Why Should Employers Pick You?

You know that next job of yours? The one with the brilliant coworkers, the cool boss, the free snacks and an amazing workplace culture? Competition is fierce, so how do you make yourself stand out and land the job?

Your cover letter gives you an amazing opportunity to show employers who you are. Most people waste valuable cover letter real estate with clunkers that are bland, cliché-filled or redundant.

Job-seekers need to show a future employer that they are human, authentic and real. I interviewed with an incredible leader looking to hire someone in a key position within his company. In the application process, he asked each potential candidate for a "why me" letter. This was mine:

“Dear Mr. Well-being,

I’m not perfect. I don’t have all the answers to improving population health and quality of life. A younger, less experienced version of me might have claimed to be your expert – your “all knowing” candidate – just so I could get the job and get my foot in the door to a great company.

The older, more experienced version of me knows better than to make such claims. The longer I live and the deeper my career develops in well-being and leadership – the more I realize how much there is still to learn. The process of learning, leading, mentoring, teaching and developing solutions invigorates me. The creation and recognition of great teams of people with great minds working together for improving population health and quality of life inspires me. 

I carefully wove together my career starting 20 years ago with a wellness center internship. This grew into different roles within the wellness industry and in 2008, I started my own corporate well-being consulting and technology company, which I successfully sold in 2016. In between all of this, I earned two masters’ degrees in business and sports management, I worked for major medical centers, a Big 6 consulting company, I have run six marathons, adventure races, won two fitness competitions and I continue to ski, play tennis, teach spinning and yoga classes and I am learning to golf.

With the sale of my company, I now I have time to breathe and reflect on my next steps. Who am I? What do I want? How can I be of service to a worried world? I am drawn to your company because of the mission and vision, and because I can be of service to your clients and your employees.

Behavior change is a struggle, and I can empathize. I have struggled in my life — as a child I struggled with my place among four older siblings. As a college student, I struggled with the untimely loss of my father. As a young adult, I struggled with who I would become. I struggled with relationships, parenting, money, fitness, employee management, business decisions and the challenges of running startups. Yet, I have lived and overcome.

My own personal and professional struggles allow me to understand and empathize with others struggling to change their life, to succeed in whatever their goals may be. As a result, I have a proven record of leading effective and positive lifestyle change to clients, co-workers – and even my own family! 

In a former position, I had the “impossible task” of transforming the health culture of thousands of employees within six months. I presented a budget, rollout and management plan.

The CEO was delighted. I presented the risks, fallout and culture meltdown that would likely occur if we were not mindful of how difficult behavior change is to be accomplished. We met in the middle and agreed to an 18-month rollout. I took pride in my ability to “coach up” as well as scale my communication and coaching across the organization and down to the front lines to build trust and credibility. I pooled employee energy and momentum into a thoughtful plan that allowed my team to evangelize the vision and mission of the campaign. 

We inspired the employee population to be part of the solution, rather than rushing for results that were not sustainable. In two years, we achieved a hard ROI, got published in the Harvard Business Review, increased engagement and satisfaction with the health and well-being program, and most importantly, gained loyalty and stability within the culture of the organization. For years, I continued to communicate the why behind the program. This allowed for consistent improvement and true behavior change. I thought to myself, “This isn’t work, this is fun!” 

Mr. Well-being, the details on my resume and the reference checks you might make don’t add up to what you’d really like to know: Who am I? I am a mother, wife, daughter, sister and best friend. I am a fierce competitor and an eager collaborator. I am a team-builder, teacher and visionary. I am fun, high energy, brightly smiling, passionate and laser-focused on achieving goals and empowering people to be their best.

But at the end of the day, I am love. Love for all that I do, represent and want to be. I want to bring these qualities to your company. Having run my own business, I know it’s no fun to hire an “employee.” I’m more than that. When I join a company, I am wholly invested. My job and life become interwoven as one fabric. I am what I do. You are hiring all of me."

You're going to think I got the job, right? I didn’t. Instead, I ended up creating my own dream job with Mr. Well-being's company — and you can do the same. Be willing to give your would-be employer your all. Tell them how passionate you are. Separate yourself firmly apart from any potential competitor — and use your cover letter to do it.