A friend recently asked me to look over his cover letter for a job he really hoped to get. When I looked it over, the letter was professional and grammatically clean — and totally, utterly boring.
My friend began by introducing himself the same way everyone introduces themselves in a cover letter. He then went through his experience the same way everyone goes through their experience. In summary, his cover letter was exactly like everyone else’s.
I suggested he do something different — something interesting, so he would be memorable to the oh-so-essential person who would be responsible for making the hire. Ultimately, my friend thanked me for the suggestion, but decided to leave the letter the way it was. “I don’t think people in my industry do anything different like that,” he said.
