Thanks very much to ILYSAN for posting extensive advice at
Post:85043.
And here is a
COVER LETTER
WEBSITE with information and examples.
In addition, here are some extensive comments by an experienced and knowledgeable advisor:
MOTIVATION LETTERS
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MANY initial attempts at motivation letters are poor because the
letters do not convey a sense of the individual. Instead, they are
often stories: "Once upon a time I was born and had a childhood; I plan to
go to university, start a great career, marry a prince or princess, and
then live happily ever after. The End." Unfortunately, that tells the
reader very little about you.
Other initial attempts provide a laundry list of schools and
activities. "I went to this prestigious school; I participated in that
activity; I held this office in this club; I speak 10 different
languages, sometimes simultaneously; this program in university is next
on my checklist." Again, that tells very little about you, other
than that you've been busy.
Before you even begin to write your letter, think of who you are. What
motivates you? What do you like and dislike? What brings you pleasure?
What annoys you? What are you naturally good at? What are your
weaknesses? You might want to look at a job hunter's book called
What
Color Is My Parachute. In that book are a lot of exercises
that will help you identify your strengths and weaknesses.
You should also take a personality test to learn more about yourself.
One very popular test is called the Meyer Briggs test. You can complete
an online test. If you search for books at Amazon.com using the search
terms
Meyers Briggs, you can purchase books related
to the test as well. You will learn how to better interpret the
results.
NOW you have a better understanding of yourself. You know what your
strengths and weaknesses are, you know what you like and dislike, and
you know how your personality fits in with your career aspirations. Next,
decide what your selling points will be.
If you wanted a friend to describe you in a positive light, what would
you want him or her to say? If that friend said you were smart, what
proof or evidence does your friend have? What you should do is make a
list of your positive selling points with evidence or proof to support
your assertion. These selling points should align with your career
goals.
When you are writing your motivation letter, you need to do the following things:
- Be very clear on what you want to achieve (get a nursing degree)
- Be very clear on what you will do with this degree (how do you see yourself in 5 to 10 years)?
- Why do you want to pursue your chosen career? You know the answer to
this question from your strengths and weaknesses as well as from your
personality profile.
- What have you done to prepare yourself for your chosen career? Here
you are selling yourself. Use your prior information and your
supporting evidence to bolster your position.
- Highlight anything that is extraordinary that needs to be taken into consideration.
Looking at these five items, you can see that you need not tell a story
about your life. In fact, doing so probably doesn't really address the
heart of the issue as outlined by points 3 and 4.
You might think that providing them a laundry list of schools and
activities fills your objective. No, wrong-- again, it merely tells the
reader that you were busy and it fails miserably to address point 3.
Let's take a closer look at writing your motivation letter:
Covering points 1 and 2 ought to be very straightforward. Next,
think about why you want this career. What motivates you? What do
you like about it? What passions does it stir in you? How do you see
yourself performing in this role? Does it suit your personality?
Now begin to tell about things in your past that suggest you and your
career goals are aligned. Tell about those activities that support your
career aspirations or things needed for your career. Your activities
need not be directly applicable.
For example, my first degree was a mechanical engineering degree. In point or short form (as a crude example)--
I like science. I have always been interested in science.
I like taking things apart and putting them back together again.
I like following technological developments and seeing their implications.
I like problem-solving.
I like building things.
I played a lot of sports as a kid.
I learned the values of teamwork and commitment.
I learned how to concentrate and focus on goals.
I learned how to structure my time to fit my activities into my schedule.
With my personal traits and a science background, I knew that I would
be well prepared for business as well. An engineering background is an
excellent pathway to business. I always enjoyed learning about
business. I found it fascinating. So it is easy for me to talk about my career ambition (engineer) and
what I want to do (be employed in an engineering capacity).
Why? Here I can talk about how I have always done well in school in math and
sciences. I can talk about how I enjoy problem-solving and figuring
things out. I can talk about how I enjoy fixing things (cars and my
bikes). I can talk about how I love science in general and am always
interested in learning how things work.
What else? I played a lot of sports as a kid. I learned the values of teamwork,
how to win, how to work hard, how to focus and concentrate, and how to
balance my time and priorities. Now I can just briefly mention the
activities that support what I have learned. The key point in this
discussion is NOT what activities I have participated in, but rather
what I have learned and experienced. The activities are merely the
supporting arguments to what I am claiming.
Anything else? I could talk briefly about business. At that time, my exposure to
business was minimal, but I enjoyed reading the business pages. I
didn't fully understand what was happening, but I was fascinated by how
companies operated and the effects on their stock prices.
So the above commentary gives me lots of stuff to play with for a
letter. All I need to do now is provide a summary paragraph. This
summary should weave much of the information already discussed into a
coherent and strong paragraph that demonstrates my passion for wanting
to become an engineer.
The key to all this is to let the reader get to know you. Knowing
your activities doesn't tell the reader about you. If someone were to
ask the reader to describe you, could s/he provide an accurate
description and assessment? Or would s/he be forced to recite your life
story or just provide a list of activities? In my case, she could say, "He is a typical kid with interests in math
and science who plays sports. He seems to understand hard work, time
management, and the need to focus and persevere. He has some lofty
goals in his life, and I hope they work out."
That's it. It isn't hard. But you need to tell the reader who you
are.
If you don't do that, you've failed to communicate your message.
Remember, this is an opportunity to sell yourself. Get used to it--
it's an important part of life. You need to be able to present your
case for many opportunities in life.
Finally, keep in mind that there is no one correct way to write you
letter, so long as you convey the five elements mentioned earlier.
(Do not post to these explanatory threads.)