Your career is your most valuable financial asset, offering you many financial benefits. You can make the most of it by getting a college degree and managing your career to its full potential. Doing this well can earn you millions of dollars in extra income throughout your lifetime.
To help us all make the most of our careers, here's this week's career guidance from David Lorenzo, author of Career Intensity (I loved the book) and blogger at the Career Intensity Blog:
In the past few articles we have covered how you can find the correct person in a target company and how you can get your letter into his/her hands. Next we are going to talk about how you can use your letter to get you in the door.
This section of the Career Intensity Guide to Getting a New Job (getting in the door) is divided into two parts – what to say and how to say it. Today we will focus on what to say.
In your research on your targeted contact (the decision-maker) you should have uncovered some issues that are critical to the success of the company. These issues usually deal with increasing revenue, increasing profit or solving some problem that is specific to the mission or purpose of the firm.
You want to tailor your communication to the specific needs of the company and (if possible) to the targeted hiring manager. You must demonstrate that you have the capability and the desire to solve a specific problem. The old days of putting together a purpose statement that says: “Use my abilities to help advance the goals of the company” are over.
Your introductory letter must answer the following questions:
- What problem can you solve for your target?
- Why should he/she talk to you about solving this problem?
- Why should he/she believe what you say?
- What should the target do next?
Let’s look at each of these aspects of your letter and why they are important.
What problem can you solve for your target?
If you can’t solve a problem, there is no reason for anyone to talk to you. Problem solvers are valuable. The best problems to solve generally fall into one of three areas:
1. Fixing something that is broken.
2. Getting something started.
3. Helping someone (or a team) fulfill their potential.
You need to identify a problem that falls into one of these three areas at your target company in order to get in the door.
Why should he/she talk to you about solving this problem?
In this part of your letter you should discuss why this problem should be solved. The specific benefits of solving this problem must be listed in this section. These benefits must be relevant to your decision-maker.
Why should the decision-maker believe what you say?
In this section you should list some form of proof of your argument. This proof can be physical proof – in the form of a case study or social proof - in the form of a testimonial or reference from someone influential. Some form of proof is required as a “reason to believe”.
What should the target do next?
The letter needs to have some form of a “call to action”. You need to tell the person reading your letter what you want them to do. This can be something as simple as “accept my phone call when I call you on Thursday at 5PM”.
As you think about writing a letter to a decision-maker you must have the answers to these questions in your mind. View these answers as the “keys” to the door to the office of your dream job.
Next week: Part Two – How to answer these questions in letter format.
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