Cover Letter Workshop

Transcript

[00:00:00] This is a cover letter workshop. A lot of people have sent their cover letters in and we'll go through those and. And discuss each cover letter individually. But also before we get started, I did want to show I'm going to show you guys a couple of things.

[00:00:11] I prepared a PowerPoint for today's presentation, but right before I started today I wanted to I had some thoughts that I wanted to share with everyone. Right before we got started. And because this is some of the most important things that a cover letter needs to do.

[00:00:25] And as I talked to you guys today about your cover letters I'm going to be continually coming back to these things. And these are the four most important things that law firms are asking when they're looking to hire you, whether or not you can do the job, if you can be managed, if you do the job long-term and if you want the job.

[00:00:41]Those kinds of four, and then there's five and six, which are, do we like you? And will you fit in? And when you're writing a cover letter, the, you really need to your first paragraph should always. Really tell why you're applying to the firm and just be very kind of short and succinct about that.

[00:00:55]So people know, so if the firm has an opening, you can say that if the firm if [00:01:00] you've been asked to apply by someone or send your resume, you note that, so these are really, this is really the whole point at the beginning, but then the rest of the cover letter. And really the most important thing is making a connection.

[00:01:11] And and so I just want to talk a little bit about this because as I get into all this, I'm going to be talking a lot about making connections and and one of the mistakes that, that a lot of people make is, and I see this with a lot of attorneys and I've written extensively about this because it's, it tends to be different for attorneys from different types of backgrounds.

[00:01:30]And I don't like saying this, but a lot of times people that are from working class backgrounds, I hate to say that, but a lot of times working class backgrounds, they assume that the, the, because of the way they've been taught to think or how grew up sometimes that maybe.

[00:01:43]The most important thing is just being able to do the work. And I really think and then other types of people, even, very privileged people from upper class backgrounds think the most important thing is sometimes where they went to school or whatever. And the thing is that you, [00:02:00] people hire people that they like, and they hire people that connect with them.

[00:02:04] And so anytime you can make a connection in a cover letter that's what you need to do. And yeah. That's one of my skills and are the skills of our recruiters at BCG attorney searches is we really don't let anything leave the door, go out of our firm, unless we believe that the attorney is going to make a connection, that our letter's going to make a connection, because the difference between a good letter that goes out for our candidates and one that doesn't is, it's sometimes five to 10 times.

[00:02:29] The person gets is more likely to get employed. If you write a good letter, that makes a connection. You need to make a connection. And and it's not just about the fact that you can do the work. Most employers have choice of being able to hire a lot of people and they're always going to be able to find people but the people that they want to hire, the people that can make a connection and.

[00:02:48]If you think about the root problems in the world, and this is a cover letter workshops. So I don't want to go too much into that, but everybody is, needs a connection. And in, in most self-help groups [00:03:00] and most, keys to. Getting people off drugs or alcohol or helping poor behaviors are putting people in groups of other people where they get a connection.

[00:03:09] So if someone has a drug or alcohol problem, they send them to rehab or they send them to, AA or something or whatever. Yeah. It's about taking people that don't have connection and giving them connection. And you have to think about lawyers and lawyers are always, sitting in offices like a, litigator's going to be surrounded by hostile judges and clients and coworkers.

[00:03:28]And and feel like a real lack of connection. They want people in their corner. So the more connection you can make in your cover letters the better off you're going to be. And it really does make a. Make a huge difference. And if you have connection by the way, in your personal life and most forms of depression and psychological issues and stuff, or a lot of times because of a lack of connection, I have a really interesting experience and I, I don't know how relevant this is to a cover letter workshop, but I was in.

[00:03:55] Greece when I was maybe 26 years old. And and I [00:04:00] met this girl that and I ate and I was on this Island and she turned out to be absolutely crazy. And it doesn't. And when I say crazy, I just mean that, she was just just. Couldn't have her stuff together. And this was a small Island.

[00:04:13] And and so what happened is all these people that were local got together and what they would do is they would basically sit with her and talk to her for days to make her better. And that's how they'd always done things on this Island. So when someone was having issues, that was just suddenly, they would do forced connection.

[00:04:29] It was very interesting. It was a small Island. It may be, 300 people living on it and it was very interesting. And so I always remembered that and it's taking someone that feels a lack of connection. This person had been thrown out of their family and all sorts of stuff. And so it's interesting.

[00:04:42] So connection is something that I'm just going to keep coming back to again and again today as we review cover letters. I'm going to get started right away looking at some of these cover letters, if you guys gave me a second. And and then let me just post them up and we'll talk a little bit about some of these rules with your cover letters. [00:05:00]

[00:05:00]Okay. Here we go. And and then I will also do a little bit of a presentation at some point today, while we're doing this. So one of the things, everyone here needs to make sure you do is in your just fix this thing here a little bit. Okay. Okay, sorry is in your cover letters you always need to go through and you can see here, I have Grammarly and pro writing aid open.

[00:05:24] So this person right here you're suddenly, when you write a cover letter, you're demonstrating your ability to Proofread things you're demonstrating your ability to write well your demonstrating all sorts of ability. So this I'm going to call the pre letter and you can see here I can see a little bit of errors here.

[00:05:42]Wow. Some issues with this. So this is someone I don't know if they're looking for what this is but I'm gonna this is, I'm going to call this before review Harrison view or some review view and this after,

[00:05:55]after hers,

[00:05:56]All right. So this person is saying they're writing [00:06:00] to express my interest and attorney position with your office. I spent a large portion of my career as a prosecutor, and I'm thrilled to the opportunity to work for district attorney who wants to bring a caring approach to justice.

