Formulating the YOU Attitude in a Cover Letter

Formulating the YOU Attitude in a Cover Letter How many times have you heard people say, “Why don’t you put yourself in his/her shoes?” Well, that is exactly what you need to do when preparing your resume and cover letter for a prospective employer. Many textbooks have been written and seminars held around the topic of the “you” attitude. So, what is the “you” attitude? Think of it as reading your resume from the employer point-of-view. The resume is not all about me, me, me, myself, myself, and myself. It is about what “you” will gain out of hiring me for this position. Review the different tones the following statements send to the reader: Sentence #1: “I recently reviewed your advertisement and I know I am perfect for the job.” Sentence #2: “Your recent advertisement caught my attention; your needs and my qualifications are a perfect match.” The first sentence places an emphasis on “I” and “me,” while the second sentence showcases the employer’s needs. By simply re-organizing the sentence and changing a few words, the reader instantly knows the writer has taken the time to think about what is important to him or her. When hiring potential employees, my eyes immediately scan the first word of each paragraph in the cover letter to discover how many times the writer has used the word “I” to start a sentence. When writing cover letters to employers for my clients, my goal is to avoid starting any sentence with the word “I.” If I can do this, then I know that I have truly utilized the full potential of the “you” attitude.