AIDA – How to ensure your Cover letters attract the recruiter’s interest.

A cover letter is a sales document. Classic sales and marketing theory is that a sales document must be follow the AIDA rule. It must attract the reader’s;-

Attention

Interest

Desire

Action

First It must grab the reader’s attention, then get their interest, next pique their desire to “buy “, then finally get them to take action.

The recruiter is human, working their way through a boring pile of resumes or CV’s. Yours should stand out by following the AIDA Principle.

First you need to grab their attention;-

1. A good way is to mention someone they know by name . Give them a personal connection. If you know who the hiring manager is, or you have met the company owner, or know someone who works within the business , don’t hesitate to use their name in the first line of the letter ;-
   “Your colleague, Mary Jones, has great things to say about the organisation and thinks I might fit in well there. “
2. Then get their interest. Say why you want to work for the company. This shows you have done some research at least. Make it as relevant as you can, look online for snippets of news you can use, or perhaps mention a relevant policy they list on their website.
   “ I know they like to promote from within and would love to get in on the ground floor of this exciting company and work my way up to management “
3. Then encourage them to “buy “ by taking your application to the next level, which is the job of the cover letter.Include interesting and personal information about why you are a good fit for the job-for example , if the position is in advertising say;-
   “I love advertisements and have, since the age of 5, preferred them to the programmes. I know all of them by heart and the soundtrack that accompanies them”
4. They are still reading, good!. Now you need them to take action. Sell yourself by briefly mentioning experience, qualifications or qualities you know from the advertisement or job or person description that the recruiter is seeking. For example if they want someone with HR and training experience;-
   “In my position at ABC, I was asked to assess all potential trainees, and design a bespoke training and development programme for each of them “

If you follow these four steps you will grab their attention at point 1 with a mutual friend or colleague, got their interest at point 2 with the reasons you want to work for the company, pique their desire with your potential fit for the position , and then encourage them to take action at point 4 with your relevant experience .

That should get you an interview at the very least!