The Invisible Allies of your Cover Letter

Every candidate knows how easy it’s to find a job in a company if your father is the boss of the very company. Blood bonds are the best channel for the successful job search. The benefit is often mutual as in some companies employees are encouraged to take part in the candidates’ hunt. A hiring manager feels safe when he knows that a trustworthy colleague has already checked the suitability of an applicant. A referee’s name on the cover letter is an additional bonus, but how should it be displayed correctly?

In the simple –looking procedure of referee’s name mentioned on the cover letter there is a number of unwritten rules. The first step is to check whether the referee wishes to include his\her name in your cover letter. If an acquaintance offered you to try applying for the vacancy in his\her company, it doesn’t mean that he\she gave you a permission to mention the name on the cover letter.  In this case it’s only suitable to make casual mention of the referee’s name during the interview. But if you wish to state your friend’s name and title on the cover letter, be sure he doesn’t back up and deny the fact of your conversation, or moreover the fact of your existence. It does matter whether your referee is a relative, a close friend, or an acquaintance of the friend’s ex-wife. The latter may just forget about you and the job offer. Don’t forget to check on what terms your referee is with the hiring manager. Surely, you won’t mention the name on the cover letter if it threatens your employment because the referee and the hiring manager don’t get on well.

If the referee agreed to ‘lend’ his name for your cover letter, the next step is to write this name correctly. It’s out of question that you must know how to spell the name and title, you should also know where and when to mention these on the cover letter. The most common way to drop your referee’s name on the CL is at its opening. The first paragraph of your cover letter should state the source from which you learned about the opened vacancy. There are some possible variants of this opening sentence, consider the following example: “Mark Spicer, the Senior Manager of the Creative Department mentioned that your company is looking for a candidate for the vacant position of the Sales Manager, and as I’ve always been interested in co-operation with your company I decided to apply for the post”. The cover letter should be continued with the description of the benefits the company-employer will acquire after hiring you. Not under any circumstances make the opening sound as if you were made to apply for the post against your will. Openings like: “Mark Spicer, the Senior Manager of the Creative Department mentioned that you were desperate for the new Sales Manager and I decided to help by offering my vast experience in the sales…” are more sure to irritate the employer by your superior tone than win you an interview.

Before the interview it’s worth checking whether the hiring manager knows the referee. It happens sometimes that a recruiter of a big company is simply unaware of the names of all the staff members. The best variant for a candidate is when the referee talks to the hiring manager personally or at least by means of a letter, and let him know beforehand about the candidate’s application or visit. If your referee is willing to help, he may aid by handing your application documents to the hiring manager. In this case you will be ahead of the candidates who mailed their resumes and cover letters.

If you have an impressive network of personal contacts, it’s time to look for those who will help to handle your job search. But even if you lack friendly and family bonds, remember that social networks are a modern and easy way to find suitable referees.