[00:06:11] Okay. Okay. So the first thing you need to remember with every cover letter is that most of the time when people are reading them and think about all the, think about all the mail and so forth that you get and I've just taken these paragraphs and broken them up. You want to make it a little bit easier for people to read.

[00:06:27]And then I'm going to go through also here and I'm going to let's see an attorney position. I'm going to close pro writing aid just because it's going to take too much time, but currently  transitioning attorney efficiency. Let's see. Okay. Anyway, I'm not going to go through and do all these corrections in a second, but I'm just trying to be in your parents sort of large part okay.

[00:06:48]Okay. So typically you'd want to say something along the lines. If the firm has an opening you typically want to talk about that, but the firm doesn't have an opening, then you don't need to say [00:07:00] anything about that. But what I would prefer to write would be something Along this line.

[00:07:05] So this person saying here I w I'm writing to express my interest in attorney position with Dobson, a large portion of my career as a prosecutor, I'm thrilled for the opportunity to work for that. A district attorney that wants to bring a caring approach to justice. Okay. So this sounds to me like a that someone knows who the person is that they're writing to.

[00:07:25]And and that they liked the fact that the person makes a has a caring approach to justice. So you wouldn't write to whom it may concern. You would probably want to write directly to the person to the person that you're writing to. So it'd be, dear district attorney.

[00:07:39]Let's just make a John DOE. Okay.  I'm familiar. I've been a follower of yours for years

[00:07:47]years.

[00:07:48] I have been some along those lines. I have been the, of yours for years. Starting back when you

[00:07:55]X case or something along those lines that you handled. More [00:08:00] recently I've been, whatever you can do to make a connection. So you can say things about, something along, some, any, anything to do. That's going, gonna make a connection when, I'm familiar with your reputation or such-and-such,

[00:08:13]or,  helping I don't know something about, different types of criminals, I don't know what you would write, but something along those lines. So anything you can do to make a connection now one of the things I did want to say is another rule is when you're making connection the main thing you want to do is you want to actually, you're much better off writing to someone directly than you ever are.

[00:08:33]Just writing like a main, like a large long letter that basically, talks to people and anybody that reads it. So the more personalized each letter. That you do the better off you're going to be. I have a lot of rules that I follow and I'm going to talk about them later, but in, when we write a letter for a candidate at BCG, we always have a section that goes in there called why are we submitting a U to this firm?

[00:08:56]So you can see here, I'm just going through and trying to [00:09:00] fix different issues here with capitalization's and inconsistencies and so forth. And I would say my family is currently transitioning to I would just say the district of Columbia area, so just think through all this and and and if you can wave in the Virginia bar, people don't need to know any information about that now.

[00:09:19]It's currently is moving in the process.

[00:09:23] Sorry, there's just a lot of information here. Okay. So you, you may want to know when people, when you're, when someone's reviewing a resume like this they're asking a lot of questions which we'll come back to in a second, but the biggest thing that the problem with this particular resume is that this, this particular cover letter is really it's mainly about the person.

[00:09:42]And any cover letter that you do is going to be they're going to have your resume on file. People that are reading your cover letter are humans. So they're more interested in themselves typically than they are everything. So they can see all of this should be on your resume.

[00:09:57]There's really nothing here that's [00:10:00] going to help them very much. It's not this is just all filler. And this is all filler too. I hate to say, let me actually just cross this out crossing out filler. Okay. Same thing filler. Let's see here filler  just nothing.

[00:10:14]It's all about the person, it's all about you all. This is all about you. All about you.  If you were to make this a better cover letter, th the this first line makes it connection. This thing right here, I've devoted my career to helping citizens of the communities I've called home.

[00:10:29]I would, I don't think that it sounds like when you're saying this, you're going to basically move. Anywhere that you can get a job. So I would take that out. And then and then, why is your family in the process of moving. To the district of Columbia area, I would just say I am in the process saying you have a family can sometimes hurt you.

[00:10:47]Just in the firm and maybe they don't want to someone with a family, I don't know. So here you can make a connection. And then you can say something I'm really, again, your different types of this, if true. If true. [00:11:00] And then and then and then you would also go into some detail about no this first paragraph I am applying, I am applying for position or your Or your position.

[00:11:13] And the fire was very familiar, brand new and true by blah, blah. And then the more you know about the person you're applying to the better. So the more you know about the person. Oh, you just want to be flattering and so forth and go from there. So that's basically it, but not over the top.

[00:11:29] And then and that's really, I'm playing and then you have this since thing here about why you're moving to the district of Columbia area. So law firms like that but you have to really. Tell them why you have to say something along the lines of my family is from there.

[00:11:43]I'm my, my spouse is transferring there. If you need to,  give them reasons that you're moving because nobody wants to hire someone that's going to transfer in there. Et cetera, whatever the reasons are for moving there. Because the [00:12:00] questions and let me just go back to those real quickly  questions here and then we'll ask these for pretty much every candidate let's see, can you do the job  give you like you where you fit in. So this basically is going to answer the question. Do we like you? We like you.  And then let me just say other questions. Sorry. Give me one second. Cover letter, must state, give me one second here.

[00:12:23]And then

[00:12:24] And this will move a lot faster once we start looking at more cover letters. So we've got here one. Oh, I'm sorry. One, two, three. Okay. So I sit here, I'm applying for the position and district attorney's office. So this person I've been probably familiar with Graham. That's a connection.

[00:12:41] Do we like you? And then so this is why applying. And then and then, and the rest of the, and then the other questions you have to ask her, what we do? The person do the job long-term so the problem with this existing stuff here is this shows, this is shows you can do the job right here.

