How to Find Pain Points for a Cover Letter

How to Find Pain Points for a Cover Letter How to Find Pain Points for a Cover Letter When writing a cover letter for a job application, are you focused on letting hiring managers know you can do the job? Or are you focused on making the lives of people at another company easier? Let hiring managers know you can do more than the job by finding the pain points of the company to address in your pain provoking cover letter. Here is how to do it. 1. Do some digging on the company and hiring manager The first step is to find out what you can about the problems the company is experiencing and who is doing the hiring. Sometimes, the job description holds the clues to let you know what pain points must be addressed. Maybe you have seen this in a job description: “We need to double our team in the next two months and are looking for a recruiter to lead the charge.” “We’re looking for a savvy growth hacker who can help us reach two million users.” Next, you can identify the hiring manager by the posting on LinkedIn or you can identify people from your own network who are connected to the hiring manager. 2. Start stalking (not really) You don't actually want to stalk anyone, but at times it may feel like you are stalking someone for a job on LinkedIn. Once you have figured who knows who and who you are connected to, reach out to them with a well-written LinkedIn message. If they are local to you, see if they would agree to have a quick coffee. If not, see if they will agree to a call. Let them know what you are applying for, the company, and most importantly: Ask how to tailor your cover letter and application. Ask for insight on what the company is really hoping for someone to focus on in this position. So, let’s say you have no one to stalk: Search for people who held similar roles at different companies. Ask what their biggest challenges were. You will get some noticeable themes to write about when addressing hiring managers in your cover letter. 3. If all else fails in your pain point search All companies use social media, so check out customer complaints, press releases, Glassdoor, or news from staff on LinkedIn. You can get an idea of the company’s pain points enough to address themes or issues you have read about. Find out if the company has had issues in the past with staffing, layoffs, market exposure, etc. See if the pain points apply to the very position you are applying for. When you do apply, your cover letter will show you did the research and work to prove the company is one you should be working at. And when you interview, you will be prepared to talk about the company like no other job candidate!