It didn’t happen overnight, but over the last several months I’ve been swimming more and more in the bay. Now I’m hooked. Like running, it gives you a bit of a high, and after a while you begin to crave it. I can’t quite tell if it’s the warm afterglow after twenty minutes warming up in the sauna, or the sense of accomplishment from pushing yourself to do something that seems so unnatural, or if it’s just something primal about the risk taking and the elements.

Now the water beckons. On a calm day it calls out to for me to carve through it’s mirror-like surface. On a blustery day, it tries to intimidate me, but below the surface I know it’s just water. It’s definitely addictive. It’s an immersive full body experience. You plunge in and your whole body feels alive.

The best way to get into cold water is to tackle it head first. Those who stand on the beach, dipping their toes in and slowly inching forward are only torturing themselves. There is no easy way in, but there is a fast way in, and as soon as you’re in, you’re in. The best advice I’ve heard was to pretend you’re a train. I stand on the beach, let out a quiet whistle and then chug forth. Nothing will stop a train, and the water doesn’t stop me until I am waist deep at which point I dive forward and plunge my face into the murky water, and that’s it, you’re in.

It wasn’t that easy at first. Cold water shock can cause people to panic, inhale water, and occasionally drown when they find themselves thrown into frigid water. The first time I jumped in without a wetsuit, I thought I might drown too. It was cold. I hyperventilated, I swore, I flailed.

But after a couple minutes the shock wears off and you realize you’re not going to die. And if at this point you put your head down and start to swim, it can be quite pleasant. After a few more minutes it doesn’t even feel cold.

It took many swims to get used to it, and being thin, I thought I was genetically unsuitable to swim in the water for long, but friends pushed me and showed me it could be done, and now I routinely swim a mile in 40 minutes in 55 degree water. They say it’ll be down to 50 degrees next month, and I’m even looking forward to it.

If you live in San Francisco, it helps to join either the Dolphin or South-end clubs. Warm showers and sauna make all the difference after a cold swim, and so does the camaraderie and fun-times with the odd and interesting people whom you meet while warming up. They’re people from all walks of life, lawyers, executives, cooks, and teachers…. every one with something to teach.

Swimming with friends to the cove entrance

And there is no shortage of new experiences : Swimming under piers, night-swimming, swimming out to the cove entrance and watching the sun set beyond the Golden Gate Bridge. After that, why would you go back to a 25m long chlorinated pool and share a lane with four other people.

I hear many people tell me that they could never bear swimming in cold water. I can understand, but you can bear it, and if you do you’ll probably soon come to love it.

It turned out to be a fairly uneventful day. I left the dock in Sausalito at 5:30am and motored into the 4kt ebb which quickly sucked me out the gate. I figured the heavy fog would quickly lift, but by 7am I was half a mile north of the shipping channel still with only quarter mile visibility, which meant I couldn’t see approaching ships, or whether the potato patch off to my right was breaking. This was not a great place to be.

Fortunatly, iPhone to the rescue, and the MarineTraffic app and the Navionics Apps were lifesavers…. literally!

Fishing boats without AIS occasionally zipped by me, suddenly appearing out of the fog and then disappearing quickly back into it. I just hoped everyone else out there were paying attention. I was motor-sailing, although I occasionally switched the engine off, and ghosted along in the very light SW puffs. Sailing was nice and I could hear better, but I figured being a stationary object in such a busy area was worse than being a moving object, so I motored on. It was rather freaky, and I questioned my sanity for being out there, but with the current still ebbing, there was no easy way out, and besides, I knew the fog had to lift soon.

At 10:30am, I passed about a mile north of the lightship buoy, and sent off a last text to my land contact. Cellphone reception died as I left the traffic separation zone. A minke whale came up beside me, and there were also lots of porpoises along the way too. The wind started to come up and I switched off my engine and hoisted the jib. It was good to be sailing, but it was still foggy. I was over half way, and surely it had to lift soon.

At about 1:30pm the GPS told me I was 3/4 of a mile north-east of the Farallones, but I still couldn’t see it. The wind was blowing 10-15kts and occasionally some sizable swell rolled under me. I was not in the mood to sail around a dangerous pile of rocks that I couldn’t see. I tacked back east and hove to consider my options.

