When so many applicants are submitting cover letters, there is a way to stand out!Should I just use the business as usual approach?
or, Should I be more creative in my presentation?
or, Should I tell my personal story?
or, Should I talk about the firm?
or, Should I highlight my skills?
Aaaahhhh!

The answer is simple – Yes!

All of these approaches are valid. Which approach you use should be the one that best displays your style and preferred approach and/or a combination of more than one theme. No matter which style is selected – it must have “the goods” or the approach does not truly matter.

Creativity can be used to attract attention to your skills, experience, passion, values and your ability to use a very individual approach as a platform to communicate your message. Over the years I have helped formulate short stories, new reports and other very interesting platforms to communicate the best traits of some applicants. Keep in mind, after the creative idea has been communicated, the content should be solid.

If a formal cover letter approach is taken then it must include things about you that will cause you to stand out. Take the efforts needed to make sure traditional does mean boring, weak or so general that there is little to inspire the person reviewing your application. With the structure of the formal letter you can still use a business approach while making an impact through the strength of your communication style and content.

A personal story is a way to stand out and be different from others. No other candidate can tell that same story. This story can reflect how an education and career path led the way to accounting, the DAP program, and the CPA designation. There are intrinsic differences with each student applying and these nuances are of interest to the Hiring Managers.

Your knowledge of the firm, its people, clients, business style, market share, reputation in the market, involvement in the community, training programs, values and recognition as an employer of choice, are all things that a candidate can reference – although trying to do them all would likely be too much. This gives each candidate an opportunity to speak about what inspires them and to show the firm their specific interest, their research efforts and what stands out to them. At the end of the day, employers want to know who truly wants to work for them.

Every employer wants to know which one of the applicants truly wants to work for them. In this competition, everyone wants a position, help achieving their CPA designation and a pay cheque. But within the applicant pool there is a much smaller group that really wants to be part of their firm. This is partly who they are trying to identify throughout this process. Your interest in a firm is shown by information you have gathered through you research, connections you have made with staff and the way you talk about the firm and their team, business, clients and culture.

Highlighting skills is also important. What you select sends a message that you do/or do not understand what they want and/or need. Each firm varies in their expressions around certain skills and your alignment with that can make your self-marketing more affective. Each firm posting also communicates the level of importance each firm places on the core competencies. Once you have selected your skills, you can then use these as an “umbrella” for other important information. E.g. Leadership also includes teamwork, communication and organization which can be inserted alongside the main skills you are demonstrating. ,Also, catch phrases are also useful (if not over used) and can make your terminology more firm-specific which can result in a greater response rate during interview selection.

Then wrapping up your cover letter with confidence and a belief that all of your skills and experience has prepared you to make a contribution to the firm, team and client experience all helps to make a final impression. Referencing another opportunity to tell them more about yourself during an interview also adds an element of attraction and can increase their desire to invite for an in-person meeting.

Then of course all these things need to be done in the context of professional norms with a hard and fast limit of one page.

Best of luck!