Ep 246| Impactfull Creative cover letter in 4 steps - Elevator pitch & Dolphin strategy

87% of your hiring managers read your cover letters. Out of them, 65% really prefer a customized cover letter for you. Job wide 2023 report has shown that cover letters with having a proper customized format are 29% more likely to get interviews. This was the statistics by resume, go and jobbyte, etc. What does this really signify? Being a designer, being in a creative. We needed to have this cover letter. In this podcast we are going to know why it is very important and how to structure a cover letter and how you can bring a very sweet spot to it. And you are going to see my dolphin strategy how you can able to penetrate through the job market using your cover letter. Okay, let's jump in. Welcome guys. Welcome to this Design for Change podcast. It's been a very long time I've been doing this audio and so it was just a video for podcast. And in this particular audio we are going to see what is the COVID letter, why it is so important and why it is not prevalently used by many designers. Also it's common mistakes. Also you're going to see. Okay, see cover letter is a document. It was actually sent along with your portfolio or your resume when you're applying for a specific role.

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It shows your skills, it shows your experience, it expresses exactly what's your personality and conveys your interest towards that role. That's the reality.

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A Journal of Careers Assessment highlights that tailored cover letter significantly influences the recruiter's perception. By Feldman. 2021, a journal of applied Psychology notes that cover letters affects your evaluations of a candidate's motivation and a cultural fitness. Basically the cultural fit is what is the organization looking for. Even though your skills might be good, even though your technical aspects is good and then your your experience is good, all these things are fine. But if the cultural fit is not good, people reject you. It was a stat by Allen. It was a study by Allen and Katz at 2020 National association of College and Employers NAC found that tailored cover letters are viewed more favorably. Society of Human Resource Management reports that cover letters provides critical insights into candidates communication skills. So it is very, very vital. Guys, it's internal game what people are trying to see inside you. Okay? Jagdish, you said it's very important even in LinkedIn 2023. It's like if you have a cover letter it can penetrate through all the ATS system which is applicant tracking system, what the so called big big industries has as a software. So you need to understand this very carefully. And also some of the recruiters spend a lot of time, which I told you. Okay, how to really structure this, how to have a proper cover letter. And in the second part, I'm going to tell you how we can bring elevator pitch and dolphin strategy to make it even more sweeter.

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A general cover letter could have something like a header. It could have an employee's name under the employer's name and then the name and contact details. It could have a proper hiring manager salutation.

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It could start with something like opening statement of why your skill is really relevant there. It could have a short story and an emotional background behind it. Introduction could be a very strong opening.

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And also you could tell to the subject to the point, why are you applying for this job at first place?

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The fourth important thing is the body. It could have three paragraphs, guys, max to max, two or three paragraphs. You have to exactly tell your skills, you have to exactly tell why you are relevant for this particular job using your existing achievements.

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And exact. And the third paragraph should be how behavioral and culturally you're fitting in this organization's existing culture and value system. If you can able to iterate this properly again and again before you make a cover letter, you will have much more clarity on what needs to be done.

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At the end you can put your signature and you can conclude and you can give a call to action. You can put your portfolio link, you can put your other works link. That's all fine, guys.

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This is a general structure, a header, a good salutation, a good introduction, and then the body. The body could have three paragraphs quickly to explain your skill, your relevance of your existing achievements to the skill, and then you can have a proper fit for your organization. But now comes the sweet spot of this whole podcast.

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How you can integrate this pitch. First of all, before applying the COVID letter, go and do a research about this organization. Go and understand the real need, what they are having. Go and understand the pain point, what this industry is really trying to. Based on that pain point, only you can able to craft that elevator pitch. Because they will find a role, they will find a gap, they will find an opportunity for you when you tell them this is the exact problem you're facing and I'm here to help you through my skills. This is a different strategy, guys. Nobody does it in this way, okay? Recently I connected a one week program. If you can go to my YouTube channel where I'll be pasting this link. Also in this podcast, you can find a dolphin strategy of one week process How I've exactly told starting from the job search process, starting from targeting the right industries, starting to apply for using your portfolio, resume, stories, introduction, interview, everything and how you can crack a job in just very, very short a span of time in less than 31, I would highly recommend go and watch it out. Okay, so this actually focuses on penetrating the job market. First of all, if you make it in a very short long story short, I would say start with elevator pitch with a brief impactful statement. Like let's say 65% of the industry is actually having a big problem while having a sitting posture. Like let's say the people who are working in the office based environment, they have a back pain, they have a neck pain, they have a problem which is linking to their health. 65% of the people and I do have a solution to explain to you how they can able to solve it. I have an physical product, I have a digital product also to help you see, this is how your statement should start with and also blend your story. Why are you very interested in telling about this particular problem in this place? And how you are able to tell your skills is going to solve that through your existing past? See, I'm a guy who helps to solve many industrial problems. Even before being a designer, when I went for an industrial visit, I really saw this as a big problem. And then I started offering some sketches and solution. That's the inherent nature of me. So try to bring that story. See, I'm just giving you an example, but you could put your own story. Okay, so the first part is bringing your elevator pitch with the opening impact statement. Second is blend your story. Third is show how is the before and after what you can create. Like let's say currently the problem is like 65% of the people are having, but if they use it, 100% of the people will get problem solved. And you will see the 2x productivity. You will see the revenues going 2x. You will see the productivity going 2x. And then your billing cycle will also go 2x. And then your revenues will automatically increase faster because people are able to complete the work in 30 days. Now they're able to do it in 15 days, right? It's direct 2x. So the revenues will also get 2x right? In the 15 days the company could do another project. Also they can get another building cycle, another client, another new project. So show that value proposition. Guys, this is what people miss. This is the most, most, most important thing. If you're not able to clearly articulate how your skills and Experience and story can able to create a good value proposition with your examples and data. And stat like what I told you now there is no point in writing cover letter. It just becomes a one more cover letter. Guys, I'm telling you again.

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And then fourth is connect with that company need which I already told you and give a very strong call to action because that should connect with that company's need. Like let's say come a Firestope interview in your organization to understand the reality better. Can I come and meet you guys in order to help you find out the solution how we can fit? Maybe if you're interested you can take orders, you can leave. So that could be like a call to action. See the major important part is giving call to action and follow up. People really don't value this much call to action and follow it up with the hrs and the person and the recruiter is most, most most important. And you should know who is the person who are following up. Don't follow a random guys. They will not know the importance of this. Okay, so by understanding these four aspects, let me repeat you start with the opening impactful statement. Blend your story, showcase your value proposition. Give a very strong call to action and a follow up. If you're doing this guys, let me tell you. There is no industry which you cannot penetrate. There is no job market which you cannot really, really go into it. There is no recession for you. There is no economic downtrodden for you. There is no like job market is fluctuating. Nobody is giving me job. All the stories will fade away guys, because I told you something very, very, very how you can blend that into your proper story and how you can create a cover later.

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I wish you all the best. And also pin me in this video in this audio. What is your cover letter idea? And I've opened the chat for you. You can able to bring a pain point what you are also facing which I'll be addressing in the coming podcast. And also you can able to share your cover letter and I'll read each and every one of you and then I'll give you feedback guys. And also make sure you claim that free gift which I give you. And you can come for morning of my classes which is free of cost in Indian timing. It's 6 o' clock to 6:30, 30 minutes. You can take that gift, okay? Which I've been doing it recently, which I won't be doing it long. Also please take an advantage of that free classes if you are a fresh listener, okay? And also subscribe for my further episodes and make sure you give a best star rating in Apple and Spotify if you find this useful in your learning process. Okay, take care. All the best. We'll see you in another episode.