[00:12:57]So you could potentially put that in your [00:13:00] cover letter. But you need to make sure all these questions are answered. In five years and making connection, and then you can go here and you can put this, something along these lines in here.  Let me see here. And then do you want the job this is, where you could also talk about that and then where you do the job long-term so the cover letter basically needs to answer all these questions.

[00:13:20]You need to talk about why applying and then you need to make a connection. And then the next things that come up is you need to be able to talk about, whether or not you can do the job, whether or not you can be managed whether or not you can do the job long-term and so forth.

[00:13:33] So some of the things on your resume are going to talk about. Whether or not, you can be managed. So this right here says the person can be managed. And this all here says they can do the job. And especially if they were there for several years and then and then in terms of fitting in you're probably covering that too.

[00:13:49]I would just do it like that. And then I would say, I'd love to, I'd love to see and do an informational interview. Would it be possible

[00:13:56]informational interview.

[00:13:57] Just something along those lines and it [00:14:00] can be very short and and you don't really need to say a ton of stuff, and you just want to make sure that all these questions are answered and. The, to the extent you can and it doesn't need to be long. You can just you don't even need this really just very short.

[00:14:15] And the only thing I'm concerned about with this particular one is, why the person's transitioning to the district of Columbia. If you do this correctly, it should be good, but someone that's just picking up and moving. Is not a good thing. So you should never try to do that.

[00:14:28] So this is some of the changes that I would recommend very quickly with the idea that we have a lot of these to review today. Okay. This is the second,

[00:14:35]and hope you guys will get a sense of how we're doing this as we go through. Let me just see here. Harrison's review.

[00:14:43]No.

[00:14:44]Okay, so it shouldn't be Deere reviewer. You should obviously let's see.

[00:14:48]Okay. So you can see here, like too, that there's all of these issues in terms of things that you're picking up with these grammar programs. And I

[00:14:56] so I'm just going to go through and fix these very quickly. And all the [00:15:00] problems that are being found. And then you can see here spacing, iShares and all this stuff. So it's important to make sure that you you always. Do what you can to fix all these things.

[00:15:09]The question that, these obviously need some help, so I'm not going to go through all of them. Cause I want to show you why. Some of them are important. So th the first thing is no one cares about this person that they're accomplished illegal administrator.

[00:15:23]Th they don't care. They and it's not because I'm this I'm applying you say I'm applying for the. Line or the executive role to what looks conservatory and then you can even say something along the lines of, I am a fan of your website. I'm a fan of your website, if that your website

[00:15:41]articles and so forth, this is about making connections and it's so what this does compared to what was here before is it makes a connection and says something nice to the firm and it shows an interest and makes a connection. And that's really and and it shows an interest in the subject [00:16:00] matter. So that's is going to help you much more than what you current, where you had for because it's just, it's making connection.

[00:16:07] If you guys, by the way, people are not following all this so far and the rules and everything that I've been giving you it'll make more sense as we go forward. I don't know why that's okay. But it'll make a lot more sense as we go forward. Let me just see here, fix those again.  Okay. So I'm applying and your website and instead the posting there. Okay. Okay. So I haven't a lifelong interest in political advocacy. Demonstrated effective advocacy on behalf of the conservation movement. If you review my Rotax resume, if you review my attached resume, that's not very nice.

[00:16:40]You undoubtedly agree. Okay. This is all just not good. You don't want to one of the things is people

[00:16:45] Highlights of his prior career. This is not even a this is something that someone else wrote. So this looks like you're, you've taken something that someone else wrote about you and put up there. But all this stuff really needs to come out.  That's [00:17:00] just not The problem with all this information and this is all about you.

[00:17:03] And none of it is about making a connection. And you really, whatever you want to do, you want to make a connection. This is your opportunity to get people to like you. And remember, like I said, at the beginning, everybody needs to be liked and cared about and so forth and wants that. So I would remove all of this information there.

[00:17:21]My biggest accomplishment as a founding, an organization and representative of grassroots grass roots, consumer advocacy group in Houston, his group was responsible for successful interview and do it as participation in a major rate cut case. Okay. Presuming preserving our stinking wetlands is crucial for maintaining the bar.

[00:17:40] Diversity also play a large role. Okay. So these are these are experts that you're writing to and. These people can see all this on your resume. And and they really don't need all this information from you. They, and the other thing is the problem with this.

[00:17:54]So here, you're saying why you're doing the job, why you can do the job and why you are applying

[00:17:59]This [00:18:00] is about why you can do the job. And then there's nowhere in here that you're making the connection. So the not making a connection,

[00:18:07]this shows the problem with this is all this right here. You're saying my leadership, my all this stuff shows that you probably can't be managed.  It's very difficult to manage people when they're going and starting these kind of cases and so forth that law firms and most employers want workers and not general.

[00:18:25] That's probably Sharon, you can't be managed. And then and then. There's nothing this would show. If you were to write this would show maybe that you really want the job. I seen nothing about, why you would sit in nothing. So why would fit in

[00:18:39]why we would like here?  This is all about you. So if I come to you and I say that. You know how great I am now, which I wouldn't do, but if I were to do that you wouldn't like me. But if I come to you and I say, I'm just a real admirer of yours. And I think you're, really special and and and you've been so inspiring to me.

[00:18:58] And and you do think, I [00:19:00] think your organization does this so well, and I've always wanted to be a part of it. And if you shaped things like that, then then people are gonna like you, but. So your cover letters, a chance to meet people like you, in addition to what's on your resume.

