Dear people wanting an entry-level PR job:
Thanks for your interest. We’re happy that so many of you visited our firm's web site. (Those of you who didn't should consider a different career.)
You have nice resumes. That’s expected.
What we pay attention to first, however, is your cover letter. This is where you show us your communications skills as the candidate we absolutely will want to hire versus the dozens of other people who also want the job.
But many of your cover letters are badly written. Several are downright stunning in their awfulness.
Writing is a big deal in our business.
So before you submit your resume in hopes of breaking in, make sure your cover letter doesn’t get you summarily rejected because of common mistakes like these:
SAYING "I LOVE WORKING WITH PEOPLE"... This only puts you above all the PR job candidates who love working with farm animals.
HATE FOR HYPHENS ... If your letter reads that “I’m a first class writer with an all out attitude ready to work for a top notch company,” you’re not.
REDUNDANT HYPERBOLE ... If you use the word passion more than five times, we figure that you’re mostly passionate about not using a thesaurus.
UNCREATIVE BLATANT PANDERING ... Ineffective sucking-up is telling a potential employer that “It requires a lot of hard work and an exceptional team of employees for a business to become and remain successful.” Leave the fawning facile bromides to us professionals.
MISSING SOMETHING IMPORTANT ... One cover letter we received was 400 words long and didn’t once mention our firm.
AN OBLIVIOUS "WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR ME" ATTITUDE … We won't interview self-absorbed newbies who write things like, “After significant research into your company, I have decided that this position offers me an excellent opportunity to gain valuable experience in a career area in that I am interested in.”
One more thing. You're not writing a novel. If we have to take a restroom break while reading your cover letter, it’s too long.
Good luck out there.
S2
