Cover Letters can work.

And this is how it’s done.

http://www.businessinsider.com/student-sends-great-cover-letter-for-internship-at-bank-and-its-now-going-viral-on-wall-street-2013-1

I would like to do a quick play by play as to what made this cover letter standout in my opinion. First of all, he clearly introduces himself and recalls the place that they met previously. So this is not a “shot in the dark”/random application with a cover letter, in fact the person may have told the kid to “send him a resume and he would look at it” during their meeting however brief it may have been, but he attached a cover letter anyway – That’s smart.

Secondly he introduces the resume well and explains the experience with humor while also equating himself to the other applicants “I’m not going to over inflate the titles to make it sound more impressing” - Very subtle but also effective. In fact, interns are not expected to have all the experience in the world. Their optimism is usually much highly valued. During those second and third paragraphs he makes the cover letter read honest and bold. I would go as far as to assume that the person that he sent it to may have shown those qualities to the student and he used them in the tone of this cover letter. Which is perfect.

Possibly a deliberate typo on the word “crap”, this is extremely subtle. In my opinion in the world of auto correct and constant spell check everywhere (most browsers, word) it’s difficult to make a typo as blatant as “crapp”. Given that this kid clearly cares about this application, due to the aforementioned clues, I think he made it on purpose. Here’s why: the effect of swearing or using objectionable language is lessened when you make a typo (this is purely subjective to me). So he got to say crap without looking as vulgar – fulking A.

Then he mentions in passing that he already had an internship in wealth management and that he is taking specific courses and tells them about his plans, which I presume would align with this industry. Overall this Cover Letter is not just a slam dunk, it’s a 360 self oop dunk. You cannot write a better cover letter. 

Cool, you graduated, but your dream job is not there

It means that you are one of the 300,000 other lucky new graduates with minty fresh diploma looking for work on the job market. Add to that the number of the unemployed people and a few thousand of people looking to change their job and you have your competitors of the job search marathon. Some are holding out for that perfect job that you thought you would be doing after school. Yep those are the new grads like you.

Hate to break it to you but it’s simply not there.

Why?

1.     You don’t have experience for your dream job.

The job may physically be there but don’t let that fool you, for you it does not exist. You simply have no idea how much time it would take for you to practice to become proficient enough in that job to be considered competent.  You need to pick up some practical skill along the way to do well in that job with minimal training.

2.     Your dream job is way too popular

Face it, really nice jobs are usually in high demand. They have sought after titles, pay and benefits. So they have plenty of people to choose from. What makes you think they would choose you?

3.     You don’t know what it is

Your dream job is defined right now by your assumptions of what the job entails. You don’t know what you like yet because you don’t have the complete idea of what is done during the day. You don’t know if you like the industry and so on and so forth.

It’s not all spoiled milk and eggs however.                                          What do you have?

1.     flexibility to move for work

You just finished school, and presumably looking to move out, so you should be super mobile and be open to move anywhere for work. Do you know that it’s easier to get a job in provinces that have employment boom like Alberta, and Saskatchewan?

2.     clean slate and opportunity to find a job in any field

Most entry level jobs don’t require you to have prior experience within the industry which means you can choose any industry you think you like. And you can switch easily if you don’t like it. It’s not going to kill you.

3.     Tenacity

Roll up them sleeves, and put in work. It’s 4^th quarter mentality all day everyday.