5 Effective Cover Letter Techniques thatll Get You the Job

5 Effective Cover Letter Techniques thatll Get You the Job Like so much conventional wisdom on how to find a job, apply for it, and get an offer, the cover letter is getting a fresh layer of scrutiny these days. Sure, we write them because that’s just how it’s done†¦but how helpful are they these days, really? And are there better ways to make them more than just the skimmed-over wrapper on the real meat of your resume? The answers to those questions, respectively, are â€Å"not very† and â€Å"you betcha.† Cover letters are holdovers from the time when we actually wrote out an introduction to ourselves, typed or printed it out onto expensive (but tasteful) paper, and popped it into the mail, hoping it would land on the right desk. Eventually, it became the email holding the attached PDF or doc containing the resume itself.Now, the cover letter is either sucked into an online job application engine and parsed for keywords, or likely browsed quickly while someone clicks through to the attachment. These changes in â€Å"how they read† mean there also need to be changes in â€Å"how we write.†Here are some cover letter techniques and strategies for disrupting the traditional cover letter, and making yours a relevant piece of the application package again- even in a short-attention-span world.1. Consider your audience.Are you writing this for a robot (automated application system) or a human (actual email address)? If it’s the former, shoot for lots of keywords related to the job description. If it’s the latter, try to engage the person on the other end.2. Open with a memorable line.If you’re a recruiter or hiring manager, your attention glazes over after today’s 50th â€Å"I have an extensive background in software development for cats, and I know I’ll be a good fit for your company.† Instead, try for a bit of trivia. (â€Å"Did you know that the first cat video game was originally developed as a dog video game?†) Or make a gen tle joke (â€Å"My cat would never forgive me if I didn’t bring my background and skills to work for his favorite tech company.†) This is a chance to insert a little of your personality, given that your resume is a more brass-tacks assessment of your history and accomplishments.But if you go this route, always, always, always make sure that the tone is light and mild. Never make an off-color joke or reference, and don’t take the reader’s sense of humor for granted. When it doubt, take it out.3. Tell a story.Again, this is your chance to inject some of yourself into this rather clinical process. You may plan on saving up all the anecdotes for your interview, but there’s no guarantee that you’ll even get to that stage. Here’s your chance to offer a bit of personal trivia or insight that makes you well-suited to the job. If your blue-ribbon-winning science project in high school started you on your path to this career and company, say so . Keep it brief, though- just one or two sentences. You want the reader to get a quick sense of who you are, on top of the resume data points.4. Assume the reader only has a minute or two to review.Keep it brief- just a few paragraphs with the high-level points: an introduction, your main qualifications for the job, and a closing/call to action. Make sure you zero in on what you bring to the job up front, and what you could provide on a long-term basis.5. Format it for a small screen.Ideally, the reader would be savoring your cover letter at his or her desk, a cup of tea in hand. In reality, he or she is likely reading on the way to somewhere else, or multitasking on a phone or tablet over lunch. Lay out your cover letter with this in mind:short paragraphs, with bullet points whenever possibleplenty of white space for ease of readingno fancy fonts or bells and whistlesTaking extra care with your cover letter can help make sure it’s not just skimmed and dismissed. It may be an evolving piece of the application process, but it’s one that can mean the difference between landing in the â€Å"meh† pile and the â€Å"tell me more† pile.

Williams Name Meaning and Origin

Williams Name Meaning and Origin The common Welsh patronymic last name Williams has several possible origins: Son or descendant of Guillemin, a pet form of Guillaume, the French form of William.From the Belgic guild-helm, meaning harnessed with a gilded helmet or  welhelm, the shield or defense of many.Derived from the given name William, an Old French given name with Germanic elements: wil desire, will and helm helmet, protection. In Wales, adding an s to the end of a surname denotes son of, pointing to Wales as the origin of many people with the Williams surname. The Williams surname is also popular in countries such as England, Scotland and Germany. Williams is the third most popular surname in the United States, Great Britain and Australia. Williams Name Origin:  English, Welsh Alternate Surname Spellings:  WILLIAM, WILLIMON, WILLIMAN, WILLIAMSON, WILCOX, MACWILLIAMS, MCWILLIAMS, WILLIHELM, WILLELM Fun Facts About the Williams Surname The last man killed in the U.S. Civil War was Private John J. Williams of the 34th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He was killed in the battle of Palmetto Ranch, Texas, on May 13, 1865, a month after Lees surrender. Famous People with the Surname Williams? Thomas Lanier Tennessee Williams - American playwright who won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for A Streetcar Named Desire (1948) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955).Hiram Hank Williams - American country music legend, credited with pioneering honky tonk.Robin Williams - American comedian and actorRoger Williams - Founder of Rhode Island Genealogy Resources for the Surname Williams 100 Most Common U.S. Surnames Their MeaningsSmith, Johnson, Williams, Jones, Brown... Are you one of the millions of Americans sporting one of these top 100 common last names from the 2000 census? Common English Surnames Their MeaningsWilliams is the 3rd most popular surname in Great Britain. Most Common Australian Surnames Their MeaningsWilliams is 3rd on this list of the most commonly occurring surnames in Australia, which includes details on each names origin and meaning. Williams Family Crest - Its Not What You ThinkContrary to what you may hear, there is no such thing as a Williams family crest or coat of arms for the Williams surname.  Coats of arms are granted to individuals, not families, and may rightfully be used only by the uninterrupted male line descendants of the person to whom the coat of arms was originally granted. Williams DNA ProjectThe Williams DNA project has over 535 participants making it the 2nd largest surname DNA project in the world. The Web site includes Williams records from around the world as well. Descendants of William WilliamsA genealogy of the descendants of William Williams (1778-1857) from Pittsylvania County, Virginia. FamilySearch - Williams GenealogyExplore over 29 million historical records and lineage-linked family trees posted for the Williams surname and its variations on the free FamilySearch website, hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Williams Surname Family Mailing ListsRootsWeb hosts a free mailing list for researchers of the Taft surname. Post a query about your own Taft ancestors, or search or browse the mailing list archives. DistantCousin.com - Williams Genealogy Family HistoryFree databases and genealogy links for the last name Williams. Sources Cottle, Basil. Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967. Menk, Lars. A Dictionary of German Jewish Surnames. Avotaynu, 2005. Beider, Alexander. A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from Galicia. Avotaynu, 2004. Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1989. Hanks, Patrick. Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2003. Smith, Elsdon C. American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997.