5 Cover Letter Etiquette Rules

Your cover letter serves as a booster to your resume - the resume does the playing while the cover letter does the cheering, giving the hiring manager the best impression of your application.

Unfortunately, despite its critical role in getting hired, many job candidates spend eternity developing their resumes, treating cover letters only as an afterthought. This can be a huge mistake as the cover letter is your instrument to have your resume get noticed.

1. Send a cover letter

One of the first cover letter etiquette rules is to always send a cover letter. Whether the hiring manager did not ask you for it or you are way too busy to make one, make sure that you always accompany your resume with a cover letter. It is the proper business etiquette, giving you the chance to sell yourself for the job position.

2. Focus on what you can do for the company

You are in serious trouble if every sentence of your cover letter begins with “my” or “I”. What you have to do is to show what you can offer to the company, not what the company can do for you. You need to do some research about the potential employer, the organization’s goal, the problems faced by managers there, and the qualities they need from their employees. Use your cover letter to demonstrate that you are what they are looking for.

3. Being concise is a virtue

Hiring managers are too busy to waste their time wading through cover letters that could pass for academic essays or doctoral dissertations. Be concise. Make sure that you are direct to the point. Break long paragraphs into shorter and more easily digestible ones. Try to write a very convincing letter in a few brief paragraphs.

4. Make it personal

You should address your cover letter to a specific person, whenever possible. If a job advertisement does not include the name of the hiring manager, do your research and find out who the person is. You can call the company and ask for the person’s name. But please respect job postings that state “no phone calls.” The salutation should always be professional. Use “Dear Mr. Andrews,” not “Dear Joe.”

5. Make the letter professional but friendly

While your resume is a formal document, your cover letter should reveal your personality. The cover letter is your chance to make your reader to want or like you. Make sure that you use appropriate humor in a professional and friendly tone. This can endear you to the employer or the hiring manager.

Preparing for Common Job Interview Questions

Coming for a job interview can make or break your chances of getting hired. You know you are highly qualified for the position and confident that you have what it takes to belong to the company. You are well aware of the questions that will be asked by the hiring manager and you are sure that you will pass the interview with flying colors. But how sure are you?

Preparing for the questions is different from answering them under the scrutinizing eyes of the hiring manager. And what about those inappropriate and difficult questions? How well can you handle them? This article lists some of the most common job interview questions, as well as out-of-place and “difficult” questions, and how you should answer them confidently.

Common questions

The interview usually begins with the hiring manager asking you to tell him or her something about yourself. You have to be careful when addressing this question as it is used to gauge your preparation, personality, communication skills, and the ability to think quick. Enumerate the things you have done, your strengths, and a brief overview of your career goals. Make sure that they are all job-related.

Another common question is: “Why did you leave your last job?” Always respond positively when asked this question. You will also be asked why do you want the position or work for the company. Here, tell the interviewer what you know about the company and emphasize your qualifications for the job.

The hiring staff will also ask what you can offer to the company. This is your chance to showcase what is in your bag. But do not overdo it. Concentrate only on the skills required for the job. You will also be asked about your expectations about the position. Demonstrate that you have done your research.

Moreover, the manager will ask what your key strengths and weaknesses are. Always give specific examples about your strengths that support your application. Regarding your weaknesses, turn the question into a positive one. Think of something that is really not a weakness, and tell the interviewer what you learned from your experiences.

Another common job interview question is: “Where do you see yourself in five years time?” You should show that the position being discussed suits your long term goals and your commitment to them. Lastly, interviewers usually ask candidates about the questions they would like to ask. You can request clarification of general information, ask about the job, or sum up your understanding and ask for confirmation.

Inappropriate questions

Prepare yourself for inappropriate questions. If asked questions that you think are inappropriate or you feel might be a basis for discrimination, politely refuse to answer. You have to have a knowledge about the Equal Opportunity guidelines that limit the interview questions that can be asked. Questions to watch out for are: “Are you a single mother?”, “How do you cope with the day-today needs of your child?”, or “What is your religion?”

“Difficult” questions

Difficult questions include a bad experience with a former employer or reasons for termination. The best thing you can do is to be positive, honest, and to avoid expressing grudges or criticizing former employers or colleagues.

How Not to Behave in a Job Interview

The job interview is one of the most important points in your employment search process. Sure, your resumé impressed the hiring manager. You are very much qualified and have the required skills, and now you have to prove you will be a good fit with the company and future colleagues. Just do not wreck the highly-valuable and much-coveted face-to-face interview with the hiring manager. In a survey of more than 800 hiring manager, almost 70% recalled interview blunders by job applicants. Here are just some examples you must avoid in a job interview:

Dressed to kill

They say that you are what you wear, and your choice of clothes for the job interview has a direct impression on the interviewer. You can wear comfortable clothes to ease your nervousness. Just do not wear pajama like one candidate did. The company may have a casual dress code, but save the biker clothes or board shorts and slippers until you are hired. If you are going to the beach after the interview, you have no license to wear your flip flops and swimming attire. And this is very serious, a glitzy medallion on a bushy chest is a surefire way to floor the hiring manager.

I’m with the troop

Unless you are blind or injured, do not bring another person or an animal with you to a job interview. Many job applicants have brought a spouse, child, pet, friend, and some even brought the entire family. The hiring manager invited you and you alone. Not you and your cute Chihuahua. A job interview invitation never includes guests.

Leave personal quirks at the door

Personal kinks might be normal to you. To others, however, some mannerisms are downright scary. Some things you always do in the confines of your home should not come out when being interviewed by someone you are impressing. Many job applicants pass gas, pick their nails or nose, stretch various body parts, laugh erratically, burp, spit, chew gums, and smoke. Make sure that you leave these at the door if you do not want to ruin your chances of getting the job.

Some hilarious behavior

There are many incidents in job interviews that are freakish, perhaps fired up by ambition, extreme anxiety, or an appetite to impress. Here are some bizarre job applicant behavior actually happening during interviews, as reported by CareerBuilder.com: One applicant made a shoebox diorama depicting himself doing the job. Another wore a Walkman, saying that she could listen to the music and the interviewer at the same time. One candidate said that she had not had lunch and went on to eat french fries and a hamburger during the interview. One job seeker impersonated Ben Stiller. Still another knitted while being interviewed. And one candidate barked at the interviewer.

Here are other weird behavior: interrupting the hiring manager in the middle of the interview to phone his therapist for advice, whistling while the interviewer was saying something, arriving with only one shoe (the other shoe was stolen off the candidate’s foot on the bus), taking a photo of the interviewer, tap dancing around the office, rejecting a job offer because it paid too much, and many more.

You need to get the job, so do not sabotage the interview.