from Job Search Method #4: Gentle Stalking of our blog post on Diversifying Your Job Search to find out the name of the department head to which to address the cover letter.

People tend to write a resumes/cover letters without a strategy or a specific job in mind.
There’s no point in writing a cover letter (or a resume!) without an overall goal in mind (i.e., a specific job that you’re after). You need to know what your end goal is. A resume is not just an overview of your professional experiences—it needs to be tailored to the specific job you’re after. For each job you apply to, you should be reexamining your resume to ensure that what you’ve included supports your candidacy for that job— otherwise, the resume will come out very general and scream “I don’t know what I want and I’ll take anything”, which which is a huge red flag for employers. Even if this is true for you, you can never let an employer know! Fake it (i.e., that you have direction) until you do. If you have no idea what you want in terms of a career, check out Career Assessment as a starting place.

For help with what to actually write in a cover letter, see Wanderlust Careers’ anatomy of a cover letter in our post on Cover Letters that have Actually Worked.

Another common issue we see is people who send the cover letter as an attachment in their email. Don’t do this! The cover letter is in the body of the email itself and the resume is attached.

Lastly, write how you speak—don’t be a robot!

Adding a Summary to Your Resume
How do you let an employer know your overall goal (i.e. job that you’re after)? Tell them! You can do this in a few ways:

Don’t just hint at your goal, make it clear. Summary = goals. Start your resume out with a powerful statement emphasizing who you are (e.g., Educational Consultant) and what you can do (i.e., major skills you can offer and perhaps successes you have had along the way).

You can put a title on your resume telling people who you are (e.g., Software Engineer) or add a summary to your resume.

Wanderlust Careers encourages a summary because it leaves no room for assumptions and nothing up to chance, and the reader will then filter the rest of your experience through this intentional lens you’ve provided. Without a summary or a title, you’re only hinting at your goal with the content from your resume. And, if you have had some twists and turns in your career narrative, your goal may not be intuitive to a reader.

Some might argue “that’s what a cover letter is for” and yes, it is, but sometimes, depending on how you’re applying, you might not even have the opportunity to submit a cover letter. Or the employer might print out your resume and drop it on someone’s desk…without the cover letter. Or in some cases, an employer may not even read your cover letter.

Remember, the employer is busy—they may be looking at your resume and thinking, “Why is this person applying to this job?” You need to answer the question for them before they ask. That’s what a summary does! Think of the summary like a mini 3-sentence cover letter.

THE RESUME SUMMARY FORMULA
Adjective related to the position of interest + position of interest + with a background in X or experience in Y or ability to Z, etc.

EXAMPLES
Creative Brand Manager & Strategist with a background in social media marketing and public relations. Accomplished manager of strategic partnerships with a proven track record of successfully connecting brands with target audiences. Passionate about the belief that brands must build strong connections with people. Special interest in beauty, wellness, and lifestyle industries.

Detail-oriented Copy Editor with 7+ years of experience in high-level writing, copyediting, and proofreading for both print and online publications. Sharp-eyed, with the ability to meet tight deadlines and efficiently move copy through the various stages of production. Ability to engage readers through ensuring high-quality copy. Specialization in Wordpress and online publications and a strong interest in politics and culture.

Driven Product Manager with experience working in global corporations and a consistent track record of developing high-impact business strategies, successfully connecting products with target audiences. Strong manager of strategic partnerships and the ability to build deep working relationships. Passionate about connection, with the belief that strategy must be strong to build strong connections with people.

Energetic Program Manager with 7 years of experience managing teams and client relationships (domestically & internationally) on a wide range of projects. Portfolio of professional experiences combining work in fundraising and event production. Strong background and interest in trade policy, social-economic justice, and non-profit/NGO organizations.

Keep it short, simple, and focused on the job of interest.

Resume Summary FAQ

What if I have never worked in the position of interest before? For example, what if I want to be a copy editor, but I’ve never worked as one?

What does it take to be a copy editor? Do you need a particular license or degree? You can’t go around calling yourself a doctor, nurse, or psychologist if you don’t have the proper credentials/training, but for most other jobs, you “become” that role just by doing the work. If you know how to write and edit, guess what? You can call yourself a Copyeditor in the summary, even if you haven’t officially been paid to work in that capacity before. If you know how to answer calls and organize, you can call yourself an Administrative Assistant. The point is to get the employer to “see” you as working in the role/position. You need to reframe—you are not “aspiring” or “seeking employment” in a particular area—you already are it. You can do this job and you are offering them the opportunity to work with you and your skillset.

One of the most heartbreaking things we see is the job seeker that settles for “The Job I Could Get” vs. “The Job I Want”. Why do people do this? Sometimes they don’t know what they want (see Career Assessment), because they don’t think they can get what they want, or they don’t want to deal with the effort/energy it takes to get a stepping stone position en route to what they want. These issues are best solved with a Career Assessment (see our services for details).