Web 205: A3 - My Cover Letter
Leslie's Cover Letter to Ste. Michelle Wineries
I was excited to find your job opening for Web Coordinator on Craigslist and believe that my experience in design, branding, composition, art photography, and page design might be exactly what you are looking for. I really love the estate page on your website (www.smwe.com/estates) and the beautiful bottle labels that are revealed with the rollover. There is a mention of “terroir,” describing the taste of the land. The “terroir” of the website is equally wonderful to cultivate! I’d love to help build on Ste. Micheles internet “terroir.”
My resume is attached and here’s a link to my portfolio website - http://www.LeslieStrom.com
There are examples of branding on my own portfolio, which I’ve done for other clients. My IT training is well-grounded in copywriting, site design and hand coding of CSS, HTML, and PHP to deliver a meaningful user experience, and I also have been a user of aWeber for automating newsletters for the online magazine I’ve been publishing since 1999.
My work in large format art photography, black and white printing, and gallery hanging has developed my eye for composition and layout.
I’m near the end of the IT Web Design program as SCCC, and am constantly upgrading my skills and experimenting with new page designs, scripts and css.
Workflow and project management are things I’m excellent at. I’ve worked on large architectural design teams at NBBJ and LMN, as well as smaller teams, interpreting design and coordinating drawing sets from schematics to construction. These skills are directly applied to web design.
I trust this is enough information for now and hope to hear from you in the coming days; I’d love to visit in person and learn more about this position!
Mary's 2 column breakdown of job description
Leslie's revised cover letter
I am writing in response to your opening for Web Coordinator with Chateau St. Michelle. I understand that you need strong HTML/PHP/CSS skills combined with highly effective interpersonal skills and a good eye for detail. My background in architecture plus my recently upgraded skills as a web designer would allow me to smoothly transition into that role.
I am currently rebuilding two websites, www.fiskelibrary.org and www.civitalogue.com, using PHP and CSS. Civitalogue.com is devoted to the preservation and cataloging of a crumbling Italian hillside town. I converted their website from tables to CSS, then to PHP and added a MySQL database to catalog reclaimed artifacts, historic documents and olive oil vintages.
I use aWeber autoresponder to generate sign-ups and newsletters for four magazine-style websites. I employ JavaScript in all of my websites for display, gallery and information generation including www.GetLostMagazine.com, where I am the content and photography editor for a quarterly travel and natural science magazine. I am currently managing websites and files for 22 separate clients.
My background in architecture includes Starbucks where I worked in retail store design during the height of their expansion. When our East Coast stores division was commended for delivering stores two weeks ahead of other divisions, I took it as a challenge. I initiated a comparative study of timelines between divisions and identified the common point of project slowdowns. I then made recommendations that cut their timelines by more than a week, nationwide.
At NBBJ, I served as the linchpin for senior architects, collaborating with outside vendors and internal groups to successfully translate architectural sketches into computer-generated, buildable schematics for engineers, permit offices and primary stakeholders. All of this serves me well in web design and development, where my interpersonal skills, strong sense of organization and passion for accuracy contribute to both a thorough job and a fast turnaround.
I really enjoy your web site, particularly the estate page where the bottle labels are revealed with the rollover. The images, the typography, the content all contribute to the essential message of excellence in winemaking, and of wine as a lifestyle. I would love to talk with you further about your Web Coordinator position at St. Michelle Wine Estates. I can be reached at 206-920-6260 and by email at lstrom@drizzle.com . I look forward to talking with you soon.
Sincerely,
Leslie Strom