The executive report is a completely different type of cover letter. It’s also an extremely effective tool to use anytime you become aware of an open position from an online job posting, help-seeking ad, or personal recommendation. This type of cover letter gets straight to the point and makes it easy for the reader to determine your qualification level for the job offer. Why should you send an executive briefing cover letter?
1. It directly matches the listed requirements with the appropriate skills you have, which makes the assessment much easier for the reader.
2. The first HR resume reviewer may not have a complete understanding of the position or its needs, so an executive briefing directly matches the requirements of the open position to your qualifications. This is an extremely useful tool for someone working on dozens of job openings at the same time.
3. Your general resume will always require some customization for each specific job. The executive report allows you to fill in the gaps in a concise and beneficial way.
4. Imagine you’ve been presented with a great opportunity, but your resume is quite out of date and you need to submit something immediately to take advantage of this great opportunity. An executive briefing would allow you to easily update your employment history.
An executive briefing can also help you through resume screening and the multiple interview cycle. The reason for this is that you will likely be interviewed by a number of different people, not all of whom will have a complete understanding of the needs of the job. When this happens, that is when the difficulties begin.
A manager might ask an employee to “Spend a few minutes with this candidate and give me your impression.” This means that these other interviewers have no way of expressly and fairly judging you on the requirements of the job. While the manager will look for particular skills associated with projects, the personnel department will try to match their skill set to the list of job requirements in the job description manual.
Plus, by bringing multiple copies of your resume and executive report, neatly stapled together, you ensure that everyone you interview with will have the specific requirements of the job and your matching skills in one document right in front of them.
From: [email protected]
Subject: RE: Accounting Manager
Date: October 4, 2010
To: [email protected]
Dear Mr. Smith,
I have ten years of accounting experience and am responding to your recent posting on CareerBuilder for an Accounting Manager position. Let me highlight my skills in regards to your listed requirements.
Your requirements
My experience
Bachelor of Accounting, 4 years of experience Graduated with a Certified Accounting degree in 1999, and has well over four years of experience as an Accounting Manager
Excellent leadership and people skills.
Efficiently managed a staff of 30; able to motivate staff, including supervisors
Compelling management skills Assisting in advancing the core library of reference skills with Microsoft Excel for over 500 clients
Excellent communication skills Training of new staff and supervisors through technical skills conferences, daily training and communication meetings
My resume, pasted below and attached in Microsoft Word, should detail my background and qualifications. I hope this executive summary helps you use your time effectively today. I’m ready to make a change in my career so hopefully we can talk soon.
To be honest,
Adrian Brown