Tip the Hiring Scales in Your Favor with a Cover Letter that Shows Pain

When cover letters get read (about 30% of the time) and when they are required (about 40% of the time), they can help tip the job search scale in your favor.

A killer cover letter takes up less than one page and contains three essential parts – all of which show the reader you understand their pain and are uniquely suited to solve it.

Part 1: Pain Identification

Just like in an interview, the goal of a cover letter is to convey that you understand how the role fits into a company’s bigger picture and solves a problem or pain point.

Pain can range from needing a project executed smoothly, building or growing a team, turning around something that is a hot mess or even selling a new product in a particular territory.

For the purposes of this article, I have fictionalized the information pertaining to a client seeking a job as a nonprofit social services executive. This client’s first paragraph might read:

From funding to community outreach, multi-program leadership to nonprofit social services strategy—I lead cost-effective mental health, social service and support program transformations with a profound impact on the lives of vulnerable populations.

ACTION: Convey that you understand the company/reader’s pain.

Part 2: Pain Solving Highlights

You’ve spent Part One showing you understand the problem. The goal of Part Two is to show that you’re the guy to solve it and take away the pain. Include three to four bulleted highlights from your past that quickly show the reader your chops.

Because there is no guarantee the same person who reads your resume will also read your cover letter, I recommend recycling and rephrasing achievements from your resume. This allows a potentially second set of eyes the chance to see some examples of what you’ve done in the past to mitigate pain.

To continue with the social services executive example, this client’s pain solving highlights might look as follows:

• Drove strategic plan that stemmed $150K program revenue losses and increased participation 30%.

• Tripled mental health program census figures and secured grant funding for expanded services.

• Increased case management 25%, achieved citation-free audits and accurate Medicaid reimbursement via gap analysis, QA tool implementation and grant funding capture.

ACTION: Provide examples of pain solving.

Part 3: Getting Past the Pain

Parts One and Two show you understand the pain and can help make it go away. Use Part Three to recap your skills and how they can contribute to catapulting past the pain to achieve a company’s higher goal.

Be sure to close your cover letter by thanking them for their consideration – and offer to touch base shortly to follow up.

To wrap it up with the social services executive example, this client’s third section would read as follows:

Programs under my direction have expanded services and increased program participation while remaining audit compliant. I am confident I can replicate these successes to further XYZ program’s vision.

ACTION: Tie your skills to a plan to get past the pain and achieve a mission.