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You have all the reasons in the world to present an attractive, detailed, focused narrative – tell a story and get your interview.īoth the background and the purpose of cover-letter-screening suggest that an innovative story-telling approach is much more beneficial than the common, formulaic, overly-formal cover letters. In both cases, there’s no excuse to repeat your resume in a paragraph format and disappoint the screener. He wants to clarify some ambiguous points in your resume – this happens if you appear highly competent, but your writing is not clear enough.He wants to know more about your motivations and personality because your resume is both impressive and interesting/unordinary at the same time.There are two main reasons why the screener reads your consulting cover letter: Write an exciting story instead – the screener will love it. Most cover letters are just listings of achievement and cliched motivation statements – they feel like unoriginal walls-of-text that offer nothing new – and that’s the exact reason why many screeners don’t like cover letters. If you want to grab the screener’s attention and make memorable impressions, you have to break that negative vibe, using an unordinary cover letter. He has to do this as a form of goodwill for the company, on top of his ongoing project.Įveryone’s application looks the same, following one set format a somewhat extraordinary resume catches his attention, so he checks the cover letter to see if there’s anything interesting, only to be disappointed because the letter is an exact recital of the resume. Understanding your audience The vibe inside the screening roomīusy, tiring, and boring – that’s the vibe inside the screening room.”Ī junior consultant is in the office on a Friday night, going through hundreds of applications. The most credible answers to those questions connect the job with your future plans – as such, the cover letter is not confined to the past like resumes. In resumes, that aspect is barely mentioned. In cover letters, you have to answer the motivation questions (why consulting, why this firm). Your personality does not only come directly through the contents, but also reflected in the style of the letter – so take time to make your cover letter more attractive, and you’ll make a better impression with the screener.Ĭover letters touch on future plans, resume concerns mostly the past Resumes don’t do that, they focus on your achievements. Your goal as the candidate is to fully utilize that loosely-defined format and make your cover letter as attractive and memorable as possible.Ĭover letters describe personality, resumes do notĪ crucial role of the cover letter is to portray who you are as a person. The content format of cover letters is much less defined, leaving room for a lot of creativity, unlike resumes which are almost always bullet lists of cold, hard facts. This stands in contrast with resumes, where you cram as many relevant achievements as possible into the space of one or two A4 pages.Ĭover letters are “soft” stories, resumes are “hard” bullet lists In cover letters, you should select one or a few most notable achievements, and describe them in detail to reflect your three defining aspects (values, competencies, motivations). Cover letters vs Resumes – What’s the difference?īecause so many candidates confuse between the two, then end up writing boring cover letters resembling “paragraph versions” of their resumes, I feed the need to differentiate. “Why this firm?”: Out of all the consulting firms, why ours? There should be something uniquely attractive about this firm to you, isn’t there?Īnd last but not least, don’t forget to show that you have an interesting personality that fits with the firm’s culture.“Why consulting?”: Do you really understand the consulting world, and how it fits with your long-term plans? Is there something unique in the consulting track to explain your choice?.Regarding motivations, there are two questions you need to answer: Analytical problem-solving: the ability to solve problems in a structured, methodical manner.Achieving mindset: the continuous, relentless push for the best results.Leadership skills: the ability to influence people’s decisions.In consulting cover letters, there are three essential qualities you must always display: Consulting cover letters – The basics What are cover letters for?Ĭover letters are documents accompanying resumes, to provide further insights into the qualities and motivations of a candidate, as well as portray who he/she is as a person. In this article, I’ll tell you how to install such stories seamlessly into your consulting cover letters, and land a case interview yourself. Most people write cover letters like resumes, with cold, hard facts, and that’s the problem.Ĭover letters are much more effective if they contain stories capturing the burning spirits of candidates. The key to effective cover-letters is story-telling.