How to write my cover letter

That topic is one of the few podcasts here at manager tools for which a paid subscription is required.  The interview series tells you how, along with a lot of other great advice from preparation to answering the hard questions to closing and followup.   http://www.manager-tools.com/interviewing-series   Personally, I think the series is an incredible value. 

In general, the goal is to get the recruiter or hiring manager to read your resume.  It's not a resume rewrite, and it should not be long. 

John Hack

 I second John's comments heartily.  The interviewing casts are an excellent help.  They will take you through the whole process of applying and interviewing for a job.

John, do you (or anyone for that matter) have a copy of a cover letter that you wouldn't mind posting here?  I know what I'm supposed to do, but so often it comes out stilted when I write one.  MT has some examples, but I would love to see more examples.

Thanks,

Laura

Here is one I recently submitted and got a call back on.

Paragraph one restates a lot of the jargon/attributes they are looking for.

Paragraph two and 3 give accomplishments that I could easily quantify and match up with things they desired in the posting. 

Paragraph 4 is enthusiastic but it was a blind application (online only, no contact info) so I could not add anything about following up.

Hope you find this helpful.

I am very interested in the National Marketing Manager position.  I am a high energy, creative and strategically-minded person who excels in cross-functional roles.  Having consulted and been an employee in a number of industry verticals including start-ups, I am familiar and comfortable in both the traditional and entrepreneurial workplace cultures.   

 At XXXXXXXX, a large part of my job was converting company strategy into campaigns and tools that allowed our business development people to generate new relationships and clients across numerous broker channels.  During my tenure, sales increased from $22 Million to $30 Million, along with a number of product and sales tool improvements.

I have also worked the full spectrum of marketing.  From social media to public relations, from lead generation to sales, I have done it successfully.  At XXXXXXXXXXXX, I developed an online video game as part of a customer acquisition campaign for XXXXXXX Entertainment.  Last I heard, they had over 100,000 unique customer visits. 

Marketing opportunities in emerging technologies don’t come around very often. I would love to interview for this position and look forward to hearing from you soon.

 Thanks for sharing your example.  Seeing more of them really helps.

Laura