How to Address a Cover Letter [2019 Examples]

How to Address a Cover Letter 2019 ExamplesHow to Address a Cover Letter Best Tips - How to Address a Cover LetterYouve managed to find the perfect job, and youve decided to include a titelbild letter (good choice). You stare at the blank screen, and a sense of panic takes over. How do you even start your cover letter? Many people problematik into the trap of addressing their cover letter To Whom it May Concern or Dear Sir or Madam and this is a huge mistake. Dont forget this is the first interaction the hiring manager will have with you. You dont want to have a generic greeting that could be intended for anyone.Hiring managers and recruiters like to landsee that youve taken the time to do your research. Your cover letter should be customized for the job you are applying for, even down to the salutation.This first impression can make or break your chances of getting an interview. Follow the tips below, and youll be well on your way to crafting a memorable cover letter.Cover Letter Sa lutation - Casual or Formal?Even if you know a company culture is more casual, it may serve you well to keep the cover letter salutation more formal. Many people will appreciate the formality. Sometimes a recruiter may screen the applications for an organization, and they may prefer a formal greeting, even though the company may be more casual. Include Mr. or Ms. when addressing a cover letter (e.g. Ms. Jane Doe).Some people like to use Dear or Hello before the full name. Theres nothing wrong with using those greetings, but many hiring managers do not have a lot of time, and it is important to keep your cover letter concise. In the spirit of brevity, its much simpler to just drop the greeting and address your letter to the name of the hiring manager.If youve done your research and cannot tell whether this person is a Mr. or Ms., then eliminate the title completely and use only the full name (e.g. Jane Doe).What if I Dont Know the Name of the Manager/Supervisor?If you cant find the n ame of the hiring manager or recruiter that will receive your application, there are some strategies to address a vague salutation without appearing careless.In many instances, you will know the team that you are applying to. In that case, you may want to address your cover letter as Customer Service Hiring Team or Hello Customer Service Hiring Manager to maintain a level of customization.A recruiter or hiring manager can identify when you are just sending out a mass amount of cover letters to see what sticks. They like to see that youve taken the time to write a letter that is tailored directly to them. As theyre sifting through dozens, even hundreds, of applications - they only have a few brief minutes (if that) to review your cover letter. A strong salutation can grab their attention and get them reading.How Should I Format my Cover Letter?Once youve landed on the salutation, its important to format the cover letter in professional way. You should always include your information first followed by the hiring managers information. Include your name, title, address, phone and email. Then youll want to include the hiring managers company, name, title and address followed by the date. If you dont know the companys address or email, its okay to exclude that information. Then begin your salutation and flow into the content of your cover letter. See the example belowThe key when addressing your cover letter is to ensure you have all the information and that the information you have is accurate. The way you design or display these fields is much less important than making sure they are accounted for in your letter.Addressing your cover letter correctly leaves behind a great first impression for the hiring manager and can get you even closer to landing that interview.

The Secret Sauce Leaders Have and How You Can Get it, Too

The Secret Sauce Leaders Have and How You Can Get it, TooThe Secret Sauce Leaders Have and How You Can Get it, TooYouve probably heard that part of what it takes to get promoted at work, advance in your career, and inspire others to follow you is having executive presence or leadership presence. But what does that actually mean?Years ago, I was invited to speak on this very topic at a leadership conference for a Wall Street investment bank. In a planning call with the conference sponsors, we discussed the talking points I was going to cover. You should departure with a definition of leadership presence, one of them suggested, making me pause. It had seemed so obvious until I was asked to put it into words- but I couldnt think of one. In a moment of minor panic, I stalled by asking the four leaders on the conference call to describe how they would define leadership presence. Silence ensued. They seemed as stymied I wasIs it like charisma? asked one. And you either have it or you dont? Then, one of the youngest managing directors spoke up. Leadership presence is almost impossible to define, she said, but we all know it when we see it. Bam I thought to myself, and went so far as to ask her if I could use those very words as my opening definition for my conference session. For she had put my own feelings about leadership presence into a succinct non-definition impossible to define, but we know it when we see it. A little more specifically, Kathy Lubar and Belle Linda Halpern, authors of Leadership Presence describe a leaders presence like this When they enter a room, the energy level rises. You perk up, stop what youre doing, and focus on them. You expect something interesting to happen. Its as though a spotlight shines on them. What is it they have? They have presence.Others have weighed in with their own definitions to attempt to clear up the matter. They elicit a natural response to follow them, says Nina Simosko, the head of strategy, planning, and operations fo r Nike Technology. Its almost as if they have leadership pheromones.In all these examples of definitions, you hear lots of enthusiasm and vivid imagery, but few clues about how to attain the elusive quality for yourself. So youve got to feel for any young aspiring leader, who on his or her performance evaluation gets told, Wed love to promote you, but you lack leadership presence. Its hard enough to figure out what that means, let alone know what to do next.Two Components of Leadership PresenceAnother expert who has researched leadership presence- what it is and how to build it- is Amy Cuddy at Harvard Business School. (As a follow-up, watch her TED talk on power poses here, which includes some great tips about body language.) It was a light bulb moment when I came across what Cuddy and her colleagues wrote about two traits that are most influential in determining whether a person is perceived as an effective leader.The authors explained, When we judge others- especially our leaders - we look first at two characteristics how lovable they are (their warmth, communion, or trustworthiness) and how fearsome they are (their strength, agency, or competence). And just like that, they had boiled down the essence of leadership presence into two qualities warmth and authority.Communicating Warmth and AuthorityIve found that one of the best ways to improve your leadership presence is to observe it in a leader you look up to- in person or online- and determine how they convey those two key traits. YouTube can be a great resource to find videos of leaders giving interviews or keynotes, like theseIndra Nooyi, CEO of Pepsi John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Sheryl Sandberg, COO of FacebookJohn Donahoe, CEO of eBayWatch carefully, and find a style of leadership presence that you like- one that might feel comfortable for you. Once you find a style youd like to emulate, try the following exercise Watch one minute of your selected speaker four separate times, paying attention to a very specific element each time1. Turn the sound off. What body language do they use to convey warmth and authority?For example, when Indra Nooyi chit chats with an interviewer, theres a twinkle in her eye accompanied by a genuine smile. But when their conversation turns to business, Nooyis smile fades, replaced by an array of powerful flosse gestures that convey authority. Once her point is made, she smiles again, switching seamlessly back to warmth.2. Listen to the sound only, without watching. What vocal tone, pace, and intonations do they use that convey warmth and authority?When John Chambers delivers a keynote, he speaks rapidly, his pitch constantly rising and falling. You cant help but feel engaged and excited. Occasionally he slows down, maintains a single pitch, and pauses with for emphasis. Its all authority. You know to sit up and take note.3. Sound only, again. What words do they use to convey warmth and authority?Sheryl Sandbergs language is polished, without a single um or ah. But listening only to her voice without any visual clues, I found this style almost too flawless to be relatable. In contrast, John Donahoes plain-spoken, imperfect, everyday language came across as likeable and down-to-earth.4. Finally, watch with the sound on.Look for anything that undermines the speakers warmth and authority, such as a nervous laugh, lack of genuine smile, or over-reliance on a single gesture. When youre done watching all four times, make a list of things youd like to do more of as a leader. This is a great exercise to do with a friend because you can bounce ideas off of each other about what works and what doesnt. At the end of the day, this exercise can help put a more distinct definition on what your own personal brand of leadership presence will look like.Photo of conductor courtesy of Shutterstock.

