In my four years as sales manager of a leading medical-supply distributor in Redwood City, I directed the sales and marketing of the company’s line of breathing apparatus. During that time:

• I led the sales team in tripling annual billings, from $3 million to nearly $11 million;
• I contributed to a five-fold increase in company profits, for $150K in 2001 to $785K for the fiscal year ending in 2005.
• I guided a 250 percent increased in the number of accounts in our group’s sales territory.
• The success I’ve had here and elsewhere in 15 years of selling is not a coincidence or attributable to luck or magic. My sales prowess results from a natural ability to analyze a marketing/selling situation and deliver an innovative program that leaves the competition behind.

Use tables as another way to tell a story in a user-friendly format. Remember Mathias Carroll’s Project Supplement Resume Addendum from Chapter 5? An alternative to using the full addendum is to extract three or four storied key projects and use them in the middle of your cover letter, as in this sample.

Employers are not spending as much time as they used to reading cover letters. Ideally, your letter should be about four paragraphs, and one of those should tell a story.

When I interviewed Ms. Kirkwood six months ago to obtain information about a career in real estate, she mentioned that the agency would like to establish a Web presence. I’d like to combine my interest in real estate with my knowledge of Web-page design and HTML programming to help you create a Webmaster position in your office. I’ve even sketched out some preliminary ideas on what your Web page might look like, and I’d love to get together and show them to you.

Because I recently assisted in managing one of the convenience stores in your company’s chain, I am well-acquainted with how to prioritize tasks. I oversaw organization of the employee task list. While corporate headquarters provided the basic structure of the task list, I modified it to meet our store’s needs. Now, I’d like to do that for all the corporate stores. Working in “the problem store,” as you often called it, I am certainly aware of the difficulties, and I have some ideas about how to solve them.

I understand that Hanover Information Systems deals heavily in telemarketing and database outsourcing. Maintaining a database can be very expensive for a company, and outsourcing this task can sometimes be more efficient. I am confident that I can help increase the company’s productivity by creating optimal ways to maintain the databases.

At the very instant I read your ad for a Merchandising Specialist, everything clicked. The description of the job became one with my passion, and I knew the match between me and this job was perfect. I’m ready to make my contribution in an environment where excellence is a given. I accept your challenge; I know I have what it takes, can prove it, and am poised to take my mark and go.

I became a chiropractor because of my desire to help people and make a difference. I strive to do the same with my writing. As a health professional with significant health/medical writing and publishing experience, I have a wealth of skills and talents to offer in the Staff Writer position you currently have open. I am eager to put my attributes to work for you at Healthy Body magazine.

My successes have been frequent and consistent since I joined The Buenger Corporation 10 years ago when it was a $90 million company. I played a key role in the organization’s growth to $1 billion. However, I’ve progressed as far as possible. As a result, I’ve decided to take on new challenges in a growing firm like yours that could benefit from my large-corporation experience.

I enjoyed your recent informative presentation at St. Leo College and was so impressed with your knowledge of trends in pharmaceutical sales. Your talk inspired me to research Hoechst Marion Roussel further. I discovered that my professional demeanor and sales talents would be an excellent match for the world’s third-largest drug company. Noticing that Hoechst streamlined its labor force in 2005 demonstrates to me that you emphasize quality rather than quantity, a philosophy that aligns directly with my characteristics. I’d love to tell you more about how my solid academic performance, work ethic, drive, organizational skills, and strong interest in the pharmaceutical industry demonstrate my ability to attain outstanding results for your company.

Back in January, before I relocated to the Bay Area from Ohio, I wrote to you about the possibility of employment with your dynamic company. You generously took the time to reply with an extremely kind letter. You said that with my qualifications, I should have no difficulty finding a job. Having felt such a warm rapport with you from your very nice letter, I thought you might like to know that I’ve completed my relocation and am ready to enhance the success of a company like yours.

• A particular strength of mine is establishing rapport with patients, often perceiving nonverbal cues that communicate how they are feeling. I am then adept at motivating them to manage or even overcome their dysfunction. I will always remember my 88-year-old patient, Dottie, and the way she smiled with tears in her eyes after my therapy enabled her to write a letter to her first great-grandchild.
• Through my experiences, I have gained a deep conviction that improving the quality of early care of children is the best way to improve society. The care that children receive in these early years is pivotal to whether they become pro- or anti-social. The program I developed provided 60 children with appropriate guidance, nutrition, safety, and unconditional love, and had a lasting impact as they developed into adulthood. A much higher percentage of them than is typical for that population are now college bound.
• The world of insurance doesn’t seem like a breeding ground for the kind of compassion you need in a counselor, but for me it was. When I was in health-insurance claims, a family had lost its home during the Christmas holidays. They lacked the funds to cover their benefit premiums, and their coverage was about to be cancelled. I came up with a payment plan. I also put the father’s disability claim on the fast track and collaborated with co-workers to send four big boxes with wrapped Christmas presents to arrive on Christmas Eve.
• As the coordinator of a tutoring program for disadvantaged youth, I have developed my ability to motivate and make a difference. I helped a little boy, Jeremy, improve his reading and math grades from F’s to B’s. The same enthusiasm and persuasive skills that aided me in recruiting 115 new volunteers for service projects this year make me a valuable asset for your organization.

I can make a valuable contribution to Maplewood Children’s Hospital, based on my past experiences. As a child I spent a lot of time in hospitals, and I vividly remember my feelings in response to the environment. I would like to ensure that children feel as comfortable as possible in an otherwise scary situation.

While working in a summer internship with the Red Cross in Rwanda, I was exposed to human suffering far worse than anything I ever could have imagined. It is out of the sensitivity I acquired toward the misery of oppressed people that I decided to dedicate my career toward trying to ease suffering. That is why I am writing to you about the social-worker position you currently have available.

Recently I have spent many long hours at the bedsides of my two brothers, who were both hospitalized for lengthy periods for separate traumas. I thus have personal experience with both short- and long-term patients and the problems they endure while in the hospital.