Courtesy of Dan Kelly. Follow @DanKelso3 or connect with Dan on Linkedin.
Do you struggle to describe the qualifications that make you the most appealing candidate for a job? How do the job applications of swimmers stack up against those of our peers who have spent their summers donning Kenneth Cole suits rather than Speedo suits? While it is challenging to cover the traits that make a swimmer the most valuable job candidate in a short application, I thought I would give it a try. Here is my take on a cover letter for swimmers to potential employers:
Dear Hiring Professional,
My name is ___________. I am writing to express my interest and share my qualifications for this position within your company. You will find that much of my experience has been of the aquatic nature, but before you dismiss my lack of business experience, I ask that you consider the value in the simple, yet loaded word that defines my resume: Swimmer.
To help you understand the value of this word, I ask that you consider your company’s business goals. Perhaps you wish to increase operating efficiency and decrease monthly costs by 5%, or maybe you wish to increase average customer retention by 8% over 2 years. Maybe you have challenged your sales force to improve its closing ratio from 20 percent to 30 percent. Regardless of your goals, they are likely to be a set of clearly defined and measureable objectives.
While my experience working toward specific business goals may be limited, goals are not foreign to me. Swimmers live and die by incremental measurements. Give me a year-end target, say, of 44.68 seconds for the 100-yard freestyle, and I will plan the yards, strokes, hours, calories, and reps necessary to achieve that target. Tell me that the best sprinters don’t breathe in a 50-freestyle, and watch me practice holding my breath in and out of the water until not breathing becomes second nature in that race.
Fact is, swimmers understand what it takes to establish and achieve goals. Swimmers don’t look at numerical objectives with hopeful expectation of sudden achievement; swimmers illustrate earnest determination to perfect all the little details that lead to meeting a challenge. And when a group of swimmers dedicates itself to those details as a team, the team wins championships.
If we fall short, we do not look to blame our coaches or teammates; we take stock of our own efforts and redouble our dedication to achieve our goals. Clearly defined metrics inherent to the sport of swimming teach us to accept responsibility for failures and buoy us when our hard work turns a goal into reality.
Sure, those laps may not have provided me specific business skills, but I will pick those up quickly with hard work. What those laps did provide me was a work ethic second to none. So tell me, what goals do you have for your company? Just give me a number, outline the metrics you use to measure success, and introduce me to my new teammates. I can’t wait to achieve for you.
Sincerely,
All Swimmers
I find it interesting how serious some of the commenters took this article. I just read this as a creative writing piece, not a real recommendation for an actual cover letter. Having been a swimmer, I like the parallels the author made between swimming and working a job.
No. The parallels made are awful. They are broad and don’t actually make a point. Saying a swimmer can work hard doesn’t make you sound special. Everyone should work hard. This letter says, “I’m a swimmer so I can do any job”
That is how I interpreted the article as well.
Dan – I understand that you were trying to create a generic, adaptable piece for others to use out of goodwill. I respect that. However, allow me to make a few suggestions for yourself and all other aquatic students/job-seekers out there:
(Disclaimer – this is generic, but safe)
Date
Dear Sir/Madam
Application for X
I write to apply for the position of ‘X’ in your company. I believe that given my strong academic record, extracurricular and vocational experiences, I would be a suitable candidate capable of productively contributing to your company and hope to be interviewed by you for a place.
Academically, I have a strong record, achieving a ______ in College, majoring in _____ (and minoring in… Read more »
Thanks
I am a director of a multinational corporation. I would bin this after the first paragraph, even if I have sympathy for swimmers having been a national-level swimmer myself many years ago.
However, given that I would rather leave something of value here to the swimming community:
1) Don’t allude to faults, especially pre-emptively
‘…but before you dismiss my lack of business experience…’
‘…those laps may not have provided me specific business skills…’
What are you trying to achieve here? I will see from your CV that you don’t have much experience. The only way I will be inclined to interview you is if you spend the time cleverly constructing a narrative as to why you have… Read more »
Please don’t ever send anything like this to a potential employer. This is the type of cover letter that gets emailed around an office. While this may appeal to those of your friends that frequent buzzfeed (stimulating the same regions of the brain as a cat that barks or a goat edited into a Taylor Swift song), an actual employer will want to see that you’ve done enough research about their industry to describe how your skills (some of which you may have learned from swimming, yes) make you an ideal candidate for the position. They will simultaneously laugh at and be offended by this condescending and out of touch attempt to imply that their work would be trivial to… Read more »
Dan, perhaps until you have successfully navigated to application/employment process you should hold off on corporate advice. Stick to what you know…swimming. By implying that you have summarized the qualifications swimmers have for entering the professional world, you have not helped your colleagues! Many people develop determination and leadership skills without ever swimming…and without the condescending attitude.
Unless you’re planning on being an olympian, NCAA swimmers should make sure that they take relevant classes, have internships, etc. so that they can write cover letters about experience that is **actually** relevant.
Everyone should read this. Great article.
Utter twaddle. It might impress the Facebook / Twitter generation of illiterates and self-important people who do not mind the dozens of grammatical errors.