The north side of the Farallones is a dangerous place. A reef juts stretches north and the ocean swell can build into sizable waves. Furthermore, it’s a lee shore; so if anything goes wrong, the wind and waves are going to push you onto the rocks. This was what happened when Low Speed Chase tried to round it in a race earlier this year. The wind and waves were definitely more benign for me, but continuing on didn’t seem prudent. I felt cheated.

The east and south of the island are less scary shores, with deep water and the wind pushing you away, so I turned south and gingerly approached the east shore until the rock-pile materialized out of the fog… waves sloshing up onto a jagged shoreline. It was cool, and as I reached the south end of the island, the hill created a clearing in the fog and I was able to see houses, the crane, and smell the sweet aroma of bird poop and seal breath. Mission Accomplished.

It was now 2:30, and after a few celebratory pictures and a cup of hot-chocolate, I turned east, back into the fog towards home. A good breeze carrying me along on a reach at 5-6kts.

By 5pm the fog finally started to lift off the deck and visibility increased to a couple miles. I put on the autopilot, fired up the BBQ and cooked myself some sausages. By 9pm I passed back underneath the bridge, after which the skies cleared and I watched the moon rise over Angel Island. A good day.

Startup Weekend is an international organization, with over 300 events all over the world. You’ll probably be able to find one near you, and you should, given that there are upcoming events in exotic places like Tehran, Ho-Chi-Minh City, and Montivideo!

Here’s a couple tips that I’ve picked up along the way :

1. Preparation starts the week before

It’s quite viable, and indeed fun to turn up at Startup Weekend on Friday evening and go from there. But it makes sense to put in some time well before.

If you’ve friends that you’ve wanted to get to know better, Startup Weekend is an excellent opportunity to do something interesting together. Spread the word and see if you can get a group of friends to attend.

There’ll often be a chance to network before the event. This is a great opportunity to figure out what skills are going to be present at the event, and to make connections that will make the team-formation process much easier.

2. Pitch for talent

The Friday night pitches are where participants get to present their ideas to the audience…. in sixty seconds, and without visual aids.

Before the pitches there’ll often be opportunities to network over Pizza – This is a good time to test your idea. Share it with as many people as possible, and get feedback on whether they think it is interesting or not. It’s premature to ask for commitment from others at this point in time. If people like you, and the concept, they’ll sign up later in the evening.

When you get on stage :

• Present the idea in terms that are easy for regular people to grasp : Start first with a description of the problem and opportunity, before talking about your proposed solution.
• Present yourself as interesting and easy to work with. Most participants want to work on something that they’ll own too, so don’t come across as too protective of your idea, or too certain that you know the solution
• Pitch for talent. Being successful at Startup Weekend relies on attracting people to your team who can make things. You’re not asking for approval that it’s a great idea, you’re asking for help to make it happen… make the ask!

Sometimes, the pitches can drag on. Do something memorable and own the stage… especially if you’re pitching towards the end.

3. Who you work with, is far more important than what you work on.

Over a hundred people come together for a weekend but there will probably only be a dozen teams that form. Teams usually range in size from 3-4 at the low end, to perhaps ten at the upper end. This process of team formation happens right after the pitches and it is hella chaotic.

Hopefully after talking, and judging the feedback from your pitch, you’ll have an idea of whether you have many people interested in your idea. If you’re not sure, it’s ok to let your idea go. Twice in past events I’ve shelved my own pitches to work with other teams.

Hopefully you’ll have met other people in advance who you’d like to work with. Get back to them, and find out which concepts appealed to them. Gravitate to that concept, and actively work to form a team that has the skills necessary to work well.

Working on an LED mood lamp that can be controlled from an iPhone at the Maker Startup Weekend

4. Get to work

Startup Weekend is all about action. I’ve frequently seen teams deliberate the business concept as a group for the whole event. These teams don’t win, and rarely go on to succeed.

Instead, quickly split up into roles, and get to work. Agree on a problem statement on the board, and come together on a vague solution statement…. then get at it. If there’s still disagreement, appoint one or two people to do ‘market research’ and another couple people to develop ideas.

