The job market is much like the weather. Sometimes it is balmy and tropical, other times it is Arctic and frigid. Truth be known, companies are always hiring even when they claim to be subject to a freeze. If the right cold cover letter comes across the desk of the right manager, and turns up the heat a little, you can rest assured that those cold-shoulder conditions are bound to warm up fast. A solid, cold cover letter is effective fuel to fire up your job search.

A cold cover letter is closely related to a cold sales call. The cover letter is written as a means of inquiry and a method of testing the temperature of the job search waters when no jobs are posted for a company that interests you. For instance, you feel your talents or skills would be of value to specific companies in your area. You check their websites and search the classifieds for an opening that matches your qualifications. Your research yields no results. Situations like these call for creative options. The cold cover letter is one possible solution to this common problem. It could have you walking on sunshine sooner than you might think.

Many elements of the cold cover letter are the same as those for a general cover letter. Tailor your letter to fit the needs of the company. Knowledge of the company raises the temperature a notch. A hiring manager is more likely to warm up to an applicant that obviously understands the challenges the company faces. If you offer a sunny, enthusiastic prediction on how to handle those challenges you may find the hiring manager inviting you to come in out of the cold. Convey warmth and intelligence with affable words and phrases. Watch the mercury rise as the hiring manager basks in the light of your achievements and experience.

The cold cover letter has to crank up the heat to a sizzling degree to break through the Ice-age conditions of a frozen job market. The entire letter must radiate confidence, competence and conviction from the very beginning to bitter end. Make every word and every sentence matter. You want to keep the reader warm and cozy long enough to finish the page and move on to your resume without getting cold feet. You want that hiring manager to recognize your correspondence as indicative of you and what you are capable of achieving and contributing to the company. Most of all you want to impact the reader to a point that if a position does become available your name is the first one that pops into their mind.

When you invite the reader to contact you at their convenience they perceive the act as one of consideration and sincere interest. Leaving it to their convenience opens up a hotline of communication without being too pushy. If you do not hear from the manager within a designated amount of time, follow up on your attempt with a short thank you note and a reminder that you are still interested. Managers are often too busy managing to think about hiring needs when it is not a pressing issue. If you make your interest as clear as a warm springtime morning that manager is more likely to consider you a serious candidate.

Even businesses with full, reliable staffs of competent, dedicated employees sometimes find themselves in a bind. Major illnesses and other unforeseen events can remove an employee from the job force without warning. If you have already taken the time to submit a cover letter and resume that is designed to defrost the hiring freeze it is probable that the hiring manager knows just where to get his hot little hands on it in a hurry. Even if the company opens the position up to the public, in order to have a varied pool of applicants, your name is already in the pool and it has been for a while. You are already used to the water and that puts you one up on the competition. Close your letter with a warm thanks and reiterate your fiery passion for the job. Melting the tip of the glacier is often enough to break the ice and warm up to a shiny, new job.