Most of us come to business school with one end goal in mind: to secure our dream job post-graduation. Along the way we attend thousands of hours of classes, participate in countless group projects, and hopefully read more than a couple of textbooks. However, at the end of it all, one of the most important pieces required to reach our goal is a brilliant cover letter. As the marketing blogsphere has spoken about, the cover letter is an art that has been mastered by some and destroyed by others. It is the epitome of self-marketing, and while different industries look for different presentation forms, an underlying “mix of confidence and candidness” is extremely important in achieving employment. Recently, Matthew Ross seemed to strike that perfect balance with his cover letter to the boutique investment firm Duff & Phelps. In the letter, Ross explained “I won’t waste your time inflating my credentials, throwing around exaggerated job titles or feeding you a line of crap about how my past experience and skill set align perfectly for an investment banking internship.” He certainly followed an unconventional train of thought as he spoke about his willingness to fetch coffee, shine shoes or pick up laundry.

Ross’s letter was sent to Duff & Phelps at 1:14PM. By 3PM on the same day, the letter had gone viral on Wall Street and a rival firm in Houston, Texas had called Ross to offer him an interview. All of this success begs the question, what do we need to do to realize comparable success with our own cover letters? While the answer to that is not so simple, it is clear that a genuine passion for the position and an ability to communicate that to the employer in an engaging and unique way is paramount. I am confident that our education at Sauder will help to develop, focus, and communicate our passion for business. And, if all else fails, a scented cover letter never hurts!