One of the techniques I’ve found especially helpful is a ‘Task Board’ – Split a whiteboard up into three columns : To-Do, Doing, Done. Write out tasks on post-it notes, and place them in the to-do segment, then get everyone to pick a task and get working.

The Task Board in Action

Conclusion

Startup Weekend is an easy risk-free way to meet new people and get a total-immersion experience in entrepreneurial culture. I highyly recommend them.

There are also many other good tips in the Startup Weekend Book. – I highly recommend reading it.

The state department has dire warnings for travelers to much of Mexico

Highway robbery and carjacking are ongoing security concerns for travelers on the Mexican toll road Highway 15 in Sonora and on Maxipista Benito Juarez in Sinaloa. These highways are known to be particularly dangerous at night when roadside robberies occur. When traveling in Sinaloa, U.S. government employees are required to use armored vehicles and may only travel in daylight hours.

And the state department are not the only ones hyping up the danger.

In late 2011, I jumped in my car for an impromptu road-trip to Mexico with a friend. As we traveled south towards the Mexican border almost everyone we spoke to thought we were crazy. And not just insulated Americans; Mexicans in America thought we were crazy there too. “It’s bad down there, too much trouble”, “not a good time to go.” One man, working checkout at the auto-parts store, fit and in his 30′s, advised us to go mountain biking in Arizona instead, “otherwise, I fear you will be killed.”

We went anyway.

And we’re glad we did. Once we’d got over our initial nervousness, we found Mexico to be quite safe, and full of wonderfully generous and hospitable people. People look out for each other and tourists are well-cared for. The country is beautiful and it’s quite amazing that such a diverse and fascinating country is right nextdoor.

Here’s a few notes :

Drug trafficers, Highway robbers, and bears, oh my.

Of the areas getting bad press, we went through a lot of them. We crossed into Mexico through Nogales, and drove down Hwy 15 through Sonora, Sinaloa, biked our way through the Sierras to Chihuahua, before driving on to Nayarit and Jalisco.

The border areas have a particularly bad reputation. This is where pressure between the narco-trafficers and the police is highest. Since the police are easily corruptible, the military have been brought in, and you’ll see trucks of armed soldiers roving around in pickup trucks.

But while the battle is between the narco’s and the federales, you’d have to be unlucky or stupid to get in the middle. Don’t traffic drugs, and listen to the locals if they warn you not to go somewhere. In my time in Mexico I didn’t come across anyone who had run into this sort of trouble.

Here’s some resources :

• UK FCO Mexico Advisory – I always recommend looking at the UK FCO advisories for a more rational advisory, but this is pretty dire too.
• Drive the Americas – Great site with lots of stories of all sorts of people driving south through Mexico and beyond
• On the road in Mexico : Facebook group – This site set my mind to rest…. up to date postings from all manner of folk on the road in Mexico.

Safety tips

Don’t drive at night
This is perhaps the fundamental rule of driving in Mexico, and if you’re there during the winter months when the days are short, then it is one of the easiest ones to break. Most of the locals we talked to along the way strongly agreed with this statement. But it’s not as if the banditos come out as soon as the sun comes down. We frequently found ourselves on the road after dark, and there were usually many other cars out too. Highway robbery is still unlikely, but if it’s going to happen it’s most likely to be on a deserted road, and lets face it, most roads are deserted at 1am. – So, don’t be there.

The other big reason to avoid driving at night is animals. Especially up the Baja peninsula, black cows wander freely across the highway. At night they become next to invisible, and have a tendency to lie in the middle of the road where the ground stays warmer. If you have to make some miles up the peninsula after dark, my advice is to follow a big truck.

Don’t flaunt your wealth
My aging Jeep Cherokee with tinted windows was the perfect Mexico vehicle. Petty theft in Mexico didn’t appear to be any worse than in the US. It’s usually not a problem to park your car on the street overnight, but put your valuables out of site. Without doubt, the sketchiest place I parked my car on the trip was Venice, CA.

