Cover letters are one document that are very misunderstood?
Here’s how to make yours stand out.
The role of the cover letter has changed. It is no longer the document that precedes your resume, instead it is read second (if at all). Sorry to say, but recruiters may not have time to read your cover letter.
However they are still necessary – as a supplementary document to your resume they can be the difference between getting a call and not.
But the cover letter always comes second place to your resume. Your resume is where you have to put in the most effort. It must tell your story and it must be keyword rich.
Some companies still request cover letters as part of the application and they are helpful in explaining your story or background. For example, if you are changing industries or returning to the workforce your cover letter is the place to explain why.
3 Key Tips When Creating Your Cover Letter
One-Page Is All You Need
A cover letter does not need to be more than one page. It will be skim read, so make it short, sharp and to the point. The only exception to this rule is government applications that ask for selection criteria to be addressed in the cover letter.
Personalise It
Do not send a cookie cutter letter that isn’t tailored to the company and position on offer. If you do nothing else with your cover letter, at least go to the effort of adding in the company name, address and position name you are applying for.
Nothing says that you don’t care about the position and are mass mailing your applications like a non-personalized, stock cover letter that you use for every job. This point also applies to your resume (but that’s a different topic).
Cover letters should always be personalized, but just what do you personalise? Well, if you have identified positions that fall into a similar genre then you shouldn’t need to write a new cover letter from scratch each time. Just like your resume, once your have your base cover letter written it’s just a matter of tailoring it for each position you apply for.
Tailor These Items:
- Company name & address
- Position name you are applying for
- Adjust the name of the person you are addressing
- Current and past positions you want to highlight
- Past responsibilities you want to highlight
- Qualifications you hold
- The reason why you are applying for the position
Don’t write “To Whom It May Concern” or “Dear Sir or Madam”.
This is really old school business writing. A cover letter is a business letter and should be addressed directly to the person you are sending the application to.
So start your letter with the first name of the person you are sending the application ie: “Dear Jane”. If you don’t know the person’s name and can’t find out, then use something generic and gender neutral, like Human Resources or Dear Hiring Manager.
Proofread and Spell Check
I can’t harp on this enough. Your application can easily be rejected because of spelling and grammatical errors. So if you see a red squiggly line under the word then use spell check and have another person proofread your letter.
The green squiggly line indicates grammar errors. Because your cover letter is a proper business letter you need to pay attention to this and correct the error. Your resume is different. The way a resume is written does not gel with Microsoft Word so grammar errors in a resume are different and most times can be ignored.
