An Honest Dialogue About Cover Letter Drafting by Ahjah, Parisa, and Tanzim

An Honest Dialogue About Cover Letter Drafting


Written by Ahjah, Parisa, and Tanzim


To whom it may concern, we hope that this blog post finds you well. 


Seems a bit impersonal doesn’t it? Today’s blog post has a unique feature with three bloggers in conversation: Ahjah, Parisa, Tanzim. All three writers will be graduating and pursuing their careers after the academic year. Ahjah is currently studying higher education and applying for faculty jobs; Parisa and Tanzim are both studying architecture and applying for industry positions. In our post today we will be discussing the differences of drafting cover letters for industry specific positions (Tanzim & Parisa) and faculty positions (Ahjah). Specifically we discuss how to both capture the professionalism of the cover letter genre while also conveying our passion and competence for a position.

Not to be too metacognitive, but… as we were drafting this we found it much easier to dialogue about the difference. Drafting comes in many forms and here is our authentic- co-constructive process to draft this blog about drafts: 

Tanzim (pressing record with delight): Hello my buddies! welcome Ahjah & Parisa. Ahjah, what's your biggest fear/ghost while writing a cover letter?

Ahjah: Honestly, sounding stupid. Or being cliche. The length.. It feels stupid. I ended up on two and a half pages [for my cover letter]. 

Parisa exclaims:Who's gonna read all that!!!?

Ahjah: Well..it’s specific [to the feild], right? Like, If I applied to an assistant professor position with a one page cover letter, the professors would be like “this girl, she’s boring”!!

Parisa: Our [architecture firm] recruiters just want to see visuals. Even if it’s a written document, they want to ‘see’ it instead of reading it.

Tanzim: Parisa, so what is your biggest fear/ghost?

Parisa:Telling them what is already on my C.V.;I’m scared of them being bored. 


Through our dialogue we noted that while the genre, cover letters, are  the same, the topics and length are specific to the field and position to which you apply. Similar to Tanzim and Prisa, Ahjah’s full time professional work as a practitioner background in student affairs, was achieved by writing a much shorter and concise cover letter. However, now that she is pursuing academia where the rigor involves teaching, research, and service, her cover letter has to be convincing and explanatory thus requiring a lengthier cover letter. As you prepare for writing, it’s important to ask what are the conventions of the genre, in the field, and for the position type to which you are applying.

In addition to worrying about the length, both Parisa and Ahjah express a need to keep the cover letter interesting (which we practice and you can listen to our audio file for giggles and insight). Both writers fear not being interesting. Ahjah fears that if she writes less, she will present herself as underqualified. Parisa thinks the opposite; the more she writes, the more the recruiters will be uninterested. 

Fear is natural as we aim to impress and showcase who we are and what our skill sets are. However, it is also important to remember that we want to remain authentic, relevant, and concise. We want to assert ourselves, and we want to be competent in our skills and compatible with the company. Our advice to one another and now, to you, is to  know that you can do the job and you are worthy. We all need the job and, — we want to be respected and seen in the job we’re doing. 

Now ask yourselves, if the office, firm, department you’re applying for is worthy of you? 

Wishing you a successful job search! 

Ahjah, Parisa & Tanzim


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