Cars with US license plates are common in northern Mexico. Many of them are driven by American Mexicans who are visiting families, or who have just brought their vehicles back and are avoiding paying the import duties. On Hwy 15 south down the mainland we saw tons of US plated vehicles. In some parts of Baja it seemed that 50% of the cars have US plates.

Think things through in advance
No-one ever pressed a knife up against us, but it helps to think what you’d do in advance. Think through what you’ll do if you come across a roadblock in the middle of the night. These are unpleasant situations, and there isn’t a right answer, but preparation is the key to success.

As my friend Tommy Lynch, a security expert, likes to repeat : “There isn’t a bad situation that you didn’t put yourself into in the first place.”

La Mordida

If you’ve spent much time in latin America you’ll be familiar with ‘La Mordida’ – the colloquial term the bribe you pay cops after they’ve pulled you over for a random infraction.

I’ve enjoyed this a couple times, so have a couple thoughts about this :

1. Plan in advance – If you spend enough time on the road in Mexico, you are going to run afoul of a corrupt cop. This is definitely not a reason not to go, but it’s worth planning in advance about how you’ll handle it.
2. Treat it like a game – Once the blue and red light goes on it’s natural for your adrenaline to surge and the fight or flight mechanism to kick in. That’s the wrong reaction. When the lights go on, you’ve just entered a game. Treat it as an opportunity and one of the more entertaining parts of the traveling experience. For the most part, the cop simply wants to pad his paycheck, and you simply don’t. Unless you act up, the stakes are fairly low. The worst outcome is that you’ll have to pay the official fine; this is usually a lot less than it is at home, and you won’t be getting points on your license. So, treat it like a game, and play to win.
3. Avoid the bribe – In Mexico, if you get a fine, you should pay the fine at the police station. If you pay the cop, it is going straight to his pocket. If you pay the clerk at the station, it is going to the community. In Rosarito, 10 miles from Tijuana, I was pulled over for having a boat mast sticking out the back of my truck without a red-flag. It was such a ridiculous infraction, especially in Mexico, that we gambled that the cop would look corrupt for even trying to process it officially. We insisted we should pay the fine at the station, and after following the cop all the way there, negotiating with him outside for five minutes, he eventually sent us on our way without any fine.
4. Throw him off – In your preparation think of ways you can the conversation off from the start. I don’t know of any guaranteed method, but here’s a couple ideas : When he pulls you over, effusively thank him and start asking for directions; maybe let slip that you’re writing an article on his town for a travel magazine; introduce yourself and ask for his name…. all little ways to distract him or make him think that taking you for a ride might land him in trouble.
5. Time is on your side – Unless you’re on your way to the airport or genuinely in a hurry, sit back and take your time. You are on holiday, he’s on the clock. Be relaxed, think things through, talk things through with your partner in english while he looks on.
6. It’s ok to be stupid – Is there anything more frustrating than trying to communicate to someone in a foreign language? Use this to your advantage. Ideally you understand him, but throw in a lot of confused looks, ask him to speak slower, ask him to repeat three times. Then tell him you don’t understand. Think Borat.

My story : In Commondu, a tiny town in Baja Sur, we were pulled over for speeding through town. Seeing the speed limit was 20mph for five miles with a barely a house in sight, this was definitely a gotcha moment. You know you’re being taken for the bribe when he asks, “do you want to go back to the station or pay here.” – He made sure to point out that the station was 10 miles away, but seeing as we were vacationing anyway, I said that was fine by us. The cop turned around and drove 40mph back up the road. We followed at a sedate 20mph to the station that was only a mile away.

Unfortunately, unlike Rosarito, this was a tiny town, and our cop was the only law in town. At this point I realized it was going to be a small mordida, or the full fine. He pointed out how expensive the full $150 fine was. I pointed out that he seemed a nice guy and since we were just foolish tourists, maybe he could cut it down to $15. He figured $80 was more appropriate. I pulled out the $15 (200pesos) and suggested that could be used for painting the police station, but otherwise the full fine was fine too as that would be used for the town and for ‘Mexico’ – Well, to cut a long story short we haggled back and forth, but I stood firm on the $15 for the station or the official fine. He relented, and pointed out the folder for police station expenses, and sent us on our way.

