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Recent discussions of that peculiar beast, genre, have kicked up some questionable observations, among them that genre has ceased to be meaningful when we have what some critics dub "autofiction" (See The New Yorker interview with Rachel Cusk) and that, with today's scanty attention spans and tiny screens, shorter writing is always better writing.
One genre in which this observation fails to hold true: the lowly job application letter, otherwise known as the cover letter. For all the letter might stand between you, the dole, and gainful employment, the cover letter scarcely meets the criteria for genre. However, it, like other writing genres, has distinctive content, as well as conventions dictating its form, length, and tone. In short, the cover letter is a genre—just not one to which many pundits have given much notice.
This lack of attention may stem from the nearly-ritualized nature of the cover letter's content. The opening paragraph that argues how marvelous a fit you are for the job for which you're applying. The closing paragraph's "call to action" that timidly suggests you're eager to interview. The middle section that, if you're treating the cover letter as more than an exercise in parroting friend's successful letters, matches your experience to the job's qualifications.
In reality, a well-crafted cover letter will achieve far more than the rigid, lifeless piece of writing most of us send out...and would rather not re-read, especially once we have the job we applied for. However, to achieve your goal of demonstrating that (a) you can actually write rather well and (b) you're easily one of the best-qualified applicants for the position, you need to understand how your audience is going to read your job application.
For those of us who have served on hiring committees or hired countless employees (full disclosure: I've done both), we read the job application package in reverse: resume or CV first, then the cover letter. (I'll get to how you avoid the HR Gauntlet in another post). But we also read the cover letter in a manner different from how we read nearly any other document. Readers typically spend more time on the opening paragraph, skim the middle paragraphs, and scan or even skip the closing.
Why? The opening paragraph, if it deviates from the bog-standard "I am applying for...advertised in..." is potentially the most influential paragraph in the entire document for three reasons. First, that opening frames the reader's comprehension of the entire document. Starting with a dynamic opening that shows you've done your homework on the organization and role, focus on the key strengths you'll bring to the position, and, if possible, show insight that goes beyond the remit in the job description. Second, an opening with that content will ensure your readers push on with their close reading and bring some focus, rather than a cursory scan, to your meatier, middle paragraphs that should contain concrete specifics that back up the broad-based claims in the opening paragraph. Third, readers will recall that opening paragraph better and longer than the others, as we read cover letters and resumes with decreasing attention and focus when we move from beginnings to endings. With cover letters, the primacy and priming effects are stronger than recency effects, in stark contrast to so many other kinds of genres.
So, two takeaways here:
1. If your writing is going to make one paragraph longer than the near-telegraphic, brief paragraphs of most cover letters, the opening paragraph is the one where you'll get the most benefit from discarding the conventional content: job description; place advertised; attachments. And where you'll also be rewarded for this departure. Provided you focus on an attention-getting opening that promises your readers that you might be a candidate who does more than merely fit the minimum job requirements—you might be a candidate who spots problems the organization has yet to recognize but will one day need to solve.
2. The closing sentence of your first paragraph does adhere to one convention: it's your cover letter's thesis and thus powerfully frames readers' perceptions of the content to follow. That thesis also falls into the recency or emphasis position of the opening paragraph. In cover letters, that single sentence receives stronger recall than the other sentences or entire paragraphs, partly because of the conventions governing cover letters' content that reduce the significance of some paragraphs or even remove from readers the necessity of looking at them.
One final caveat: don't treat any cover letter, including submissions to journal websites, as a slap-dash affair, believing it to be a document few readers will scrutinize carefully. Instead, plan to spend at least two days in the planning, writing, and revising of your cover letter. That little extra bit of added attention can have rich payoffs.
