Prior to beginning work on this discussion, review the Cover Letters PDF  (Links to an external site.) provided by the Ashford University Office of Career Services and the What Is a Cover Letter?  (Links to an external site.) and Writing the Dreaded Cover Letter  (Links to an external site.) online resources. It is recommended that you also review the e-book by Noble (2004) and the How to write cover letters (examples) (Links to an external site.) video which include more information and a number of sample cover letters to assist you.

For this discussion post, you will use the knowledge you have gained about personality, the career specific reports you have created in the previous weeks’ discussions, and assessments associated with various fields of psychology you have studied to help you to choose and develop a cover letter for a job in the human services sector. To begin, determine what type of job within the human services sector related to personality psychology is of interest to you. Using career websites, including those listed on the Ashford Career Services Job Search (Links to an external site.) website, and/or other third-party search engines such as the American Psychological Association’s PsycCareers (Links to an external site.) website, Monster.com  (Links to an external site.), Indeed.com  (Links to an external site.), and SimplyHired.com (Links to an external site.). Once you have found a suitable job posting, carefully review the requirements and note these for inclusion in your cover letter. Before you begin designing your cover letter, review the required readings, videos, and websites to help you determine how best to formulate it. Within the letter, you will address the person or title of the person that is listed as the contact for the job in the job posting. As you draft your cover letter, consider the elements within the job post and use your knowledge of personality theory to make yourself appear to be the best candidate for the job. Assess the various types of personality measurements that might be most effective in the position listed and mention how you might use these on the job. Once you have developed your letter, save it as a document and attach it to your discussion post. In the discussion post itself, copy and paste the link to the job posting for which you wrote your cover letter. Describe your experience(s) writing the cover letter including the ways in which you may have attempted to manipulate the reader to get the best response. Analyze and describe any ethical issues that could be associated with this process.