guides – Terence Eden’s Blog

How To Write A Cover Letter For A Job

Terence Eden — Sun, 14 Aug 2022 11:34:22 +0000

I've just finished reviewing a few dozen CVs and Covering Letters. Almost all of them were awful!

Candidates - I beg you - make this easy for me!

I have been given a fixed set of scoring criteria and you've given me a 2,000 word essay on your life, loves, and hopes for the future. I've only got a few minutes per candidate to read, digest, rank, and score each application.

Here's my 100% guaranteed method for maximising the impact of your cover letter.

Address the selection criteria.

That's it. That's the tip.

Let's say the job advert says "We're looking for a team leader who can increase sales. You must be proficient with StarOffice 5.1 and Infinidash. Being fluent in a second language is desirable, but not essential."

Here's what your covering letter should say:

Dear X

[Short and polite preamble about why you're interested in the role / organisation.]

With regard to your selection criteria:

Team Leader

I currently manage a team of 7 SuperChimps. I take great pride in keeping them fed and watered. In the last 12 months none have died in the line of duty - which I believe is a testament to the way I have trained them. I set challenging but realistic targets. My 360 feedback indicates that I am a respected leader.

Increase Sales

When I worked for Universal Exports, we were only the 5th largest provider of laser watches in the world. I increased sales 117% - mostly through my ability to destabilise governments by infiltrating them with aggressive SuperChimps. My efforts helped us move to 4th largest provider.

Technical Proficiency

I am an AWS certified practitioner of Infinidash. I have led several workshops for my team of SuperChimps to help them understand the platform. I have used StarOffice 4.7 extensively to create spreadsheet reports and canteen menus.

Language Fluency

I have a GCSE in Latin and a 57 week Duolingo Streak in Klingon.

My background in team-lead sales, coupled with my technical experience means that I am well qualified to take on the role of Technical Lead in your Bananas-as-a-Service business unit.

[Polite boilerplate about looking forward to working with them etc]

There you go. You've taken the essential and desired requirements. You've written them as headings (in the same order as the advert). You've written a short paragraph which explains how you meet the criteria and quantifies where possible.

The poor sod who has to look through your cover letter will be ecstatic.

Disclaimer

Obviously this does not guarantee you will get an interview. But it significantly improves the chances of the interviewer discovering the relevant bits of your experience.

When you create a cover letter or CV or any other document - think about the reader's user experience. This isn't an exercise in writing beautiful prose in iambic pentameter. This isn't the time to stroke your own ego. You are making it easy for the reviewer to quickly see if you meet the requirements for each section.

That's it.

Imagine that you're trying to look through a page of A4 to see if the candidate even mentions their teamwork experience. Then you have to scan through again looking for sales experience. Urgh! Infuriating!

Secret Rules

I loath the idea of "secret" rules. For example, the nonsense idea that you must write a thank-you note to your interviewer. They are discriminatory practices which are designed to enforce a monoculture.

But this isn't a secret rule. Most adverts say something like: "Please supply a CV covering your work history, and a covering letter explaining your suitability."

And no one is going to junk your application just because you don't follow my advice. They'll just find it slightly harder to see why you're a good fit.

I also hate gimmicky tips like send your application in a gold envelope.

But this isn't a gimmick. It's a pragmatic way to answer the question you've been set.

I wish the recruitment industry would junk the idea of cover letters and move to structured forms. Perhaps it is slightly dehumanising to ask people to fill in a dozen little boxes. And maybe it is annoying for candidates to reformat their applications for every job. And maybe I should drop half the CVs in the bin to avoid employing unlucky people.

Either way. To improve your chances of getting an interview - and to improve my chances of retaining my sanity - please consider how you structure your cover letter.

You Are Too Stupid To Use QR Codes Correctly

Terence Eden — Tue, 31 May 2011 12:37:36 +0000

In one of my previous "day jobs" I used to deal with bug reports for a major application. While there was the odd genuine problem or poorly designed bit of UI, the majority of the "bugs" were PEBCAK - aka people so unbelievably dense they couldn't work out that print button does nothing if you didn't have a printer attached to your machine...

We're now seeing the same sort of problems in the QR space. Marketeers are using them without any really thought of how or if they work.

It doesn't need to be this way. There are some simple rules to ensure you create a great QR code experience.

The Ten Commandments

It's always pleasing to have a list of ten things to do. In reality, successful use of QR codes can be boiled down to 8 simple commandments.

Your QR code shall be large enough and clear enough to scan easily.
Your QR code shall contain the minimum amount of data necessary.
Your QR code shall resolve to a mobile friendly resource.
Your QR code shall work for an international audience.
Your QR code shall work on all platforms.
Your QR code shall generate statistics and thou shalt analyse them.
Your QR code shall have a sufficient call to action.
Your QR code shall be tested.