[00:19:11] And the only way you can do that is if you can make a connection and say things, that are nice to people. Just say, I look forward to meeting, discuss how I can benefit and should you need more information, please do not hesitate to contact me. I'm in the course of the contact.

[00:19:23] You so I would just I think a lot of this cover letter needs a lot of work and by the way if I'm reviewing your cover letters  I'm happy to talk about the revised cover letters maybe in a following meeting in a couple of weeks cause I know that a lot of these probably will, you will redo them, but all these rules, you need to say why you're applying.

[00:19:42] You need to make a connection. You need to show, you can do the job you manage, do the job, long-term want the job and do they like you and will you fit in? And there's nothing really in this cover letter that does that. And and that's why there's problems with it. So let's go here and we'll do this.

[00:19:58]I, let's just do after Harrison [00:20:00] review, just just to make things simple going forward. Okay. So this is a recruiting manager, dear sir. Madam. Yeah. Okay, this is actually pretty good. I many problems with this opening at all. Except for this part, you, don't part of the problem is a lot of times people they use the cover letters to say why they're a good fit and let the people make that figure that out on themselves on their own.

[00:20:24]Okay. I am writing you do to my interest. No, I'm I am, I would like to apply for that.

[00:20:33]Supervisor.  Okay. I am applying.

[00:20:37]Okay. So there's nothing here. That makes a connection. So let's see. Let me see here. You don't have to say, you're happy to do a video call. Okay. This is cute in there and in place. Hey, safe. I like that. That's nice. This is actually fun. I like that. Okay. Let's talk a little bit about this. There's a lot going on here. Remember that, you all your resume needs to show you can, your cover letter needs to [00:21:00] show, you can be managed and the biggest thing and you'll do the job long-term and and and this is, I'm sure your cover letter.

[00:21:06]So this is really the big, the mistake that a lot of people make is they show things about the fact that they cannot be managed. So if I got this cover letter, by the way I would certainly not hire this person or interview them. It's not to say. That there's any special reason.

[00:21:20]That this is a bad attorney. It's just that the tone of everything it's coming across. So first of all, you wouldn't say NJ, you would say New Jersey and this is just showing a level of, and stuff that, that needs to improve. And so that's just not good. And And you don't need to say really why, what you've been doing.

[00:21:38]I would just say people don't want you, this is going to very hardworking attorneys that are getting this. And so they're going to have a lot of people that aren't going to want to take time off and volunteer at state and local events. Aggressive attorneys will be does not want the job.

[00:21:53] There's no job.  So that aggressive attorneys want to work all the time. And that's how it's expected [00:22:00] with attorneys. I don't make these rules by the way. That's just how it works. So this is going to show you can't do the job, this particular thing right here. This is showing that.

[00:22:08]Wow. What is this showing? Let's see here. Let me do the demo on the term. Do you want to do the job showing, do you want to do the job as well? Do the job? This is showing Helps . Okay. So this is I don't understand why you're looking forward to presenting your credentials.

[00:22:24] That doesn't make any sense. But so you need to piggyback into productive workforce. You could just say, get back to work. But I'm not going to do that, but this the problem with this statement is this shows management issues. So this shows that there might be issues with managers  because people have been hired all through the pandemic.

[00:22:41] As a matter of fact, the legal market was very good during the pandemic. It's not necessarily that, and it's not for you to say the health, I'm confident or back to a productive workforce.  That's just management. Culture of bank.

[00:22:53]Okay. And then people know this. So this is also showing management issues. So you typically need to be very [00:23:00] careful about telling people what they already know. You just, all this has to kind of change. And these are some of the problems with that. This cover letter would be much better if it said why the person was applying.

[00:23:11]It also says, I just say I research, I recently. Took the New York recently been admitted to the new year or recently passed the, I recently took and passed the New York bar. There's I can just say far and that's about it. And and there's something in here that's got to try to make it connection with the employer.

[00:23:29]This is your attempt to right here to show you can do the job, so let's see.  okay. This isn't.

[00:23:34]A lot of work, but 13 people with six of them being an experience, a six. Okay. What's PQR.

[00:23:43] Okay. Addition is a staff attorney Oh, okay. So here's your attempt to make a connection. This is great. So you're making the connection. I would just say, I don't think you want to say anything about being a staff attorney. I would just say and this is you say for that's not proper.

[00:23:56]And then everyone no one cares about, a major company. Of [00:24:00] course not everyone is nice in a major company. So you might say something along the lines of who you liked or what happened, liked, and whatnot,

[00:24:08]something along those lines who need to know  this is your opportunity to make this connection. And so that's actually very positive. I would do whatever you possibly can here to change around this language a little bit. Let me actually make this a little bit bigger here for people.

[00:24:23] So it's easier to see two 50.

[00:24:26]Okay. So I'd make that a little bit larger. I would try to make a connection a little bit more there. And it might even be more important to put it. It's actually more important to put this up first. And if you you don't say a few times, you just say and don't say had privilege of engaged and that's just not how people talk.

[00:24:41]I would just say I've worked with your company before.

[00:24:44]So another thing to think about too is when you do write your cover letter you need to make sure that your that your language is very tight. And then also that you're doing whatever you possibly can to make a connection with people. And then that you're using [00:25:00] a language that's natural.

[00:25:01]All this stuff is very important. So this particular cover letter needs a lot of work. I hope, but you definitely want to go through and make sure you're answering these questions. This particular cover letter. Now it says why the person's applying since by their main connection.

[00:25:14]It, this is fine. It's talking about why they can do the job, so that's good. But there's nothing in here about whether do the job long-term. There's nothing about why they want the job. It's just the, person's just saying something along the lines of, they want to get back to work now after playing with their son.

