The Cover Letter and Resume – Keys to Landing an Interview

There should be no doubt that a successful interview is what may produce the offer for your next coaching position. But your resume is the key to getting an invitation for an interview. And the cover letter may be the most critical and important piece to the entire puzzle.

If the cover letter does not quickly and effectively grab the athletic administrator’s attention, he may not spend more than a few seconds casually scanning your resume before tossing it to the side. The cover letter calls out, “Hey I’m a terrific candidate, please take a closer look at my qualifications and credentials!” OK, the letter isn’t that blunt, but you get the idea.

An effective cover letter should include the following:

• A salutation which indicates the individual noted on the vacancy posting to whom your letter is being sent. This means that you need to use the proper title of Mr., Ms. or Dr. for this person and definitely spell his or her name correctly. A misspelled name does not create a favorable first impression!

• An opening paragraph in which you express your interest in the vacancy and why you are applying. And please don’t simply state that …”you want to be a head coach.” You need to make a specific connection with the reason why you want to coach within this program and not at just any school.

• The second and third paragraphs serve to explain who you are and what you have accomplished. And in good writing, this means that both paragraphs should be limited to four or five sentences. This means that you have to carefully craft each one to use the limited words to your best advantage.

• In the last paragraph, you close by indicating that you would be happy to provide any additional information that might be needed. You also can include variations of, “I look forward to having an opportunity to discuss this opening with you.” Oh, and don’t forget to say “Thank you for your consideration.”

• The closing should be, “Sincerely.” Skip two lines and type your name. In the space between “Sincerely” and your typed name, put your signature.

While these are the essential basic parts of a cover letter, there are a few other things that you should remember. Always have someone proofread your cover letter and resume, which will be covered next, before mailing. Misspelled words and typographical mistakes do not present a good professional image. They do, on the other hand, demonstrate carelessness and a lack of attention to detail.

The next consideration is your resume, which briefly outlines your credentials and professional background. While this sounds simple enough, there are some basic ingredients and parameters that you should follow:

• At the top of your resume, you should include your given name, address, phone number and, in recent years, also your email address. Some formats suggest that your contact information should be centered on the page and others have it placed on the side. But regardless, this information should be correct and neat.

• The next section typically would detail your education. You always want to start with your highest degree first and include the actual degree earned and the institution – college, university or high school – which conferred the degree. Some would say not to include your graduation date, which can give an indication of your age. However, once you start listing your various coaching positions, one will be able to do some quick math and make an educated guess if that is his or her desire.

• After your education, you would list your teaching experience. Again, start with your most recent position and then go backward. The exception to listing teaching experience after your education is if you work for the school district and are listed as a non-teacher coach.

• Your coaching experience is the next section. Actually, you should consider breaking this part into two headings. The first is the sport for which you are applying and the second grouping could be labeled: Other Coaching Experience. And, yes, start with your most recent position first.

• If you have limited experience, you may want to consider following your coaching section with one including ancillary experience. This would include supervisory and instructional responsibilities at summer camps and other similar experiences with young people in sports-related activities. Although, please don’t list every camp! A simple statement stating that you have worked at summer camps and performed a number of responsibilities is sufficient.

• Instead of listing all of your references at the end of your resume, consider using the phrase: References will be supplied upon request. In this manner, those who you list will not be contacted unless you actually become a finalist for a position.

• Since you want to use the limited space effectively on your resume, do not list hobbies, family or other extraneous entries. Stick to the important topics that will help you earn an interview!

While these parts represent the basic sections of a resume, there are a few additional hints that will help make yours more noteworthy. And that should be your intent.

Skip the fluff and padding in an attempt to create more experience. Obviously, young, beginning coaches have limited experience and seasoned athletic administrators understand the normal progression. List what you have done and don’t overreach or overstate.

Also, be careful that you are accurate and factual with everything that you include in your resume. This means that you don’t list degrees which were not earned and positions which may be mistitled or not actually filled. Exaggeration and misrepresentation can later be cause for termination.

And if you want to impress some athletic administrators, especially those who embrace the concept of education-based athletics, provide evidence of community service projects that you completed with your team. This is most noteworthy if this effort was not a one-time event, but that you can show continual involvement.

You also want to include all sportsmanship awards your teams have accumulated as well as an impressive team grade-point average and any academic awards that your athletes have won. These are valuable benchmarks in education-based athletics and are great items to include in a resume.

After considering the essential parts and suggestions for improvement, it should be obvious that a good cover letter and resume take work, organization and thought in order to produce one that may open doors. Also, both documents should always be a work in progress and revised constantly in order to accurately represent your latest accomplishments and the most current point in your career.

Get to work – an interview could be the result!