The Best Cover Letter In History
“The truth is that I have no incredible or special abilities or eccentricities of genius, but I have a near-perfect student average, and I would work hard.” Maybe
The truth is that I have no incredible or unique abilities or eccentricities of genius, but I have a near-perfect student average, and I would work hard.” Perhaps, as the world of Human Resources has taught us in recent years, this is not the best way to sell yourself when faced with a job offer.
The accent has stood placed in such a way on continually remembering our virtues and abilities. However, these do not correspond to reality. That all those responsible for choosing personnel have ended up tacitly accepting the most spectacular and inflated curricula since it remains given for granted that, as they say.
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We All Lie a Little Bit
However, a letter of introduction received this Monday by a Wall Street personnel officer, and which has become one of the incredible viral phenomena of this January has called into question such a conception. Forwarded to all his contacts under the name of “the best cover letter I have ever read” by a professional whose identity is unknown.
The letter has ended up being published on the pages of Business Insider. In it, its author used terms such as “a lot of shit” ( crapp in the original) to refer to all the merits that were not going to be falsely awarded. At the same time that he recognized that he was not going to waste the coach’s time ” inflating my credentials.”
They all agreed that the letter’s author had to be called The Business Insider article pointed out that. Compared to the notes that regularly circulate in these areas and that are generally conceited or manifestly false.
The result? is a very self-aware text that “Show energy, honesty, and guts.” That, judging from the responses received, it is more than probable that the author of the letter has achieved his goal and, whoever he is, is going to get a scholarship at an investment bank.
Brave And Honest
Through it, the author of the letter requests “a possible summer scholarship in his office.” He acknowledges that it is sporadic for a student at a university like his (that name remains deleted in the letter) without having completed his studies.
To end up in a company like the one he aspires to. Still, that mixture of sincerity and ambition was precisely the one that made the hardest hearts on Wall Street melt. In the chain of emails that followed the first message, some commenters commented that it was “hilarious but bold” or “mighty.”
They all agreed that it was worth calling the author of it, something that, according to the person who had received the message in the first place (and who already knew the student earlier). They had already done.
The Best Cover Letter In History
Indeed they have also won the will of the young student to carry out any task entrusted to him. However cumbersome it may be. “I have no qualms about going to coffees, cleaning shoes, or going to the laundry, and I will work almost for free.”
An unpretentiousness that places him almost like the wet dream of many employers: cheap, self-sacrificing, and willing to do almost anything, although, in return, he pursues what in theory should define this type of internship: the acquisition of experience. “Honestly, I just want to be around other professionals and learn as many things as I can .”
Some voices affirm that ‘it is not such a big deal. And that a good cover letter does not guarantee anything. The letter concluded by apologizing for its “directness” and pointed out is following projects. Including taking a master’s degree in accounting. Of course, this text is not the usual enumeration of academic merits and personal fantasies seasoned with a drop of epic.
Nor the distant forced kindness so frequent. Still, a letter without folds, where what remains seen, without fuss or detours. So sincere that, although it could have run the risk of going unnoticed. It has managed to distinguish itself from a multitude of similar texts written with a template. The most surprising thing is that. Compared to what the topic points, humility is perhaps more critical on Wall Street than previously thought.
Not Everything Is So Perfect
As it could not be otherwise, little by little certain voices have begun to rise in the case of such a viral phenomenon that believe that “it is not so bad.” For example, in Forbes, Lex Van Dam, a trader at Goldman Sachs and head of an investment fund, expressed his reservations about the reactions of his colleagues and assured that “they live on another planet and undoubtedly they have never seen any of these letters before. Since their human resources departments remain only made up of trained monkeys “.
Beyond his ruthless portrait of those selected. Van Dam admits that, although the letter is well written, it sounds like a “plea” and that he, personally. However, he feels a certain sympathy for the author, would prefer someone who knows how to offer something different. He points out that writing a letter is not what will make you do the job well. But instead “thinking differently and doing things out of the ordinary.”