[00:25:27] And and there's nothing in there to indicate that, they'll daylight you and they'll fit in. Now, this is your opportunity to show right here. That you may like you and you might get fit in what's this doing very, what this is doing very well. This particular cover letter is it's actually it's they're a persons, it's not a, like a cover letter to apply for all jobs.

[00:25:48] It's actually for that job, which is good. Okay. Let's move on. Okay. This is a law student ones. That's good. I'm glad to see that.  There's your man. Okay.

[00:25:58]I love this. [00:26:00] This is actually okay. These kinds of things like three L's and so forth. Let's try to I would just say I am a third year law student

[00:26:07]at Texas a and M university. That's and just remember short language is always better. I love this. This, if you see this, what's nice about this. We devoted my professional life to healthcare is this is, this is asking the question, do we like you and so forth.

[00:26:22] You want the job, all these sorts of questions are will you do the job? Long-term all these sorts of things are coming out right when you say this. And so that's actually a nice introduction. That that answers but I would also ask why the person miss going to law school.

[00:26:36]I would just say I'm drawn to Catlin. So you need to really look at your language and the ways you can shorten it. I would

[00:26:42] Yeah.

[00:26:42]Okay. This is great. I like this, this is Okay. So you shouldn't say what the person spoken highly of you. You probably just want to say, what that person said about captain that appealed to you. So what did the person say?

[00:26:54]So more specific is better. So more specific it's better. And the reason is because here [00:27:00] what's going, w what's going on is that the person is you're really just, it's not just because someone speaks highly of affirm. There's negative articles about firms every day.

[00:27:09]Kevin's a great firm, but there's just, there's no reason to put that in there. Then you say, I write this letter to mates, to this firm you've already applied above. So you don't need that. Of course your resume's included thank you in advance.

[00:27:21] No you can say I can be reached

[00:27:22] Maybe you can say that. Thanks again. Look forward to hearing from you. Do you, you might get rejected you just, all this kind of extra language is fine. But the other problem here too, is that you're talking about the fact that you're you interested in healthcare and then and then you're applying to cabin because they're a special healthcare law.

[00:27:38]And I don't know that this is even capitalized like that, but  but I would just and then you say all this stuff about employment law, and then you talked about this other sorts of stuff. So I don't know why you would talk about another practice area when if someone's interested in healthcare law, that's much better than saying you're interested in all this other stuff.

[00:27:58]So these sorts of connections and said, [00:28:00] most of this is pretty good. And I don't know if I would say for over 10 years, but that's fine. I would just say for several years, and then I don't know that you want to sign it with all these different qualifications.

[00:28:09]I would just that's, that could turn people off and just looks a little arrogant. It's on your resume. Most people don't sign their name Esquire.  Some people do. But and that's kinda how it went.  And it has an opening then you should say what the opening is.

[00:28:22] Yeah. But obviously people know are gonna know this from your resumes. So I would just say something along the lines of, I would like to be considered.

[00:28:30]Considered.

[00:28:32]Okay.  And then you could go something along the lines of this that would probably be better and that, and and then then you're much better like that. And and so that's basically some of the major changes that I would make to this, I think Okay.

[00:28:46]Okay. Sometime lot of science this particular letter, by the way, law student I would recommend Harrison would recommend contacting them,

[00:28:53]contacting the attorney, contacting healthcare attorneys in cat.

[00:28:58]Something along those lines [00:29:00]

[00:29:00]and ask him for an informational interview.

[00:29:02] That's really probably your best way of doing it. Then you go on for an informational interview law students, by the way, are informational interviews are a great idea because what can happen to informational interviews is those people can give you leads of other employers if they like to that might be good and so forth.

[00:29:18] And and people like to do that. Okay. Here's a corporate counsel. Let's see here. Cool. But counsel  let's see here. Okay. Dear hiring manager is solutions oriented team player, track, work, or accomplishments and helping units and profit centers attain their cheek of Jenkins and gold. No. No. Okay.

[00:29:39] So you can see here that. This and et cetera open? No. Thereby warning. Okay. So all this particular, this cover letter I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about it. But it, you have to ask, where are these questions answered about the job. So there's nothing in here about what the job is.

[00:29:55]Think about what job is. Is why upline

[00:29:59]or [00:30:00] no effort to make a connection.

[00:30:02] And and the only thing that they're showing is they're showing that can do the job. They're showing that can be managed to some extent. And but they're not they're not really answering the questions though. Do you want the job or will you fit in? So there's some issues with this particular application.

[00:30:16]I don't think they would say via the USA jobs portal. But that's actually very interesting. If the job was on USA jobs, you would say that. So all this stuff it's just, this is not how people talk. You would say to them, you want to open it like a conversation you want people to like you and and all this stuff here saying my accomplishments and so forth is typically not the best idea.

[00:30:36]You just want to you can always making sure you're shortening your language is important. And just going over these and and being this sort of thing, you don't say everything you do is an accomplishment.  People, this is just not how people talk and so you need to make sure it reads the way people talk.

[00:30:51]So I'm sorry to be harsh in this one. But it does need quite a bit of work. This is this particular letter, by the way it would be better to say something along the lines [00:31:00] of, so this person saying I'd demonstrate ability to work, different settings and so forth.

[00:31:03] And I would just say, I enjoy working with, I don't know, but you need a, this means quite a bit of work this cover letter, cause it's not really doing any of this. And just remember, like I said, at the beginning of the presentation that the most important thing you can do. Is really make a connection and there's not really any connection error.