Float Like a Stingray, Be Like a Power Plant

Float Like a Stingray, Be Like a Power Plant Float Like a Stingray, Be Like a Power Plant When the sun hides and the winds die theres one massive source of renewable energy that doesnt sleep the sea. Though there are many designs that aim to capture the power contained in the movements of the planets waters, Columbia Power Technologies is poised to go commercial in the coming years with its Stingray. The company just won a contract from the DOE to put the device in a real ocean for a real test with real output to the real grid. The design of the StingRAY is conceptually simple. Two floats sandwich a rotary generator. As the floats pivot with the rise and fall and back and forth of the waves, they turn the generator. The generator is spun clockwise and counter clockwise continuously as the wave comes and leaves, says Ken Rhinefrank, Columbias vice president of research. Two spars connect to a damper below the surface of the water and the entire unit will be connected by an umbilical t o the sea floor where transmissions will send the energy to a substation.To get to that design required years of experimentation. Whats efficient for a wave of seven seconds is elend necessarily whats efficient for a wave of eight seconds. And the size and power of each wave changes radically throughout the day and the year. The average meter-wide wave has about 34 kilowatts to it. In the summer, though, those waves shrink to the 15-kilowatt level, while in the winter they might be as strong as 50 or 60 kilowatts. So Rhinefrank and his gruppe investigated literally thousands of shapes, he says. After several iterations, the Stingrays spar has become cylindrical rather than a cube and the floats are contoured. Thanks to these changes, the Stingray has increased its efficiency by more than 200 percent in the past few years.The StingRAY utility-scale wave power system. Image Columbia Power TechnologiesBut its not just the size and length of the waves that vary. Changing wave direction was another challenge Columbia needed to meet head on, as it were. Rhinefrank and his team settled on a single point mooring system to keep the Stingray at the optimal angle to the waves. Imagine a boat anchored with a single line. The boat will turn to face the waves as they change direction. Hour by hour waves change direction, Rhinefrank says. The device does what we call weather vane to head into the median wave direction.The biggest hurdle the team faced was finding a way to stay operational with storm force waves. Other wave energy capture devices have a range of motion, around five to ten meters, and they have a heaving point absorber that prevents unlimited vertical movement. There are problems associated with that end stop, says Rhinefrank. With larger forces theres a good chance of damage. To avoid that, when it gets above a certain wave height they lock the device down so theres no end stop collisions and the device isnt beating itself to death. Rhinefrank, though, want ed his device to be operational year round and did not want to have to shut down the device when the energy was at its best. So the Stingray has a 360-degree range of motion. When a wave pushes it too hard, the float will be driven up and over and is free to return to the forward position, he says. To put the ocean to use powering our land-based needs, the StingRAY needs to be tested in real waters. The first step is to demonstrate a single device and the demonstration has to show commercial viability in order to obtain investment to abflug a farm, says Rhinefrank. Its expensive developing a new technology, even more so in the ocean where forces and storm waves create loads which can be more than 100 times what you would landsee in average conditions. Once a single Stingray has proved its viability, itll be time to test a farm. Rhinefrank estimates that that might happen in the year 2021. Until then, the oceans power will just be something to marvel at. Michael Abrams is an indepen dent writer.Learn more about the latest energy technologies at ASMEs Power and Energy. For Further DiscussionIts expensive developing a new technology- even more so in the ocean where forces and storm waves create loads which can be more than 100 times what you would see in average conditions.Ken Rhinefrank, Columbia Power Technologies