How do companies come up with job qualification requirements? When you are preparing to customize your resumes and cover letters for prospective employers think about this: Someone wrote the job posting; an employee where you want to work created the job posting or description for the company.

For certain jobs, there is a boiler plate or generic help wanted advertisement that the employer uses every time they have an opening for that particular position. However in many cases, the advertisement was created just for this one job opening.

Who created the job description? Often the person who dictated the requirements for the position is the hiring decision maker for that position. This could be the supervisor or department manager where the job is located within the company, an upper management person, or the owner in a small business. If an office administrator or HR employee created the ad, they were probably given the list of criteria for candidates from a manager, owner, or both.

Employers want you to have more to offer than who you are replacing. When employers are hiring and they are replacing an employee and they are often focused on getting more for their money. In other words they think about what skills or talents they would like to see in a new employee that the last employee did not have. This is common thinking for all of us. When we set out to buy a new car or house for instance, we think about the features we can get that our old car did not have.

Because the decision makers are often looking for talents the last employee in the position did not have, they create a wish list of attributes. These are above and beyond the qualifications listed as required. Often these skills are described as beneficial, helpful, desired, useful, favorable, or advantageous in the employer’s job posting or description.

Cover Letters: One Word Can Get You the Interview

One statement, even one word from the wish list in your cover letters can make me or any potential employer want to interview you. Where do you get the one word? The employer has most always given you the one word. Look for the desired skills the employer is seeking. These are the abilities and knowledge above and beyond the required qualifications.

When the decision maker, the person who wrote the job posting or requested the desired skills sees you have the one skill in particular that is a hot button, if you meet the basic qualifications you will get an interview. In some cases wish list skills can trump some of the required experience or education. In this case you can get an interview without having all of the compulsory criteria.

There might be more than one of these desired skills. The person who wrote the job advertisement has created a wish list. If you possess the wish list attributes state them in your cover letter. Make a statement about how you meet the requirements of the position and in addition you have the desired skills. You can create accomplishment statements in your cover letters with the wish list skills.