[00:31:20] It's just and all this stuff. Sam available to make to discuss further and stuff. There's no reason to put all that in there because the people know that and this, isn't how people talk confident I'm able, this isn't a real sentence. You say, I am confident.

[00:31:34]Okay, so I'm just going to move on, but this cover letter, and by the way, everybody that I'm doing a cover letter on this call, if you want. We can certainly I can come back and do this to the hiring manager. Now when you're addressing your cover letters, you always want to make sure you address it to.

[00:31:48]The person that you should be addressing that is actually the hiring manager or whatever the title is. Every company in firm has different titles. You can just put in, who have made concern and so forth and [00:32:00] just, you can see all these issues.

[00:32:01]Let's see why abroad. Yeah, th this grammar programs picking up and I'm not even using a very aggressive program pro writing aid. Okay.

[00:32:10]I'm excited about the beach. I don't even know what this is. But and they're going to know that you're licensed and all those stuff. So again, a lot of the stuff is not that important.

[00:32:20]Okay. I'm not sure what's going on with what this person's applying for. But again, you need to answer, ask all these questions. Can you do the job? Do you want the job to be like where you fit in? And this person these little things to there's like the space this years and all this sort of stuff.

[00:32:36]This particular Carver letter doesn't answer. Whether the person can do the job, it doesn't answer the questions about what we managed and to some extent it does, but it doesn't really talk directly to the firm and and sometimes that's okay, but you really want to make your cover letter a lot  more the employer.

[00:32:54] So let's see here we got here. Ms. Meyer.

[00:32:57]Perfect. This is actually good. I like [00:33:00] this. So this is why applying

[00:33:01]next out.

[00:33:02]Good. So this is good. I like he would just say your,

[00:33:06] This isn't really how people talk. I liked this but you would ask yourself how do people talk? You would say this in a way, how do people find.

[00:33:12]Is the question I would answer. I answer, try to answer there. So that's not how people really talk.  Let's see.

[00:33:19]Ooh.  No, so here, you're saying practice areas I'm interested in, and this is all about you. No.  So that's not good. So you didn't want you don't, this is all it's just what the firm can offer you. It's and you also want to, what are you doing here to make the connection?

[00:33:34]And then Jerry law school barrister

[00:33:37] wow. I don't know how this person can be a an attorney when they're also in law school. This song makes me nervous. I don't really understand how that would work. But in this, there's capitalization errors and. I just and you typically don't want to draw a lot of attention to the fact that your if you're a foreign attorney it's not always a good idea.

[00:33:55] I have to put that this information is always going to be there as well. Thank you for [00:34:00] considerations. Okay. But

[00:34:01] okay. This is too much information and and this information probably should be on the resume. Again, you need to talk about, can you do the job? Is there an opening there? If not. Then no will you do the job? Long-term do you want the job?

[00:34:13] But we like you where you fit in. So you need to do things in your right. Everyone needs to be with things on their resume and their cover letter that makes the employer like you and and whatever you can, and that's about making connection. And then and then they need to show you'll do the job long-term and do you want the job and so forth?

[00:34:30]Drawing attention to the fact that from a foreign country is not necessarily a bad thing, but. If you're talking about that, then you need, people need to understand your, why are you planning on staying in North Carolina? All these different things. So just every cover letter that I'm looking at today.

[00:34:45]And I hate saying this, but they all need to be looked at through this lens. And the problem is most of them aren't doing it. And and you have to just remember, like what's important to you. When you're, looking at things and considering like the sorts of people to [00:35:00] interact with or, and hire.

[00:35:01]So some examples that I can give are, I hired a let me, like a personal assistant once. And she came in and and on her resume and their cover letter, it said things about how. She enjoyed yoga and fitness and cooking good food and and that sort of thing.

[00:35:16] And so those were things that my, at that point in my life where I wanted someone who could cook and, do those sorts of things and and potentially helped me with a healthy lifestyle. And so that, that appealed to me. And and and I liked the person because I saw that they had a lot of that stuff in their background.

[00:35:31] And then I also saw that they'd worked for the previous people person for several years and and that and that they really wanted to work for me because of different issues. And so people need, when you're writing a cover letter, people need to understand that. And they also understand that, if you really want the job.

[00:35:47] And they want to, they want to like you when you start talking about, if I come to you, I heard a very interesting example once where it was were speaker was saying, if I tell you that I graduated from [00:36:00] Princeton and I was in the very top of my class and the youngest person ever to.

[00:36:04]Become a partner in my consulting firm. And by the time I was 28 years old, I was making millions of dollars a year doing that. And and I decided to leave and start a business doing private equity work. And and I merged all the, you would think about that person and you would say, okay, and then what if the person said, I was the first person in my Class in my, my family to go to college.

[00:36:27] I, I grew up in West Virginia. My father was a a coal miner and and he's actually dead now because it was very difficult work. And I told myself that, I wanted to get out of there and work with my mind. And and I did everything I could. When I was in high school, I got the best grades I could.

[00:36:40] I became the best football player. I could, I did everything I could, so I could one day have a good life. And. And I ended up somehow miraculously getting into Princeton. I was one of the only people in my high school to go to college much less out of state, much less Princeton.

[00:36:56] And I was so blessed and and I'm still in touch with the [00:37:00] person that interviewed me for there. And when I got there, I worked as hard as I could and did everything I possibly could. And. And and incredibly, I was able to get this great job with someone that, took an interest to me and this consulting firm when I got out and I gave it everything I had because I knew that I didn't want to go back to where I was from.

