The AIDA formula is as old as dirt. It was taught when I was in school over a decade ago. And it's still being taught for good reason - it works! When you apply it to your cover letter, it has power to transform a regular cover letter into an attention-grabbing "Killer Cover Letter" that'll make your phone ring off hook.

AIDA is an acronym. It stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. It describes process marketers want to take their prospect through in order to make a sale.

In this case, prospect is hiring manager and you're selling yourself in sense that you want hiring manager to contact you for an interview. So I'm going to show you how to grab hiring manager's attention, create interest, arouse desire, and ultimately get him or her to take action (pick up phone and call you for an interview).

By way, I've tested this killer "System" so I know it works. Ready to get started?

Attention

The first thing you need to do is grab reader's attention. You must get reader's attention before he or she can become interested and desirous of your offer to come in for an interview. We're all busy and we all have several things going on in our lives. So how do you cut through clutter and grab reader's attention?

There are several ways actually. One way is to create an attention-grabbing opening sentence or headline as copywriters call it. Think of it like headlines in newspapers and magazines. You choose which articles to read by quickly glancing at headlines, don't you?

So why not put an attention-grabbing headline on your cover letter? Most cover letters don't have an attention-grabbing opening sentence so mere fact that your cover letter even has a headline separates you from pack and draws attention to your message, wouldn't you agree?

Let's say you're walking along a crowded street and you spot a friend of yours on other side of street. Let say his name is Joe. How do you get Joe's attention? You could start jumping up and down and yelling, "Hey! Over Here!" That might work. A better way would be to yell "Hey Joe! Over Here!" That'd be more likely to catch Joe's attention, wouldn't it? Because he hears his name. Personalization increases response dramatically.

Now let's take that thought and apply it to your headline. Adding personalization to your headline is a great idea. Use recipient's name right there in headline. It makes message more personal and increases chance message is read.

Let's take that one step further. Say you're looking for a job as a nurse and you know hiring manger's name is Susan. Susan is understaffed and looking for nurses. So give Susan an attention-grabbing headline to open your cover letter.

How about this, "Susan, Finally! A Nurse Who Can Do More Than Take A Temperature! But don't stop there. Make it big and bold. Remember, it's a headline. Make sure Susan notices headline. Grab Susan's attention.

How could Susan possibly not notice that headline strategically placed at top of your cover letter? And you can take that simple concept and apply it to a cover letter to any hiring manager for any job.

From my own personal experiences, I have observed three positive aspects that result from teamwork: Cooperation, Unification and Association.

Cooperation - When groups first form, they should discuss some goals and objectives that they wish to achieve. These can include items such as coordination of meeting times, distribution of responsibilities, what strengths each individual member brings, and of course, deadline. In a perfect world, this team would not have any conflict, but that is rarely case. Teams must learn to cooperate, which involves negotiation, compromise, and being open to new ideas in order to help them achieve greater results.

Unification - After a level of cooperation is established, team must work to be unified. A team brings together a group of different minds and viewpoints which affects direction of team. Coming together and being unified is not always easy, as individual members give their own judgments and preferences over other group members. Setting aside petty differences among group members and being open minded leads to a group’s unification. Brainstorming ideas and reaching a consensus is another way to build group unification. Unyielding opposition and conflict hinders a team’s ability to move in a positive direction. In contrast, unification permits team work towards a successful finish.