how to write a cover letter, according to leonardo da vinci - quartz
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18 7 2014 How to write a cover letter, according to Leonardo da Vinci - Quartz
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COMPLE T E G UIDE
How to write a cover letter, according to
Leonardo da VinciBy Michael Silv erberg @m bd_s an hour ago
Selling yourself often feels like a grotesque act. So job applicants cover letters seem
unlikely to contain much great prose. Instead, we tend to fill the page with false notes and
empty phrases. (I believe my skills make me the ideal candidate, and I would appreciate
your consideration)
But it doesnt have to be that way. When a 30-something Leonardo da Vinci sought work in
the court of the duke of Milan in the 1480s, he wrote a short, bulleted list of ten skills that
would have been sure to catch the eye of any Renaissance-era ruler: he could
design portable, indestructible bridges; build unassailable vehicles; destroy most fortresses;
and so on. (He also could execute sculpture in marble, bronze and clay, and wasnt so bad
with a paintbrush, either.) His letter was brisk, convincing, and a pleasure to read.
Other fine examples of the form can be found in the cover letters of Eudora Welty and
Hunter S. Thompson, among other great minds. Quartz has distilled their wisdom into a
rough guide to cover-letting writing.
Its worth noting that these letters arent templatesit would be pointless to copy
correspondence thats so individual. Theyre here as prods, reminders that its possible to
make a necessity of business a bit less of a drag to write and read.
Fear and loathing on the job hunt. Reuters/Mario Anzuoni
QUARTZ - Vis it us at
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Cut through the noise
Be specic about your skills
All but one of the letters mentioned here come from the recently published book Letters of
Note: An Eclectic Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience, an anthology of Shaun
Ushers wonderful blog of the same name. Its well worth picking up.
The trouble with most cover letters is that they
sound canned. Using boilerplate
formalities wont make you sound serious; it will just
make it harder to tell one cover letter from another.
Use your personality, even if it means channeling
your anxieties about the job you hope to get. For
instance, Eudora Welty opened with a bit of
disarming humor when she applied for a job at the
New Yorker in 1933 as an unknown 23-year-old
writer with no experience:
I suppose youd be more interested in even a sleight-
o-hand trick than youd be in an application for a
position with your magazine, but as usual you cant
have the thing you want most.
And she closes with a self-deprecating joke and an amazing pun:
There is no telling where I may apply, if you turn me down; I realize this will not
phase you, but consider my other alternative: the U of N.C. offers for $12.00 to let
me dance in Vachel Lindsays Congo. I congo on.
Both you and the person reading your application know that youre engaged in a dull little
ritual. Anything to break up that monotony is likely to get you noticed.
Da Vincis letter to the ruler of Milan, Ludovico
Sforza, overwhelms the readers defenses with
details of his war-waging abilities, from
constructing secret subterranean passageways to
designing very beautiful cannons and catapults:
1. I have plans for very light, strong and
easily portable bridges with which to pursue
and, on some occasions, flee the enemy, and
Eudora Welty AP Photo/file
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Try to show your skills in action
Tell a story
and, on some occasions, flee the enemy, and
others, sturdy and indestructible either by
fire or in battle, easy and convenient to lift
and place in position. Also means of burning
and destroying those of the enemy.
and
4. I have also types of cannon, most
convenient and easily portable, with which
to hurl small stones almost like a hail-storm;
and the smoke from the cannon will instil a
great fear in the enemy on account of the
grave damage and confusion.
Weltys talents were less martial but equally
impressive:
I recently coined a general word for Matisses pictures after seeing his latest at the
Marie Harriman: concubineapple. That shows you how my mind worksquick, and
away from the point.
Its one thing to say you can do the job; quite another to show it. In 1934, Robert Pirosh
was a young copywriter who wanted to break into Hollywood. The brief cover letter he sent
to directors vouches for his abilities better than a lengthy CV could:
I like words. I like fat buttery words, such as ooze, turpitude, glutinous, toady. I like
solemn, angular, creaky words, such as straitlaced, cantankerous, pecunious,
valedictory. I like spurious, black-is-white words, such as mortician, liquidate,
tonsorial, demi-monde.
