Many jobseekers, inside and outside of IT, don't really understand the purpose of the cover letter that goes with your resume. If the resume tells everything the boss needs to know, what's the point of this additional, one-page document? In an ideal world, the cover letter would be the first thing anyone reads, before they even look at your resume. In practice, this isn't always the case, but the cover letter still provides a very important function. It communicates your career "brand," highlighting your top three skills and letting an employer know how you do things differently and better.
A great information technology cover letter should do all of the following:
1) Ask a Question or Make an Assertion: A cover letter has to motivate the reader to take time out of the day, sit down, and go through your entire resume. That's a tall order when there could be dozens or hundreds of other job candidates, so the cover letter has to kindle a genuine interest. Ask a question: "Is your company getting all the value it can from your Quality Assurance efforts?" Or make an assertion the reader is sure to agree with: "Your company deserves world class IT leadership from an expert in complex, multi-site implementations." Most likely, your reader will nod along and keep reading.
2) Address the Company's Needs Directly: Use the company's name when it feels natural to do so. Make references to "your business" and to the firm's specific areas of expertise. In your closing, don't just ask for an interview; ask for the opportunity to meet so you can discuss the company's needs -- and how you can help. Each of these elements should be subtle, but they add up to communicate the fact you have a genuine interest in working for that company, not just anywhere. If you follow this up by showing keen interest and knowledge about the company during the interview, you're set.
3) Pick Your Key Skill and Show Its Value: No matter how versatile your skill set is, odds are you have one "headliner" skill that past employers most relied on. Lead with this, introducing your achievements clearly and confidently and backing them with hard data: "Thanks to my leadership in technical support, customer satisfaction scores increased 20%, call volume dropped 15%, and the average call was finished 10% faster, empowering my team to serve more customers at lower costs." Keep it brief, so you can show respect for the reader's time and satisfy their curiosity with your longer resume.
4) Support Your Key Skill With Up to Two Others: Showing how your major skills work together gives the employer an exact idea of what they're getting from you as a candidate; and if you've done research to align your skills with their needs, it'll build excitement for your resume. Showcase any achievements where 2-3 skill areas converged to create an important result, and tie your skills together with linking phrases like "Project management insight backed by ..." "A blend of technical and leadership skills ..."
5) Restate Your Top Achievements: In a cover letter, you should be careful not to simply repeat what's on your resume. A few bullets -- no more than three -- can describe your top achievements, but don't be tempted to copy-paste from the original. Instead, look for different facets of your accomplishment. If your resume discusses leading a big project to ensure regulatory compliance, for example, you might discuss the many teams you worked with and the tight timeline, while on the cover letter you might emphasize savings to the company from eliminating violations and raising quality standards.
6) Close With Benefits: Near the end, offer a quick, compelling reason why you'd like to work for the company of your choice. Show the reader a specific issue where your skills and their needs converge, or mention an aspect of their work environment or projects they take pride in. You should leave the reader with an understanding of exactly who you are, what you offer, and why you've chosen them as a good fit. If you've followed these steps, your cover letter will jump off the page compared to those who "wing it" -- or worse, those who didn't bother to write a cover letter at all.
S. D. Farrell, CARW, CEIC is a Certified Advanced Resume Writer, career development author, and speaker. He has placed hundreds of job seekers during the recession, helping IT pros from entry to C-level achieve their career goals at Fortune 100 employers like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. Read more about information technology resumes from this author at his site, Career Excellence Advisors.
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