Why This 18 Year Old’s Cover Letter is Better Than Yours

Check out this bad ass cover letter, written by an 18 year old girl going for her first job. She crushes it.

A cup of coffee seems to be a universal want. We all find ourselves searching for it’s caffeinated content in the morning and for an afternoon revival. A cup usually ends up between our hands when we meet to catch up with an old friend or a constant acquaintant. Sometimes we find it’s coffee’s smooth taste that soothes us into a quiet moment alone. When I came across Special Bean Coffee Shop, I too was in search of a cup of joe. However, once inside I realized I had come across a sort of mecca. I had come across a place where the universal desire for coffee paints the atmosphere. Special Bean’s fresh structure creates a space to explore the taste of coffee and the ties we have made with it; caffeine, comfort, and community. I want to work at Special Beans’s Coffee because I want to be a part of something that provides what true well-made coffee does for so many. Through genuine customer service and professional work ethics, I will work to provide the best services. I realize that a cup of coffee offers more than what is expected and so should the service. Special Bean’s was something that gave me a sense of familiarity in a city that is so new and foreign to me. To be a part of the Special Bean’s community would be a pleasure almost as good as a cup of good coffee.

Now this people is a cover letter. Why? Because it does what a cover letter is supposed to do, it sells. Cover letters are supposed to sell. If your’s doesn’t then do it again, ’cause it ain’t a good one. Most cover letters we see here a are templated pieces of crap, that demonstrate just one thing, the fact that the candidate checked off the cover letter box. That’s all. There is rarely anything compelling, differentiating, entertaining, authentic, or valuable to the hiring manager in any of the cover letters we receive. If you’re gonna take the time to do a cover letter make sure it covers all of these basis. It sells you: The purpose of a cover letter is to sell the employer on you. It’s you marketing collateral. Make sure it sells you well. Authentic: Your cover letter needs to be authentic, avoid buzz words, be natural and be you. Don’t sound like some stiff robot, spewing out the tire old cliches and trite phrases. Be real, authentic and true to you and who you are. Tell a Story: Your cover letter needs to tell or support a story about who you are and what you bring to an organization.  The hiring manager should be able to get a picture of the unique you. Your cover letter should provide a vision or a story of who you are and how you are different than all the other candidates they will see. Anyone reading this cover letter QUICKLY gets, this person is different. What do you bring to the table: This is the most critical and often missed part of a cover letter. What do you bring to the table, what will you and can you deliver to this organization? Let me give you a hint. It’s not hard work, energy, years of experience or a being great with people. Please, you’re gonna make people throw up in their mouth. You need to specifically share what it is you will deliver to them, is it exceeding quota, is it shorter sales, is it new logo’s? What is it that you will bring to the organization? Cover letters are old school and I don’t recommend you send them. BUT!  If you’re going to, or if you’re asked to, then dang, don’t send a piece of crap, send a good one, like this 18 year old did.  

Keenan