Ultimate Cover Letters

by Martin Yate

In the competitive world of job-hunting, much depends on first impressions - including the first letter of application. This book shows how to write a letter to open doors to job interviews. It covers all aspects of the process, including how to use key 'power phrases' to get results.

280 pages, Paperback

First published February 3, 2012

About the author

Martin Yate, CPC, also publishes as Martin John Yate.

Reviews

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read many books dedicated to job searching recently. This is one of the ones I would put at the top end of the pile.

The structure of this book is one of the most useful I've found to date for this sort of thing; it teaches how to construct the basic cover template first and then has a large amount of sample letters to guide you into writing your own. These two sections pretty much separate the book into two halves.

Some parts of this book are repeated information from CV books, such as helping you get to know what job you want and what kind of person you are. No doubt this information would be useful if this were the only job search book you were reading.

In all, I found this title helpful. It's full of tips and tricks, but there were a lot of very similar cover letters. I assume this is to target the most popular kinds of jobs and those searching for them, though it's harder to adapt to a more niche industry or to broaden your job search if you have not had a defined profession. To be fair though, the author does advise on transferable skills and how to best show a potential employer all you have to offer in a small one page document, so overall I'd rate this highly. Also, there are a LOT of cover letters - for a book on this subject, this title really delivers. Extra points to the fact that it also advises the best way to write follow up letters, letters of job acceptance, negotiation, resignation etc.

[Debajyoti Adhikari · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very helpful resource for job hunting. The book is written succinctly and does not sugar coat anything.

You get to understand the reasons why 9/10 recruiters still seek a cover letter alongside your CV for job ads. The author drops a handful of truth bombs about hiring across the first eight chapters. His arguments to why we should go the extra mile and contact hiring managers directly, even after submitting applications online was an eye opener to me.

I found the formatting tips such as word length, fonts, and font sizes to be practical. Also useful were the scenario based stock sentences. Interested readers can try out his PSRV methodology.

The concluding chapter has tons of sample cover letters on fresh and unsolicited applications, networking via email and over LinkedIn, as well as follow-up, thank you, and resurrection emails.

Some information and writing styles seems a bit outdated, but for that we should remember that job hunting strategies and communication does evolve over the years. Overall, it’s a good read.

My total reading time = 240 minutes.
Highlighted notes = 24.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprehensive guide to job-search cover letters

Do you know how to create a dynamite cover letter to accompany your résumé, a letter that will grab a potential employer’s attention? If not, don’t worry: You can appropriate one of the great cover letters in this popular book by Martin Yates and adapt it as your own. That’s why he compiled them. Yates collected more than 4,000 excellent cover letters from human resource professionals and headhunters, and handpicked the cream of the crop for this volume. Just find the letter that suits you, and make it suitable for your job search. In addition to scores of excellent cover letters, Yates also provides numerous “power phrases” that you can put to work. getAbstract recommends this valuable how-to manual to job hunters in any field.

[عَبدُالكَرِيمْ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but don't depend on it to write your cover letter - ALWAYS tail it to your application and CV