Are you feeling stuck or overwhelmed by the job search process? Are you spending countless hours applying for jobs and not getting any responses? Are you looking for a better way to manage your job search? If you said yes to any of these questions, then I have the perfect book for you, The Job Closer by Steve Dalton.
Steve Dalton, the Program Director and Senior Career Consultant at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, author of The 2-Hour Job Search and Career Consultant, provides effective job search techniques, solutions, and advice that you can immediately put to use to improve your chances of finding a job. In the book, Dalton covers a wide range of topics along with instructions and frameworks for resume writing, cover letters, interviews, negotiating the offer and more. The one area he does not address in this book is networking, which he’s extensively covered in his book The 2-Hour Job Search.
One of Dalton’s techniques I particularly like for writing short, impactful cover letters is the RAC Model. The RAC Model stands for Reason – Anecdote – Connection and consists of a five paragraph 200-300 word cover letter.
As he explains, the first paragraph is your introduction and the last paragraph is the close of your letter. The three paragraphs in the middle are where the RAC Model comes into play. It’s in these three paragraphs that you showcase three of your skills, attributes and/or knowledge along with brief examples to succinctly and articulately express to the hiring manager why you are the ideal candidate. Dalton recommends always including a cover letter when applying for jobs because the interviewer is able to get a glimpse of your personality, your writing ability and is able to see why you are a good fit for the job. He includes examples of the RAC Model, which are very helpful when crafting your own cover letter.
If you’re looking for effective, easy to use techniques and instructions to improve your chances of getting a job faster, I highly recommend this book.
Cover letters are one of the areas I’m often asked about and help clients write. If you are struggling to write a cover letter or challenged with a particular area of the job search, contact me for help.