Do you know the meaning of a cliché? ‘A phrase or an idea that has been overused and has become uninteresting or stale’, avers the august Compact Oxford Dictionary.

Why are clichés overused? I think it is because they state a universally true idea. May be I am wrong but for the sake of the discussion let us assume I am correct.

So clichés reflect a standard phenomenon. Now, if I assert that—- ‘the first impression is the last one’—— then it must have been historically true for quite a number of times. And where is it used most often in today’s context? In your social and professional career, more accurately your public relation domain!

In case you are mailing out your resumes to prospective enterprises, you should use your PR skills at the very outset to set up an equation with the prospective employer. And this equation gets established long before the interview day; the communication channels start running the moment a hiring entity lays eyes on your resumes and/or your cover letters.

A curious fact is that a lot of applications that get rejected are of candidates whose educational background and prior job experience fit the program requirements perfectly. Then why do they get flushed? In most cases, it is because the applicant copied a cheesy sample cover letter that did not refer to skill sets required for that particular job.

An intelligent and a well researched copy of a sample cover letter, highlighting your superior abilities that conform to the job profile, can lead to a great flurry of interview calls, while a lousy one can straightaway be directed to the dust bin.

The gradual deterioration of economic conditions has sent most enterprises into a cost cutting overdrive; workers are being laid at the drop of a hat. As such, hiring agencies prefer workmen who can single-handedly do two or more people’s job without complaining. A good sample cover letter should thus illustrate how efficiently you have handled responsibilities at your prior job postings and how that contributed to the productivity of those firms.

So you see, using a well written sample cover letter as reference will not only help with the composition of the writing but also help you to reflect your cardinal achievements and convince your boss that no one suits this job better than you.

A resume however is not a testimonial; it is just a mundane documentation of your academic certificates and previous work related data. It is, therefore your personality, work ethics and dedication to your job that carves out a signature niche space for you. A well written cover letter defining your uniqueness can be just what you were looking for!

Don’t ever send a single cover letter to multiple agencies. Think for a second what it suggests. It suggests a cliché; yes we are back to square one. What does that mean? That means the prospective employee is too lazy to cook up interesting cover letters. And the stagnation of original thoughts is suicidal in the current job market.