So, that was fun.

Word of note : If you’re foolish enough to be caught doing something serious, such as carrying drugs or weapons, forget what I’ve said about drawing things out. These are big-time offenses and you definitely don’t want to go back to the station. Solve the problem fast.

Another word of note. Military inspections are run by what seem to be very earnest and honest soldiers. If you run afoul of them, play it by the book.

Baja : A paradise apart

Travelling in Baja is much easier than the mainland. There are beaches galore to get away from it all, and I found the people to be unfailingly friendly and non-threatening.

I cannot recommend a road-trip through Baja highly enough. Bring a tent, some hiking shoes, and know how to change a tire. Then go.

Some good resources for traveling in Baja :

• National Geographic Baja Maps – Essential for those minor roads
• Moon Guidebook to Baja – Far better than the Lonely Planet

We ditched the car for five days and cycled just a small part of this terrain. Here’s a video from our trip along with some notes and observations.

The Train from El Fuerte to Creel

Many tourists will be familiar with ‘El Chepe’ – the train that runs from Los Mochis, up through the Urique Canyon and onto Creel and Chihuahua. We liked the idea of a one way trip back through the mountains.

Most advice we received was that it was no longer possible to take bikes on the train, but we turned up anyway, and after a fair amount of pleading with the conductor, we were able to strap our bikes to the engine for the ride. It helped that we tagged along behind an insistent German cycle tourist who brandished his ticket like a weapon, and wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Los Mochis might be a better place than El Fuerte, to board with a bike as you’ll have more time to argue.

Creel

We took the train as far as Creel. In December it felt like a cold folorn frontier town and there were very few tourists there. Margharitas is the place to go for backpackers… P150 including dinner & breakfast.

On to Batopilas

The road is hilly but well paved towards Guaycoche and the junction to Batopilas (aka La Casita) After the turn-off, there’s another 20kms of paved road before it turns to dirt. The downhill to Batopilas is spectacular and beautiful, but be warned there is still almost three thousand feet of uphill mixed in. Batopilas is a quaint little town and quite a pleasant place to stay for a few days.

Maps, Side trails and Jeep Roads

We didn’t find any maps of the region worth buying. Google does the best job, and we cached satellite images to track our way. But still navigation was not easy… the region is criss-crossed by 4×4 tracks and its hard to figure out where next. The key to getting around is to know the names of key towns, and ask directions from lots of people.

There appeared to be many interesting horse trails off to the side, leading up to passes, and up into other canyons. I would kill for a couple months to explore some of these. If you want to meet the native Raramuri Indians, this would be the way. We saw many of these native people standing by the side of the road, but none running like they supposedly do in the book ‘Born to Run’

Terrain

Roads here can be steep! Very steep. Pack light and have low gears!

Mexico, Safety, and Driving Down

If I haven’t already posted elsewhere on this blog, we found the drive down from Tuscon to be a breeze. Crossing into Mexico is hardly complicated. We didn’t drive at night, and we had no problems with crooked police, robbers, or narco’s. – At least, no more than you’d get driving through the Bay Area. It’s easy to leave your car at the train station, under the watchful eye of one of the locals for 50pesos a night.

All in all, I’d say this region has some of the best and most challenging cycle touring I’ve done. There’s no shortage of campgrounds; the locals are warm and friendly; it’s still relatively undiscovered and the scenery is spectacular

I’ve put together into a short documentary pulled from some poor footage I shot when I visited the project and worked for a week alongside the local community. It’s a bit long and my narration is awful, but there’s a nice ending!

Habitat is a non-profit organization that builds affordable decent houses for low-income people. Over the last 30 years, they have grown from their roots in southern Georgia (USA) to being one of the largest home-building organizations in the world. I think that last year they built over 70,000 homes for people in over 80 countries.

You too can have a similar experience. Habitat’s Global Village volunteer program provides opportunities to volunteer in over 50 countries around the world. In the US, there are also Habitat affiliates in most cities, and there are plenty of projects where you can turn up and build for a day or a whole season.

