Wherever I go, my standards for work quality and quantity seem too HIGH.

I've mostly worked on the client side, but have some entrepreneurial and agency experience, in which my clients and managers have been impressed.

Don't be fooled by my degrees - -I have real marcom skills.

Is there a place for me somewhere?

Probably, but not here.

The Wellesley Hills Group is hiring! We have a few open positions, including a Marketing and Consulting Associate. The above is the complete cover letter (sans signature) of a recent applicant.

The Buyer: Wellesley Hills Group has a need, a budget and a timeframe, and we're looking to make a very important long-term financial and business commitment – hiring a new member of the team.

The Seller: Anyone who applies for the position.

Over-and-above the specific criteria for the position, we're looking for someone who:

• Fits our values. The person above does an OK job with straightforwardness, but not a particularly good job at commitment, like submitting a cover letter as required – what you see above was what we got. This person also doesn't do a particularly good job of commitment to success of others like doing any research on us and including it in the cover letter, such as it is.
  
  
• Can help our clients be more successful. I'm not so sure I want cryptic and flip emails such as this one headed out to my clients, or headed out to the world on behalf of my clients. Clients: if you're reading the blog, we're keeping people like this out. I promise.
  
  
• Goes the extra mile in research and preparedness. For this position we're not necessarily looking for someone with extensive experience. We need someone who works hard, thinks clearly, analyzes situations and problems well, and writes well. This applicant, and practically everyone else who applies, does zero homework on our company. We have articles, we have a blog, we have case studies, we have information on the company, and we have much more on our website. Similar to business development for professional services, too few people read. Too few people customize. Too few people make the extra effort. More should.
  

It's hard work like this that gives us the indication that you'd be willing to go this far for our clients. You have to care to work here. And you can show me that you care right from the get-go in the cover letter.

Back to the buyer / seller scenario. By posting this position, we as the buyer have basically put out an RFP. You can respond, and your response – if well crafted – will get you in the door. If you actually go the extra mile and follow up (gasp!) then you might even find yourself at the top of the heap.

Since you're the seller, you may have been told by a career expert of your career counseling office that you need a unique point of differentiation (see #4) to make the sale (i.e. land the job). I'm sure this person was trying to stand out. And they did. They made it to the blog, didn't they?

You don't need differentiation per se, you just need to be very good. So few people are.

In our What's Working in Lead Generation benchmark report on RainToday.com, we asked over 700 buyers of professional services what types of content are most effective for lead generation. The top most effective content type is "Content 100% focused on individual prospect's specific situation." Meaning, if you do your homework and you customize your marketing communication tactics (like your cover letter and resume) to the prospect's specific situation (like the needs of the job and the company), then they'll work better.

The candidates that customize their applications specifically for us demonstrate passion, commitment, and an overall desire to work with a company with a culture and values such as ours. Research and customization demonstrate good marketing and lead generation instincts – qualities which we need to help our clients succeed.

If you're applying for a position here at the Wellesley Hills Group, feel free to follow the advice in this blog post. If you read the post, you have an advantage! If you didn't, you probably didn't do enough homework to get the job anyway.