A good cover letter should be a brief note accompanying your resume. Its purpose is to act as an introduction for you and your skills. The cover letter exists to pique the interest of a potential employer and nothing else. A cover letter does not stand alone. It is the bait intended to hook the reader and leave them wanting to know more. A well-written cover letter does this in the shortest and most succinct way possible. Overly wordy cover letters are rarely read, especially if they are poorly written.
Cover letters are intended to be personalized and direct.They should be addressed to the person who is doing the recruiting and refer directly to the position for which you are applying. There are some basic rules to creating a cover letter, and it is almost certainly worth generating a template letter as part of your job search preparations. For this reason, information on cover letters has been included in this section rather than the next section, which discusses conducting the actual job hunt.
An example of a good and a bad cover letter are included at the end of this chapter along with comments from a recruiting agent.You might want to refer to these examples as you read through the next section.
Tips for a Good Cover Letter
There are a number of ways to ensure that your cover letter says what you want it to say. The following list contains some tips to consider when writing cover letters:
- Use a heavy weight paper for the cover letter; it is all part of a positive first impression. Paper that matches the resume will look sharp.
- Cover letters are customized for a specific job.They are intended to respond to a job posting and should be directed toward it. Unless there is literally no way of knowing who the intended reader will be, do not open your letter with Dear Sir or Madam, and never open with To Whom It May Concern. Do your homework and address it to the right person.
Remember that your cover letter is an example of your written communication skills; get it right. The cover letter is actually more powerful than your resume because a resume offers little opportunity to demonstrate writing skills.
Always sign each of your cover letters. A photocopy of your signature usually means that you are using a standard cover letter, which is undesirable, and a cover letter that is unsigned shows a lack of attention to detail.
Make a copy of your template cover letter for your personal file. You will need to refer to it again to remember what you have written if you are called for an interview.
Cover Letter T ragedies
As mentioned earlier, even though cover letters are designed to work for you, they can potentially work against you.The following list contains some tips to ensure that your cover letter does not deliver the wrong message:
- Always check your cover letters for bad punctuation, grammar, and spelling. Most word processors have excellent spelling and grammar checking capabilities. There is no excuse not to use them.
- If writing is not your strong suit, get some help, even if you have to pay for it. Type or write out how you want the cover letter to flow, and then ask someone else to read it over.
- Avoid obvious exaggeration of your skills and values. A slight embellishment of certain skills may slip by, but be careful, at some point you will need to back up what you say.
- A poorly laid out cover letter not only looks unprofessional, it can also be very hard to read. Stay away from the temptation to impress the reader with italics, bold letters, and unusual fonts.
- No one likes a pushy salesman, and it is not the impression you want to give potential employers. An overly aggressive sales pitch can take you out of the running in a hurry.
- Conversely, a sales pitch that is not aggressive enough can be equally ineffective. Make sure the employer understands your enthusiasm for the position.
- Cover letters that are not directed at a specific position show a lack of preparation. Do not photocopy one cover letter for another position. Use your template, and rewrite the cover letter for each job you apply for.