And so on for another 100 or so peregrinating, bravura, gurgling words. Pirosh was hired
as a junior writer for MGM, where he wrote for the Marx brothers and won an Academy
award for Battleground.
Making our lives and experiences intelligible to others is a hard task. But if you can sustain
a narrative over the course of a few paragraphs, youll seem like a person, instead of a
faceless email. When Tim Schafer applied to be a programmer and designer at Lucasfilm in
1989, his cover letter came in the form of a text adventure game.
Your quest for the ideal career begins, logically enough, at the Ideal Career Center.
Upon entering, you see a helpful looking woman sitting behind a desk. She smiles and
says, May I help you?
Leonardo da Vinci REUTERS/Francois
Lenoir
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Make your interest palpable
Be clear about what you want, and dont want
A letter is a great rst step, but try to set up a face-to-face meeting
says, May I help you?
>SAY YES I NEED A JOB
Things ended well for the games character (As you become personally fulfilled, your score
reaches 100, and this quest comes to an end) and for Schafer too, who went on to design a
string of popular video games for Lucasfilm and his own company, Double Fine
Productions.
Why couch your enthusiasm in stilted, formal phrasing? You want this job. So say it, like
Welty does: How I would like to work for you!
In his 1958 cover letter to the Vancouver Sun, a 21-
year-old Hunter S. Thompson wasnt shy about
broadcasting his abilitiesI can write everything
from warmongering propaganda to learned book
reviews, he wrote. But he also detailed battles with
his previous boss (It was as if the Marquis de Sade
had suddenly found himself working for Billy
Graham). He explained his reasoning:
I stepped into a dung-hole the last time I took a job
with a paper I didnt know anything about (see
enclosed clippings) and Im not quite ready to go
charging up another blind alley. And dont think
that my arrogance is unintentional: its just that Id
rather offend you now than after I started working
for you.
Thompsons cover letter might not seem like one to
emulate. (He didnt get the job.) But his blunt tone served a good purpose: It likely saved
him from a workplace he would have hated, and helped lead him to jobs that were more
suitable to his interests and talents. As he wrote, I would rather be on the dole than work
for a paper I was ashamed of.
After da Vinci listed everything he could do to elegantly crush an enemy, he offered to
show his skills in person, just in case his descriptions werent convincing:
And if any of the above-mentioned things seem impossible or impracticable to
Hunter S. Thompson AP Photo/Frank
Martin
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Stay alert to other opportunities, and be patient
If its your dream job, dont worry about yourqualicationsjust apply
And if any of the above-mentioned things seem impossible or impracticable to
anyone, I am most readily disposed to demonstrate them in your park or in
whatsoever place shall please Your Excellency, to whom I commend myself with all
possible humility.
Da Vinci asked to join Sforzas court as a sort of battlefield engineer, but the Milanese duke
ended up becoming one of his most important artistic patrons, commissioning The Last
Supper along with important works of science and architecture.
And Welty wasnt hired by the New Yorker initially, but she did eventually end up writing
for the magazine over the course of her storied career. It just took a couple of decades of
waiting.
Sam Pointon didnt quite have the requisite education and work experience when, in 2009,
he applied to be the director of the UKs National Railway Museum. But you wouldnt
expect him tohe was still in elementary school. His letter began:
I am writing to apply to be the new Director of the National Railway Museum. I am
only 6 but I think I can do this job.
I have an electrick train track. I am good on my train track. I can control 2 trains at
once.
Like Thompson and Welty, he didnt get the job he applied for. (At least not yet.) But the
museum was impressed with Sams enthusiasm, andperhaps sensing a PR coupit created
a new position for him: Director of Fun. A museum spokeswoman tells Quartz that Sam
retired at the grand old age of 10 in summer 2012 so he could focus on his studies. Not a
bad run for a first job.