Funny thing happened today. I got a ridiculous number of – frankly – horrible cover letters this morning. I was starting to wonder if I’d fallen into some weird nexus of bad grammar and poor decision making, when I received the letter below – so well written that I knew I was going to talk to this person if they were even _remotely_ qualified for the role. It’s clearly written for the position being applied for, it’s personable – but not too much, no typos – I could go on, but instead I’ll let it speak for itself (with the permission from the author – they just asked that I use the name “Max Power” in place of their real name):
Hi,
I saw your posting on craigslist for the QA Engineer position so I’m submitting my resume for review. I have some experience in QA although it’s been a few years since I’ve actually had “QA” in my job description. But despite that, I feel that it applies to nearly every position that I’ve held.
I’m currently a Web Developer and I get to build online courses in over ten languages, which is pretty interesting and it requires attention to detail. Dealing with several pages of text in Thai can get a bit confusing so it’s easy to overlook small details like shifting an image two pixels to the right. After doing this for awhile I started to wonder if maybe I’m becoming too picky about the details. Or maybe I should find an outlet to express my nitpicking tendencies. Such as when I was a Test Developer many moons ago and I was encouraged to look for problems, no matter how small. I really enjoyed being able to use one of my strengths and to help improve an already great product. Now, seeing this job posting, I think it’s a great opportunity to get back into something that I enjoyed doing and that I was good at.
I think that I can help ZoomInfo because I’m detail-oriented, a quick learner and I have the mind-set. Although I may not have the years of necessary experience, I’m hopeful that you’ll give me a chance. One of the best things about my career has been that I’ve always had the opportunity to do the job because people were willing to give me a chance and I hate to disappoint. I’ve attached my resume as a text file so please take a look at it. I hope that I can speak with someone a little more about the position and the company. If so I’ll try to bring some interesting stories – like how I scored four touch downs in one game.
Thanks for your time and I hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Max Power
October 11, 2007 at 7:50 am
Interesting point regarding cover letters. I admit to having gotten lazy recently. However, it feels like the majority of firms now use some sort of online recruiting system or a generic email address that is just sucking up your information into a black hole. The de-personalization of the process has gone both ways I believe.
Any advice on how to better present yourself in these situations?
Thanks,
Barrett
October 11, 2007 at 8:37 am
Hey Barrett – just wrote a loooong answer to this, then realized I should make it a post. Will be up shortly
October 11, 2007 at 8:42 am
[...] — recruiter “Barrett” just asked me what I thought was a great question on this post about cover letters, and figured people out there might have a similar one – here’s his Q and [...]
July 1, 2008 at 1:35 pm
By the way – we hired Barrett a while ago. He rocks.
January 14, 2009 at 10:39 am
Just personal opinion, I liked it. I respect this person’s honesty and this letter reflects his personality He must be a great QA.
Actually I was searching for a different kind of lover letter for myself on Google and I found this. But when I saw comments at top I started thinking some people making fun of my own cover letter’s typo and grammar. But is it something important point to hire a QA Engineer which preposition, he is using and in which accent he sings? After all he is not applying for a Washington Post Proofreader or trying to replace Brain Williams for Nightly news.
January 14, 2009 at 4:10 pm
To my mind, a QA person who doesn’t proofread and/ or catch mistakes is probably not very effective at catching bugs – they’re supposed to be hyper aware of mistakes, and how to catch them. Communication matters as well in QA: you have to be able to find issues and communicate their existence, severity, etc al to others on a regular basis. Frankly, knowing how to communicate (oral and written) is critical if you want to succeed in your career.
And, yes: you are getting ruled out on a regular basis if your grammar & spelling fails when you apply for a job. This is a highly competitive market for jobs right now, and companies are looking for reasons rule you out.
March 10, 2009 at 12:42 pm
[...] recruiter Martin Burns has A Great Example of a Cover Letter that he received. While this letter can’t be the model for everyone (Don’t just cut and [...]
March 10, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Thanks – can’t underestimate the value of a good approach that gets you noticed (in a good way).
July 20, 2009 at 10:11 pm
You’ve got to be kidding. That’s a GOOD cover letter? It’s riddled with grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. It’s terribly written. I hope that the position that the applicant is applying for does not include writing.
July 21, 2009 at 9:22 am
Hmm. Not sure I agree with you on that one, Imerm. There aren’t any grammar or spelling errors in the cover letter. The quality – especially when you consider it was written by a non-writer (software engineer, in this case) – is quite good.
September 8, 2009 at 3:18 pm
This is a good letter, in theory, because it hits the mark of matching the candidate(skills) to the position in a confident, if informal, way. But, for me, it way misses my personal parameters for a good letter: three paragraphs, nine sentences (10 if absolutely necessary, only because you are that good.) 17 sentences is just too long. Most people won’t read it at first scan.
October 1, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Good letter, but I found at least one mistake: “Such as when I was a Test Developer many moons ago and I was encouraged to look for problems, no matter how small.” That is not a sentence, it is a fragment.
Tsk tsk, a QA should have a flawless letter.
October 14, 2009 at 8:23 am
Probably a good thing I never went into editorial.
October 14, 2009 at 8:27 am
It’s probably just me – I’m a sucker for reading. Honest. When I was a kid (if the Globe hadn’t shown up on time) you’d find me reading the cereal box while I ate, just so I could have something to read. I Am Such A Geek.