Cover Letters That Worked: Marketing

U.S. News featured Cindy Massey, a 44-year-old Seattleite with marketing experience, in a story about how job seekers should consider pitching companies rather than waiting for openings.

Massey's cover letter is creative, deviating from the run-of-the-mill letter—a tactic that might not work for every company but was perfect for pitching this start-up. The first sentence grabs the reader's attention, and she includes her LinkedIn profile in her sign-off.

Most importantly—particularly for pitching an employer that hasn't advertised an opening—Massey explains how her skills would benefit this particular company and why she's passionate about working there.

Here's the cover letter Massey used to land her new job:

December 01, 2010

Mindbloom
411 1st Avenue South
Seattle, WA 98104-2860

Dear Mindbloomers:

Please find my resume for review in regards to no employment opportunities you have available at the moment. As stated by local business owner and author, Susan Scott, in her National Bestseller, Fierce Conversations, “Our lives succeed or fail gradually, then suddenly, one conversation at a time. While no single conversation is guaranteed to change the trajectory of a career, a business, a marriage, or a life, any single conversation can. The conversation is the relationship.”

I have been consulting for the last two years and find myself in a place of transition. In the process of discovering something understandably more stable than consulting as one person gig, I find myself looking for a company rather than a job. Often we spend more time with our co-workers than our family and friends, and the group of co-workers assembled around me (and me inevitably around them) has become the most important aspect of my search.

A super cool guy, Danny from [removed company], pointed me in the direction of Mindbloom as a company that needed to be on the top of my list to stalk. When I mentioned to Danny that my goal was to be the Director of Happiness for a company, he mentioned that Mindbloom may be just the company to have such an opening. You can thank Danny directly at danny@[removed].org.

The boring but necessary stuff:

I have a B.S. in Business with an emphasis in Marketing. My experience entails over nine years in the business marketing, communications, and creative management arena. My newest skills are in extensive networking, rapport development, and building relational capital through strategic social media channels (keeping everyone happy).

My strengths lie in effective written and oral communications, consensus building, creative team management and development, critical analysis, proof reading, and attention to detail. I am perceptive, personable, outgoing, approachable, and possess excellent business acumen and style. My skills range from organic business planning and project/program management to developing marketing communications collateral and managing print media campaigns and editorials with strategic publications, key stakeholders and outside vendors. I appreciate a fast-paced environment involving diverse groups of people (clients) and cross functional teams. I approach my work with determination and a sense of humor. I am highly organized, well spoken and enjoy making presentations across business segments (internal and external) and to upper levels of management.

I welcome a few minutes of your time, exploring a career that you do not currently have available with Mindbloom, and how my experiences in relational capital strategies, content development, project management, media communications, event planning and marketing can help reach more people and improve the efforts of the Marketing Team, someday in the near future.

Best Regards,

Cindy Massey
www.linkedin.com/in/cindymassey01

Want to share a cover letter that worked for you? E-mail it to agrant@usnews.com.