Career experts Wendy Enelow and Louise Kursmark, co-authors of Cover Letter Magic, believe next-generation job search letters are a key technique to winning interviews and zipping through the transition from one job to the next. Different from standard cover letters, next-generation letters, such as career-branding letters and reconnecting letters, are not intended to land interviews. Instead, job seekers use these types of letters to build connections with potential employers, network contacts and referrals.
As 2006 comes to a close, many people are beginning to create their list of resolutions for the new year. Lingering at the top of many lists is the goal to find a new job. Unfortunately, this is one resolution that rarely offers immediate results.
According to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray, and Christmas, the average person spends four months searching for a new job. Often, the people stuck in lengthy, dismal job searches are the ones who solely rely on their resume and cover letter to do the work for them. This strategy may have worked years ago, but in today’s competitive job market it takes more than a resume and cover letter to yield interviews. People need unique and intriguing job search techniques and they must make the most of them before they ever begin looking for a new job.
Wendy Enelow and Louise Kursmark, co-authors of Cover Letter Magic, Third Edition, believe next-generation job search letters are a key technique to winning interviews and zipping through the transition from one job to the next. Different from standard cover letters, next-generation letters are not intended to land interviews. Instead, job seekers use these letters to build connections with potential employers, network contacts and referrals.
The following are four types of next-generation letters and the specific ways that Kursmark and Enelow believe they can enhance a person’s job search success:
ï High-impact networking letters: prompt a person’s network contacts to offer him or her job leads, search recommendations, and other contacts to expand their network.
ï Personal branding letters: written to communicate a person’s personal brand and value their brand brings to an organization.
ï Reconnecting letters: remind individuals and companies a person was once acquainted with that he or she is in the market for new job opportunities.
ï Career-update letters: notify recruiters and companies that a person has accepted a new position and reminds them that they may be available in the future for job opportunities.
These special letters can give you a strong and competitive advantage over other candidates, say Enelow and Kursmark.
You never know when an opportunity that’s perfect for you will arise, and you want to be on an employer’s radar screen so that when it does arise, your name and qualifications will immediately come to mind.
Cover Letter Magic, Third Edition, is available at all major bookstores and from the publisher (www.jist.com or 1.800.648.JIST). For a free media copy or to speak with the authors, contact Natalie Ostrom.
JIST, America’s Career Publisher, is the leading publisher of job search, career, occupational information, life skills and character education books, workbooks, assessments, videos and software.
New Job Search Technique Sparks Speedy Results
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