[00:37:19] And and I, supported my mom and I just bought her this huge house. She's got the largest house in the city now and. And I feel so proud of what I've been able to accomplish and and I'm doing so much to help people. So the two people that you listen to, like the first person, this guy, that sounds like he thinks he's this big deal from Princeton and everything and made all this money.

[00:37:38]It's not someone you necessarily like. You think about him and you're like, I don't like him, but the next person, if you listen to their story, you liked them. And so you want your cover letter wants you to be likable. And so this person here from Nigeria may have a story.

[00:37:53] They may, it may be that, they were fleeing oppression or they they're, they grew up in in a small [00:38:00] town and always dreamed to come. There's just different ways you can make connection. Cause people want to like people, everyone needs connection. And and this.

[00:38:07] This story about the person I just told is about connection. And if you can make that and make people like you it's going to make a huge difference. And if you can't, then it's, you're hurting yourself. And anytime you have a letter this where the person just bragging about themselves, it doesn't, or some of these big ones that doesn't help you.

[00:38:24] It actually hurts you. And and you want to make a connection. So sometimes even. Talking about personal things, to some extent can help you in your cover letters. And you need to think about all this and cause the better off you do add it, the better you'll be.

[00:38:38] And and the more jobs will go, okay, let's see. No, this is everybody says this unknown. It's not what you want.

[00:38:45]Okay, that's great. This is showing, so this is answering questions

[00:38:50] here.  Yeah, this is answering the questions. Can you get the job, get a job long-term possibly

[00:38:55] Okay. All this it's not really that isn't really related. [00:39:00] Again this person, the cover letter this shows that, if they're applying for law firm  Sure company.  Yeah, that's probably what what you need there.

[00:39:07]I would just leave it at that. But you need to make sure, this doesn't say anything about why applying why applying  and if you don't say that there's no reason for the person to review your resume further. Okay. So let's see, we've been going for about a little over an hour, so I will take a quick three or four minute break and then we'll come back. This actually looks interesting and look at Marty's.

[00:39:27] Thanks.

[00:39:28]Don't forget about the coffee.

[00:39:29]All right. So we are back and let's get started. I didn't, let me take a few seconds here to look at a couple of screenshots of a cover letter workshop, a presentation I put together and see if there's anything that I'm missing things that are useful to you guys. I didn't want to spend too much time on this.

[00:39:47]But remember it's not really to rehash the resume. It's just a, this is a presentation. That I made to the recruiters on our company, when I was training them some stuff from there, but. It's really not to rehash the resume.  [00:40:00] It's just, no one everyone already knows what's on the resume.

[00:40:02]You need to, the resume typically show the person can do the job whether or not the person can be managed, like why are they looking for a new job is often important to have in there. And then also, whether the person will stay and whether they.

[00:40:14]Like this candidate. So we always have a portion in our cover letters. One word representing someone, which is one reason and recruiters are actually oftentimes much more effective to get a job than to do it on your own. But we have a section where we talk about why we like the person. Then we go into their their hobbies and their interests and their enthusiasm.

[00:40:31] And then we talk about, a kind of a period of upper mobility, like why the person will often why this is the right position for them. If a good cover letter will basically communicate that everything that's happened until now has led to this great opportunity for this person.

[00:40:47] And if you hire them, it's going to really make, be a great thing for you. And so that's. It's and this is what the difference too, between an average recruiter and an exceptional recruiter, an average recruiter wall. Talk about, not [00:41:00] just rehash the resume or send your resume, but it will show, that you're a team player or, it won't talk about you in a way that makes it look like you're unmanageable.

[00:41:08] And you can see from the resumes that we've looked at so far, that a lot of people that we've talked about, we've seen, look unmanageable and and you don't really understand them. And then you don't understand if they're going to stand in a position or why are there. And so these are things that employers are always concerned about and they want to be able to like you.

[00:41:22] And then, this is just some information that week we do in in our cover letter. So this isn't a form thing, but we always have why the person's interested in an opportunity. And and and we do it this way, and I'm showing you the BCG method because I want you to understand why this is important.

[00:41:38]But we'll say why the person is interested in an opportunity. And then we'll say, what's going on and they'll say, maybe they've outgrown. Do they want to work more sophistic clients? They're moving to this new office, all these sorts of things. So law firms, everybody wants to know the reason why.

[00:41:53] And if people know the reason why then then that's very helpful. There's a. There's a article that's in our book called [00:42:00] influence by Roberts. I dunno, seal Dani or something. New is professor and university of Arizona. And there was a study done where, where people would cut and and lines and a copier.

[00:42:11]And so some people would just say, can I cut and P and 90% of the time, or some people would say no, or 40% of the time, I don't know. And then. If people said, use the word because can I cut my, because I need to do this or because I'm in a hurry or something, then 90% of the times people laughed.

[00:42:28] And so people always want to know why. And so if you have a reason to why, if we're doing something or trying to get someone hired, that's important. You want to pique people's interest. And so they can read more if they want and and then. And go from there.

[00:42:42] Then the second section is always about why we liked the person and that's, so we can make a connection. So we always, our second paragraph that we write for BCG candidates always contains information about why we liked the person and and this sorts of stuff. And this is your opportunity or our opportunity to make a [00:43:00] connection with the firm and and then.

[00:43:01]We go into those sorts of details. And remember that, you're a human being and the more personal you are and the more you can personalize people or personalize yourself and make the people that are getting your letter. I felt my personal connection the better.

[00:43:17] And then and then you can certainly information about your experience, but  that's basically just to show, you can do the job and and then you can, you, you can typically, summarize a lot of that in one or two lines. You don't need to write a lot of information and but most of the time LinkedIn, people can get that information from LinkedIn about you.

