Finding That Good Manufacturing Job: The Cover Letter

Not known to the average person (and why should it be), a cow will have a best friend in the herd with which she does all her activities from grazing to just standing about. And when the cow has her calf, her best friend will act as an aunt to the calf, protecting it, even letting it suckle. Most amazing, if the calf is orphaned, the aunt will raise the orphaned calf as her own.

Your cover letter is the resume's best friend. You need to do one on quality paper like your resume, doing research on the manufacturing company to which you're applying so that you can use relevant facts which you discover for your cover letter to stand out.

Now if you're a student, you've studied many hours. If you have work skills, you've spent precious time developing them. Yet, there are people who won't do the extra work involved in sending out a resume with a really good ( and sometimes no) cover letter because, unlike school or work, there may be no payoff. Even with a good cover letter, you may be unsuccessful and this leads some people not to bother because they feel that the resume, which only needs to be done once, is their entry into that good job.

Yet experience tells differently. The cover letter is the first thing the employer sees. It's a statement about what you'll do for a company and is useful to show an employer that you're that sincere, qualified, hardworking person for whom they're looking. So here is advice for the cover letter.

According to Virginia Tech's Division of Student Affairs, your cover letter should start as follows, with your address and date left-justified or centered: (The lines of information below the date until the salutation deals with the prospective employer to whom you are writing).

Your Street Address

City, State, Zipcode

Telephone number

E-mail address

Month/Day/Year

Mr./Ms./Dr./First Name, Last Name

Title Name of Organization Street or P.O. Box

City,State, Zip Code

Dear Mr./Ms./Dr./ Last Name

In the body, the first paragraph of the letter should start out with a strong introduction using grammar with strong verbs which show you're a doer. Use positive adjectives and adverbs that show your leadership and maturity. Skip the passive voice. Also use numbers when they're a strong suite for you ( 8 years supervising ) because numbers stand out.

The second paragraph reinforces the first paragraph and sells the whole you. Cheerlead your achievements. There may be plenty of people who can drive a truck, but show that you take command, how you desire the job and will add to the company's success.

The last paragraph is you closing the sale. In sales, at some point, you have to ask the customer if he or she wants to to buy. In this case, thank the person to whom you're writing and tell the employer that you'd like very much to have an interview and will be following up with a telephone call ( unless told not to call in the application process. It's actually the personnel department's job to talk to you, though some companies sometimes seem to forget this).

In sales there's also a time to stop talking, so end the letter with Sincerely and your typed name. Sign your name in the space you've left between the Sincerely and your typed name.

By researching a company, you're telling an employer that you care enough to work for the job. And hard workers make money for and bring good reputations to companies.

By

Jeffrey Ruzicka

Jeffrey Ruzicka is a retired executive of a small company that specialized in industrial water treatment, and lives happily with his wife in Western Pennsylvania. He is a contributing writer to ManufacturingWorkers and Nexxt. You can read more of his blogs on ManufacturingWorkers blog.