Using the latest toy in my arsenal, the packraft – A lightweight and durable inflatable boat made by Alpacka, we hiked in and floated out of this region. A great weekend getaway from the Bay Area.

These lightweight, durable, inflatable bpats are made by Alpacka. Weighing in at just 5lbs, these rubber dinghy’s for grown-ups open up a new form of travel. Now you can stuff a boat in your backpack; hike over a ridge or deep into the wilderness, and float out. If rivers are the roads of the wild, then the Alpacka Raft is the new car.

A packraft will set you back over $1000 with paddle. Other manufacturers such as Sevylor make much cheaper inflatable kayaks and rafts, but they’re not the same. Sevylor’s dinghy’s puncture easily, and durable inflatable kayaks often weigh in at over 30lbs.

One of the classic rivers for a packraft is the Escalante in southern Utah. It’s a small river that flows well for only a short part of the year cutting a beautiful meandering gorge through the ‘Grand Staircase’

Here’s a video of our trip. Fast forward to 2mins in to see the packrafting :

With a packraft we were able to bypass the first 25 miles of brush lined riverbank and hike right into the heart of it. Then followed a three day float down the river to a point where we could hike out of the canyon.

Here’s my notes :

1) Alpacka Rafts are awesome. I don’t know what they make them out of, but we bumped our way into snags, scraped and grinded our way over rocks, and dragged the boats up cliffs and nary a single puncture. Incredible.

2) The escalante is more than just a river. Most other people we met along the river were doing much longer expeditions and checking out the side canyons. Learn a little bit of ropework and canyoneering skills and join me when I head back.

3) Safety – There were actually several places where we could have really got into trouble. From running rapids without checking out the exit, to climbing cliffs that were a little too steep. This is not an expedition for those without a sense of respect for nature. We got lucky, and will be honing our skills before we return.

At $200, it was quite a bit of cash to plonk down on an experimental replacement for a tent, but since it’s first outing I haven’t looked back. This summer I took the hammock bike-camping in Europe and it worked for me every night I needed it. The tent stayed at home.

The best part about the hammock is it’s comfort.

People often assume that hammocks can’t be good for sleeping all night. Surely your back will ache, and you can’t sleep on your side. I was worried about this, but it just hasn’t been the case. When you sleep diagonally accross the hammock the mid-part comes under tension and you lie much more horizontal. The Hannessey Hammock is sewn ‘asymmetrically’ to help this effect.  Still, even though it’d be feasible to sleep sidewards, I find myself sleeping on my back, with my head cocked to the side… it’s surprisingly comfortable, and I dare say, even more comfortable than my plush bed at home.

In a tent, I’d frequently wake up in the middle of the night with a numb arm or a rock pressing against my back. With the hammock, I never want to get up!  :

• It’s  less conspicuous than a tent.
  The olive drap colors don’t bring attention and people don’t really recognize it. I don’t feel weird about pitching up in a local park and taking a nap in the middle of the day.
• It’s off the ground, so racoons and ants aren’t going to find their way in.
• It’s light… At just over 2lbs, it’s half the weight of the tent, and much smaller.
• It has an inbuilt mosquito net

Now, there are a few downsides :

• You need two trees… 15-25ft apart. In my bike ride through Europe, this was easy enough to find, but it’s probably not going to work if you go trekking in Nevada or Jordan.
• It takes a little longer to set up than a tent – Usually there is some messing about with finding the right trees, and adjusting the height and lines. Now that I’ve got the hang of it, it’s getting much faster.
• You need  insulation below you. It’s easy to get cold as your ass is in the wind. Hennessey sells an insulation kit, but I prefer the Jacks-R-Better underquilt. – It add’s another $200, but it’s absolutely necessary if you camp out below 12C/55F. Thermarests slide around in the hammock and aren’t really a very viable solution.
• Two people can’t sleep in it, so if there’s two of you, you won’t save on weight, and it might cramp your style.

You might also be wondering how it stands up to the elements. Check out this video of me still smiling after several hours of pouring rain.

All in all, I think hammock camping is so good that I’ll be doing it for some time to come. Two thumbs up.

