What’s your dream job?
This prompt has been posed to us before somewhat differently. Read my response here.
As for today’s prompt, which is slightly more specific than the previous prompt I answered, I’ll give an example rather than explain it.
Below, you will find a post I made on another social media website 13 years ago. On the face of it, it’s describing a mundane process, but the undercurrents are where the tale is being told. It’s the sum of the parts, not the whole. My dream job is the sum of the parts. The processes that go into making the final creative product: the whole. Creativity, as a whole. The pieces play a role.
Door closed, cats out of room, ear plugs in. Fingers perched on keyboard, itching with the question of where to start.
Writing a compelling cover letter is like writing the story of You. You must know your audience, read the job description to determine style, sense of humor, what the position asks of you, and how YOU can be what they want.
You write a cover letter to get an interview. You sell yourself as a brand to achieve that end. Will there be some fiction? Maybe. It’s best called “embellishing the truth,” though.
I write letters that get attention. Always have. That’s because I know it’s a skill that must be developed, it’s a story that must be told, it’s a tiny little book that needs to grab its intended viewer’s attention immediately. You don’t have much time; choose each word with care. There are hundreds, sometimes thousands of other people trying to get the same job – you must stand out.
So. I’ve finished this cover letter, and will read and re-write it until it states exactly what it needs to in order to get me an interview.
The interview is Part 2 of the selling of You. But more on that later…
Thanks for stopping by. Before you go, if you missed it, part two of Susie’s origin story has been posted. Read it here.
“It's Amy,” I said. 