Q: I’m 26 years old, and there is a company in my city that I would give anything to work for. They just posted a job that I know I could do. The problem is that I’m sure thousands of people are going to apply. Sadly, neither I nor any of my friends and family knows someone who works there, which means a personal introduction is out. And they stress in the job posting “no phone calls.” So, how do I make myself stand out? – Colin

Dale: There’s a sentence I wrote many years ago that has meant more to my career than any other: “Different isn’t always better, but better is always different.” Your goal is to make your introductory materials different, but not just for the sake of being different – that’s how you come across as gimmicky – but rather, in such a way that they are unusually helpful to the reader.

J.T.: Your cover letter is your chance to do just that. I recently talked with Amanda Lannert, president of Jellyvision, the company best known for creating the irreverent trivia game show “You Don’t Know Jack.” Amanda tells me her company gets more than a thousand applications for each job posting, and only 40 people get interviews. Here’s what she had to say about choosing those 40:

“If you craft your cover letter to look like the one in the career guidebook, it’s likely an employer is going to see 400+ cover letters just like yours. Your cover letter is your marketing collateral for your professional services. It must be (A) engaging, and (B) respectful of the audience. At Jellyvision, we are looking for exceptional writers, so your cover letter is the first writing sample we are going to see. We also need people who are extremely creative and can capture a person’s attention quickly. Thus, when I open a cover letter and it starts with, ‘I saw your ad and am applying for the writer position …’ and then continues on with a standard summary of the person’s skills, you can pretty much count on it going in the ‘no’ pile.”

Dale: You might even do a video or a podcast. Speaking of podcasts, J.T. has a series of them, including “Spraying & Praying While Being Uninteresting – How NOT to Get Job Interviews” (at jtanddale.com). It gives you not just J.T.’s advice but her personality. You not only feel like you know her, but you want to know her better. That, Colin, is what you want to accomplish with your application materials – your goal isn’t to show off, it’s to make the hiring manager want to know you better.