Hennessey Hammocks :
www.hennesseyhammock.com

Dear prospective job hunters.

Thank you for taking the time to look at our site, and thank you for being interested in working with us.

Most applications I receive go straight to the deleted-items folder because of a few simple mistakes. I’m beginning to feel bad, so if you are going to make the effort to apply for a job here, or anywhere else, I’d like to offer you some advice.

To successfully interest me in hiring you, you need understand what we as business owners face on the other side of the fence. Hiring is the most important task I face, but it is also 76th on my list of a hundred other things to do today. When we put a posting on Craigslist, we usually get around 100 responses within 48 hours. They flood into my inbox, and I have to push them aside until I have time to give them the attention they deserve. In the meantime, I have phones ringing, deadlines to meet, problems with our systems, employees with questions, and much more to compete for the limited capacity of my brain.

But, don’t let this put you off. It doesn’t take much to distinguish yourself. Here’s how :

1. Your Cover Letter Must Answer Our Needs.

When I do get round to your email, I do not have time to look at every detail. I make quick and rapid decisions about whether I will call you or not. I don’t even get to most resumes because the cover letter is so drab. If you want to stand a chance at getting a response, you ABSOLUTLY MUST spend some time on this.

So, how should you write a cover letter? – Simple, read our post, and tell me quickly how you can meet the needs we have listed. Use examples wherever possible. Take a look at these two letters I received….

An excellent cover letter (5% are like this)

The run of the mill cover letter (95% of applicants must be copying from the same book!)

Which one would you call back? – The second doesn’t even come close to responding to what we’re looking for. If you just regurgitate a form cover letter from some book you read, or the email you sent to the last company, I’m going to yawn and hit the delete key before I ever get to your resume. I feel bad doing it, but I just don’t have time for blah blah blah.

2. Don’t Blah Blah Blah.

Be super clear and concise. Use the same language to describe your your achievements to me, as you would to your grandmother.

For example…

“My work history coupled with my education in business administration has provided me with an invaluable sense of communication and negotiation, as well as quantitative analytical skills”

*yawn* – This means nothing to me. Compare it to this…

“I have only really had one job. It was at Larry’s Video Store near my college. We were losing customers to Netflix so I helped convince my boss to offer a subscription service to our customers. I made up a business model of our projected sales, and showed how this would improve our bottom line. My boss agreed, and tasked me with spreading the word. I designed flyers and put up posters around campus to promote our new service. Our subscription model was a success, and I’m sure my boss Larry would sing my praises for my business and marketing initiative.

Be clear, concise, and factual. Don’t use fluffy words. Describe yourself, who you are, and how exactly you can help. – If you can’t make a selling proposition for yourself, how on earth will you do it for me?

3. Don’t make the mistake of attaching your cover letter as a word document.

You’re writing me an email…. imagine me sitting at my desk with my inbox dinging every minute. Do you think I really want to fire up Word to see a formatted cover letter. No… just write your cover letter as you would any other email. That’s what email is for.

4. Respond with the title of the job advertisement in the subject heading.

Yes, it’s good to use some initiative in the subject line to grab my attention, but I sort my email based on subject, and if you’re not in the right subject, you’re going to get lost.

• Bad : I love skydiving and work really hard
• Good : Product Manager job
• Best : Product Manager job (I love skydiving and work really hard)

5. Win me over by being open and honest.

I respect failure, and I look for potential. Yet, it seems to be common practice to BS on resumes nowadays. It’s ok to be proud of your accomplishments, but a little modesty makes you look human. I’d much rather meet with someone who admits they’ve failed, than someone who pretends they’ve always been successful.

“I successfully led a ten person team to generate sales of $200,000″

Yeah, ok… but I’d respect that person even more if they had the balls to write this :

In my last job, I had ten people working for me. It was stressful, and I didn’t have a clue about how to manage at the time. Two of my team resigned in the first month, and I found it difficult to motivate the other eight who were all older than me. We still met our quota, but I was let go. To be fair, I was in over my head at the time. I have since been to two leadership training seminars, and I can see now where I went wrong.

Which one would you rather talk to?

Must get back to work now, but I hope this has helped you out.