What do those commandments mean? Read on...

1. Scanning

This is really basic and boils down to 4 key points.

Black ink on a white background. Yes, you can use dark colours on light backgrounds - but if you want it scanned by the majority of people, keep it simple.
Whitespace around the edge. This should be the equivalent of 2 rows.
Print it large enough so that all bits can be seen
Keep it square

Here's a code which violates the majority of the above.
London South Bank University has a code with minimal whitespace, so small the newsprint smudges, and deformed so it isn't perfectly square. As a result, the code isn't particularly scannable.

2. Minimum Data

The fewer bits of data in a QR code, the smaller it is. Obvious, no? The small the code is, the larger and clearer we can print it - making it easier to scan. The less data in the code, the quicker it is to scan. This is especially important on phones with low camera resolution.

There are two ways to go about reducing the amount of data you pack into a code.

Reduce Size

Both these QR codes lead to the same web page - this post - but one has a shorter URL than the other.

If your CMS can't generate short URLs for your website - ask your webmaster to create a redirect rule in .htaccess for you. If your webmaster doesn't know what .htaccess is - get a new webmaster.

Appropriate Error Correction

QR supports 4 levels of error-correction. This means if the code gets damaged or disfigured, it should still be scannable.

If you're printing on signs which are going to be exposed to the elements, it makes sense to increase the level of error correction. Most users can get away with a very low level. Here are the differences

3. Mobile Friendly

QR Codes are mostly scanned by mobile phones. Why then, would you make a code point towards your mult-megabyte, flash heavy, non-mobile main site?

Mobile Web

This code from Superdrug takes you to an abomination of a site.

Not only is the site hard to use on mobile, it will take the user ages to download - especially if they're not in 3G or WiFi coverage. If they're paying per MB, they won't thank you for taking them to such a useless site.

Mobile Phone

UK users: Under no circumstances use "free" numbers like 0800, nor "premium rate" numbers like 0845 & 0870. The call costs to these numbers from most mobile phones is extortionate. If possible, use a geographic number, mobile number, or an 03 number.

4.International

In the above example, you will have seen that my mobile number was rendered as starting with +44. That's because you don't know if the mobile phone scanning the code has a UK SIM in it. Nor do you know if the user is roaming. If you are doing anything with calls, make sure that international users can access your code.

5. Multi-Platform

The world is more than an iPhone. If the page or service you are linking to only works on one phone - you've failed.

That said, if you genuinely only have an iPhone game, make sure that you point to a site which will detect the make and model of the phone and direct it correctly.

For example, rather than pointing a QR directly to iTunes, point to an intermediary site. If a non-iPhone scans the code, you can redirect it to your mobile friendly site - or a page telling them that it's not available.

This is also useful for the next commandment.

6. Statistics

You should be tracking hits to your website anyway - but these are the minimum you must consider when implementing a QR code.

What

Do not point your QR code to your main site - always track the code so you can see if hits are coming from QR codes. EG

example.com/qr
qr.example.com
example.com/foo?s=qr

Who

As mentioned above, track the User-Agents hitting your site. Are you getting more QR hits from Android or BlackBerry?

Where

QR codes are cheap. You can create a different QR code for every campaign you run.

example.com/foo?s=6pack
example.com/foo?s=2litre
example.com/foo?s=6litre
example.com/foo?s=GuardianNewspaper
example.com/foo?s=NYT
example.com/foo?s=90210

7. CTA

What does your QR code do? Where does it lead? What benefit will the user get from scanning it in? Does the user even know what to do with a QR code? What should they do if they don't have a QR scanner?

Consider something like these examples.

Get the latest news on your mobile - scan the code to visit bbc.mobi/news

Download our app for the best deals. Grab a free scanner by searching for "QR Code" in your phone's app store.

Donate to our charity. Scan the QR code with your smartphone to give just £5

Call us to find out more. Scan to call 03069 990123

For more great ideas, read How to create a great call to action.

8. Testing

Buy a dozen cheap handsets from a pawn shop. Test your code. Test the code in a variety of lighting conditions, at a varying range of distances, at different resolutions, on different networks, using a wide selection of QR scanning software.

Your users are not a homogeneous bunch. The people seeing your QR code don't all have the same make and model Android phone as you do.

You wouldn't test your website only in Internet Explorer, would you? You'd make sure it worked in Firefox, Safari, and Opera. Let it be so with your QR codes.

Putting It All Together

You're not too stupid to understand how to make effective use of QR codes. The "commandments" are mostly just common sense.

Use QR codes wherever they seem appropriate - but make sure that they're scannable, work for everyone who scans them, and lead somewhere useful.

Suggestions for commandments 9 & 10 are welcome. Please drop them in the comment box.