Every time I sit down to write a cover letter for a job I actually care about*, I find myself hours later with a ten-page doc of stories, philosophical fits and starts, and long paragraphs that make me cringe. I do eventually get to a letter, but it's a long and painful process. Have you had a pattern like this and broken it? How?
I don't have a ChatGPT or other LLM account and am not looking for that particular line of advice - I know it's been helpful for other folks, but it's not what I'm looking for, thanks.
*thankfully, this is not so much a problem with jobs I could take or leave.
I *have* read everything Ask A Manager has ever written, and a ton of other resources as well. The bulk of info I find is aimed at early-career folks. Example letters I've found skew super-entry-level, or are so different from what I'm pursuing that I don't see what I can learn from them. For example, someone shared a site here on AskMe of librarian cover letters - very cool, but the field seems very different from mine (I work in monitoring, evaluation, and learning for international development). I feel like an idiot for being a mid-career/senior professional in my field and still struggling so intently with this cornerstone of the job-application process.
One stumbling block I can identify is that a lot of the cool shit I've done can't be described without a setup and description of at least a whole lot of words. For example, the jobs I want are looking for seasoned candidates who know how to change behavior by both changing values and building capacity, which in turn are accomplished by both building trust and providing clear tools and guidance, etc. etc. etc. Just saying "I change behavior" sounds both crude and amateurish, but explaining these kinds of accomplishments can balloon quickly. I trust that there must be middle ground that my dramatic brain cannot currently see. Do you have mysterious tricks for streamlining complex achievements? (Is the trick to not include them in cover letters? ^_^)
I feel particularly cringey about the things that come out of me to try to connect with mission/vision and the values that the job represents. I mean them all, dammit! My earnestness has been incredibly valuable in my work. But *showing* that earnest connection to mission/vision/values on paper feels like it takes up a lot of space, both emotionally and on the page. I worry that trying to pare things down would sound pro forma: "Equity and transparency have always been core values of mine." (PTAH) Have you found a way to express values succinctly and sincerely?
Any and all advice on how to learn editorial restraint here will be much appreciated.
**Of course it would be wonderful to develop greater equanimity to all my job applications, and I do practice other things to support that - yoga, hydration, therapy, outside time, putting things away at night, sleep. La la la that said there is a dream job that is hiring right now and I am in the WEEDS trying to get myself to finish something to apply with. |
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