What is the first document that a potential agent, manager, or employer reads? The answer is your cover letter! Few people truly understand the impact that a winning cover letter can make in their professional lives. The cover letter is the tool that ignites serious interest (or squelches it). For those who know the secrets to writing winning cover letters, dreams often become reality.

If you are unable to make a connection between your abilities and the reader's needs, you may wind up singing Verdi or reciting Shakespeare between shifts at Burger King.

In my work, I have read hundreds of cover letters—from those directed toward a faculty search committee to letters asking for an interview with an artist manager. Cover letters are not limited to job applications. They are also used to introduce a proposal, ask for money, stir interest in a project, and even announce a special performance.

So what defines an effective cover letter? The answer is connections. The number of connections you make between the interests and needs of the reader and your own has a positive correlation to the number of invitations for interviews and auditions. If you fail to make even one connection, you are unlikely to receive any invitations.

Most of the student letters that I review on a regular basis have one anatomical thing in common: they spend the majority of time summarizing the résumé. When I point out the necessity of connections, students often ask, "Isn't the fact that I'm a performer and have extensive performing experience enough?"

The answer is simply, no. In a world increasingly absorbed in its own affairs, it is nearly impossible to grab anyone's interest solely by elaborating on one's accomplishments. People just don't have the time or energy to figure out how to utilize your talent, or how it might meet their needs. You may be the next Leontyne Price or Sir Lawrence Olivier, but if you are unable to make a connection between your superb abilities and the reader's own needs and interests, you may wind up singing Verdi or reciting Shakespeare between shifts at Burger King.

Finding the right connection takes time. The best way to begin is to do as much research as possible on the person or institution you are approaching. Ask yourself these questions: What are their needs? What sorts of daily obstacles do they face in trying to meet those needs? How can my abilities best be utilized to help them meet their needs? What sorts of skills or talents interest them most? How can I best show that I serve their needs and offer that solution in a letter?

Connections are difficult to make and require thinking critically about the needs and interests of the reader. A common error in most cover letters is that the writer makes one passing connection in the opening line, and then quickly follows through with a synopsis of their résumé. If you are worried that your recent experiences and accomplishments will be overlooked, then let me be the first to allay your concerns. The résumé is the document that you send along with the cover letter and its sole purpose is to deliver a stunning account of your many accomplishments and professional experiences.

Finally, the most important point to remember about cover letters is: one connection is never enough. Successful cover letters connect on multiple levels. For every hundred "look-at-what-I've-achieved" letters, I find maybe one letter that makes the multiple connections that excite a reader's interest. While it is important that your work and experience are conveyed to the reader, the purpose of the cover letter is to demonstrate connections between your abilities and the reader's needs.

So the next time you sit down to write to an agent, director, conductor, or professional organization, think critically about your connections. And if you ever find yourself suffering from writer's "connection block," give us a ring here in the Career Development Office. We're here to help you find those connections.

Please e-mail any comments, questions, or ideas for future columns to careerfile@juilliard.edu.

Derek Mithaug is Juilliard's director of career development and an alumnus of the School.