The cover letter is the tool to present the non-legal professional identity. We will blow it if there's any ambiguity or ambivalence about what we're selling. Remember, we're no longer pitching a legal package. The whole enchilada, from the tone to the word choice to the way of organizing the facts, should tell one single story: We are the best fit for the current specific job in a particular organizational culture.
THE HOMEWORK:
Before we go to the drawing board, it's essential to
- Analyze the job description and distill which are the core skills and experience required.
- Decode the organizational culture.
- Determine what kinds of applicants are competing against us and what they might be offering that we aren't.
- Position the law degree as an asset. [Too many frustrated JDs are blowing the transition by signaling regret about their education. Regret's not selling in this market.]
HOW TO BUILD:
The build job is trial and error, with these fundamentals always in play
- Demonstrate we understand the job requirements and how we can perform them.
- Mirror the organizational culture, ranging from its level of formality or looseness to how process-oriented or risk-taking it wants its employees or vendors to be. Yes, this is performance art only we're producing a mood and sending a message on paper.
- Create an edge. This allows us to stand apart from the competition. That could well be a law degree. It might take the form of offering to provide a strategic or tactical plan or right there suggesting a solution. It also will manage the issue of why our particular bundle of skills, experience, and temperament trumps what the competition could provide.
- End with a call to action, such as request to meet with them or share with them our recommendations.
MAKE IT SMOKE:
Cover letters which pack heat have
- The organization down cold. That creates the connection of already being part of the team. The new economy is highly collaborative. That means being able to work together seamlessly. Make them want to hire us to ease their burdens and have a fresh ally.
- Facts, especially those which quantify, action words, active voice, succinctness. The tone and content have mutated into a form of copy-writing. We are not composing expository prose. We are leveraging the tactics of marketing and sales.
- Enthusiasm about having earned a law degree.
- Energy. The new economy runs on a speeded-up metabolism Comeback conservative Tucker Carlson has configured his persona and web site THE DAILY CALLER for that faster pace. The challenge is not to come across as hypomanic, which wears people out. Currently Carlson exudes calm and things-under-control.
A continual no response or rejection signals us that we're not on the right track. Congratulations, that failure brings us closer to success. In the January edition of WIRED, Johan Lehrer argues that "losing can be a winning strategy." Screwing up has become the 21st century rite of passage. That's because the game has changed and keeps changing.
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