201 Killer Cover Letters [Paperback]

Sandra Podesta (Author), Andrea Paxton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1995

"201 Killer Cover Letters provides job seekers with an unbeatable competitive edge by arming them with surefire sample letters for every job-hunting situation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

On disk are over 200 cover letters which can be customized to the user's specifications. As with a clip art library, this can be accessed and tailored to individual ends, including cover letters for every occasion from follow-ups and thank-yous to ad responses and job search inquiries. An excellent resource backed by a book format. -- Midwest Book Review

From the Back Cover

On disk and at your fingertips­­--201 easy-to-customize cover letter that will get read, get remembered, and get results!

Thanks to this book and this disk, you'll never again have to struggle over composing the kind of killer cover letter that grabs the attention of prospective employers and lands interviews. You'll be able to effortlessly produce the appropriate letter you need for any job opening, in any company, in any situation. You'll have a huge edge over thousands of other job-seekers­­from people who write weak and disorganized letters­­to people who send standardized form letters­­and those who fail to include cover letters at all, not knowing that cover letters are as important as resumes.

Whatever your field, whatever your background and skills, this library of great cover letters on disk will make it easy for you to play up your strengths, downplay your weaknesses, and stand out from the crowd. Included are cover letters for every occasion, such as:

• The Search Letter
• The Ad Response/Resume Cover Letter
• The Networking Letter
• The Follow Up Letter
• The Thank You Letter
• The "Make Something Happen" Letter
• The Reference Request Letter

You'll learn the secrets of killer openings and closings, the ten top rules for writing great cover letters, how to respond to salary queries, words and phrases to avoid, how to jump-start a stalled candidacy, and much more!

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Trade; Pap/Dskt edition (December 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0070504563
• ISBN-13: 978-0070504561
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,080,880 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ten Rules for Writing 201 Killer Cover Letters, October 1, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: 201 Killer Cover Letters (Paperback)

What do you talk about in your resume? ME ME ME ME. What do you talk about in your interview? ME ME ME ME. So Rule 5 of Podesta and Paxton's book (Podesta is an advertising copywriter and Paxton is a recruiter), "ELIM-ME-NATE" tells you to focus on the needs of your prospective employer in your cover letter. The 9 other top rules for writing "killer" cover letters are just as enlightening as well as humorous. I do tend to disagree with Rule 3: In Response To Your Ad...NOT! - Don't use standard openings. I've actually had HR professionals request such standard openings so that they can keep track of who is applying for which ad in which newspaper. But that is the real value of this book: it shows you how to write killer openings and closings for any situation. There is an index of letters listed by issue, with a corresponding chapter and letter number to refer to. What's more, you can get through this book in a hurry, and all of the sample letters are on diskette that is included. So if your cover letters "...Ain't Working," then "...Fix It" with one of 201 different approaches (Rule 10)

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good book, February 2, 2000

By 

"mgc1122" - See all my reviews

This review is from: 201 Killer Cover Letters (Paperback)

Most useful are the "do's & don'ts" for job hunting correspondence. These along with other common sense suggestions which escape many of us can be found in this book. Having the samples in both book and diskette form is useful as it saves time. However, the samples themselves are pretty much what one can find by logging on to almost any website career site. Nothing special except the convenience of having them in one spot.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Old, dated, and of little use to me, August 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: 201 Killer Cover Letters (Paperback)

The alleged "201 Killer Cover Letters" were written in 1995 according to the enclosed disk and are not very professional in my opinion. They are of little use in today's job market, again in my opinion.

The front cover claims one is able to "downplay your weaknesses" by adhering to the principles in this book. One of my weaknesses was purchasing this book in the first place.