[00:43:34] They can get it from online, there's all sorts of places that can get it. And then our fourth section. Sometimes we put an education other times we don't but if there's anything special about them, I will put that in. I don't necessarily recommend you talking too much about your education that comes across in your resume.

[00:43:49] And most of the resumes that seem, they don't do that, which I mean the cover letters, but you don't need to really speak too much about that. And then you should just some kind of notes personalizing let me see [00:44:00] here. Okay. Yeah, denify these are just for BCG candidates and why looking at new opportunities?

[00:44:06]These are some things that we always try to cover in a cover letter, people want to know why, you're applying many times, so it's not just the openings, you may want to work at a bigger firm with more with larger clients. You may want to do more niche work and your practice area, you may want to.

[00:44:22]Go someplace. That's smaller where you can develop business, you made removing but all these are very important reasons to put in because obviously people are trying to ask themselves, are you going to stick around? What do we offer? And that's important. And then making yourself look like you're managed people don't really do this and cover letters, but you can always talk about why you've stayed.

[00:44:40]Previous job, how long have you been at previous jobs and so forth. And then excuse me, part of law firms the idea of commitment and if you've moved firms and the idea that you're going to stick around is it's actually a very big deal to firms. And so there has to be stuff in your resume or in your cover letter that sometimes shows that.

[00:44:58]And, I'm talking to very high level with [00:45:00] all this stuff. Many people may watch what I'm talking about right now and watch again, watch this, these resume cover letter reviews again and again, but and I recommend you do, but law firms, the more your cover letter shows that you're likely to stick around that you're a good set that.

[00:45:15]That it's not just about you and so forth that the more likely the law firm is to keep you there. And so these are just things you need to think about. It does cost money. If people aren't committed and leave a cost money, if there's drama partners will take clients with them. It's hard for it creates downtime when people leave it's undermines morale.

[00:45:35]Clients don't like it. And so all these things, showing that there's some sort of stability  connection people like, and especially Americans they like a story of upward mobility and recruiters in our company that connect with candidates, do the basket candidates of net for law firms.

[00:45:50] A cover letter is not as a way to connect. You need to be good at that and do everything you can to connect in your cover letter. And and like I talked about earlier, if you have [00:46:00] overcome obstacles you've done special things that, connect with people,  make people get hired.

[00:46:04]I've seen people, I saw one guy get hired just because he was a snowboarder and interviewed with someone that also likes snowboarding. I've seen people, that were professional athletes get hired because they interviewed with firms that were there any type of connection. It's just important.

[00:46:18]And so this is just an example of a recruiter at our firm. This is what I knew about him when I was only when this is one of our first training session I knew all this stuff about him, which he couldn't believe. And so he's a tax attorney and little bit dry and that sort of thing.

[00:46:33]But I knew all this about him and I was able to. Tell him all this and it made him, when you see this stuff much more about him than if he was just a tax attorney. This is an example, this is part of a recruiter training that I dad, and so you understand this stuff instead of just him being that, then you can know a lot more about him.

[00:46:48] Now, this is not stuff you'd want to put on the cover letter. But he's. That this is another recruiter in our company. And in this, this is stuff I knew was her right away in this personalized as her as well.

[00:46:58]These are just fun things. And [00:47:00] when you make yourself seem personal and human. It's much different than if you just say I'm this hard worker and that's, and this is what people want. People want to talk about the people that work for them and and that sort of things.

[00:47:12] And and people like different things, and this is another person that, that was Th that I knew, and I knew all this stuff about these people very quickly and and it makes them very personal. And these sorts of things. So these personal qualities when people are hired, it makes them more three-dimensional and you don't need all this in your cover letter.

[00:47:30]But you need to understand when it says what Harrison would like these are things that I can. Identify with, so I used to have a condo in Las Vegas for, it's not like Vegas. I was considering moving there for it doesn't matter. But and then and I have a connection with the South because I was in the South.

[00:47:47] I have lived with the beach and she likes to be, she was a champion swimmer. I used to be a very good swimmer. I like crime shows. I like real estate. So she's got all this stuff in her background that's like that. So that's an example. Like I was able [00:48:00] to identify with that. Annie is a dancer. I have people in my family that dancer and I have opinion, just things.

[00:48:06]She likes dogs, I like dogs and, so it's just, people want to find things in common with other people. So they feel happy and everybody wants connection. Yeah. Law firms want connection too. Law firms want to be around people that they feel connected to, even if they don't say it, when they try to act this is a completely blind hiring process and all it's about is your qualifications and so forth.

[00:48:25] It's not, it's about this connection sticking around. And and then we always have this section that's called what we like about this person. And and typically that's, they're trying to move up or something or the person's stable and it can be managed. And all that increased the odds of being hired.

[00:48:39]These are some of the things here that I think are important. Law firms typically organize around shared interests and individual characteristics and and you have to make your paragraph short and you have to do all these kinds of things. And and this is really a kind of it's a science, but at the same time, you need to understand that.

[00:48:55]People are very tribal. They want to hire people like them. They want to they want to, they [00:49:00] want to organize around law firms organize around shared characteristics and and similar types of people. And they just, they that's just how they work.

[00:49:09] And so you need to look interesting then to the extent you can and make a connection. I usually just things, I don't know this year cover covered review, let's see looking what makes you unique why they're interested in me and that honestly can if you do to stop very well can increase your placement odds.

[00:49:24] So I almost done with us very quickly. But I want to do two more things for you very quickly. You have to understand the differences between a service and a product. So if you are buying a product if you buy a Mercedes-Benz you know exactly what you're g