Media outlets likes Fast Company, Forbes and the New York Post have long been forecasting the death of the cover letter. You know, those jargon filled, cookie-cutter templates, with ubiquitous claims like being results-oriented, and a team player.

In a sea of sameness, they can feel like a waste of time. But every once in a while, we come across a gem that makes the case for why we may want to become cover-letter-believersagain.

We interview over 1,200 jobseekers a year, so we get it when clients say unmemorable cover letters are the bane of their existence.

That’s why, we felt compelled to share the following clever cover letter that lead an up-and-coming screenwriter to ultimately winning an Oscar!

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Dear Sir:

I like words. I like fat buttery words, such as ooze, turpitude, glutinous, toady. I like solemn, angular, creaky words, such as straitlaced, cantankerous, pecunious, valedictory. I like spurious, black-is-white words, such as mortician, liquidate, tonsorial, demi-monde. I like suave “V” words, such as Svengali, svelte, bravura, verve. I like crunchy, brittle, crackly words, such as splinter, grapple, jostle, crusty. I like sullen, crabbed, scowling words, such as skulk, glower, scabby, churl. I like Oh-Heavens, my-gracious, land’s-sake words, such as tricksy, tucker, genteel, horrid. I like elegant, flowery words, such as estivate, peregrinate, elysium, halcyon. I like wormy, squirmy, mealy words, such as crawl, blubber, squeal, drip. I like sniggly, chuckling words, such as cowlick, gurgle, bubble and burp.

I like the word screenwriter better than copywriter, so I decided to quit my job in a New York advertising agency and try my luck in Hollywood, but before taking the plunge I went to Europe for a year of study, contemplation and horsing around.

I have just returned and I still like words.

May I have a few with you?

Robert Pirosh
385 Madison Avenue
Room 610
New York
Eldorado 5-6024

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Can you guess when this cover letter was written? It was 1934! Isn’t it amazing how relevant his story still feels 85 years later? Here’s the back story: A New York copywriter named Robert Pirosh left his ad agency in pursuit of his Hollywood screenwriting dreams. His letter above snagged him three job interviews, and then a job as a junior writer at MGM. Fifteen years later, Mr. Pirosh received an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his film called Battleground.

This is why we believe cover letters need not die. At BlueSky Personnel Solutions, we look for deeper insights from cover letters. These include analyzing a candidate’s specific choice of words, verb tense, etc. that can indicate their level of emotional intelligence, work style, and even their leadership capabilities.

So, the next time you find yourself dreading having to go through a whole stack of cover letters and resumes – consider calling us first. We can do all of that sifting and sorting to narrow down the best candidates for you while you focus on your other top priorities.

Here are a few other advantages to using us for your Bilingual/French recruiting needs:

1. Ads just don’t work like they used to: in an age where the online userdictates what they want to see, advertisements don’t command attention from job candidates in a powerful way anymore.
2. We can network without boundaries: as an external recruiter, we can reach out to individuals who are already employed and who may not be actively searching for jobs. We can also approach your industry’s top talent who may be connected with competitors.
3. We test for French/English fluency in-house: our staff are all fluently Bilingual, therefore we can quickly, efficiently and most importantly, accurately assess job candidates (we also offer testing as an àla carte service for clients when needed).
4. We have the infrastructure to deal with positions that generate mountains of résumés: posts for positions such as accounting clerks, administrative assistants, and IT admins, always generate LOTS of résumés, often without substantial results. These can be energy and time-suckers for HR and hiring managers, so many of our clients prefer to download this to us.
5. We can help with positions that sometimes generate NO responses: clients often come to us for positions such as French/Bilingual CSRs, which generally don’t solicit any responses from standard efforts. Because we are networked with the industry’s top French/Bilingual staff, we can leverage our connections to fill these high-demand positions.
6. We save our clients both time and money: this is not a sales pitch – many HR/hiring managers tell us they can spend all day sourcing for candidates, without getting the results they need. This is all we do, therefore, clients can leverage our expertise for more efficient business practices.
7. Using us is risk-free: we work on a contingency model of recruitment, which means our clients don’t have to pay anything until they have selected a candidate.
8. We love what we do: we are passionate about this work, and our clients tell us it shows – both in how we service them and in the results we produce for them. Check out some of our client testimonials here.

Cheers to your hiring success! 😀

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The BlueSky Personnel Solutions team speaks to top Bilingual/French talent every day. If you are interested in knowing more about how we can help you recruit the right people for your team, contact us today at: 416-236-3303 or by email at: [email protected].