For some more advice on how to tailor your cover letter to the job, click here. Or read about the difference between a good and a bad cover letter. Career Advice E. Explore careers Job hunting Working life. Job hunting Cover letters. Hi there ,. Mirror the language used in the advertisement to highlight how your past experience matches the requirements and will add value to the business.
Make sure you enlist the help of friends and family to double check your cover letter for typos and autocorrect errors. A spell checker will pick up the worst typos, but not necessarily transposed or autocorrected words.
You need another human brain for that. Great cover letters help recruiters sell candidates to clients. Was this article helpful? So what are recruiters really looking for in a good cover letter, and how can you ensure that yours is distinctive? Similar to following LinkedIn profile best practices during the job search , you should give your cover letter the same level of attention.
Avoid rushing the writing process or simply cutting and pasting sections of your CV in a panic; it will reflect in the content and appear obvious to the HR manager.
Take the time to do some thorough research. You should familiarise yourself with the company and department's brand values, their current projects and any recent successes. Identify keywords from the job advert and use them to demonstrate how your skills, abilities and personal values match up to the company. If you address the HR manager by name in a cover letter rather than generically even if it involves some extra fact-finding it adds a warm but professional touch.
Your cover letter should be around half a page to one page in length. Aim for words, but never more than to keep the reader engaged. Consider dividing your cover letter into sections with an introduction, a main body comprising two to three paragraphs and a strong ending. Alison Green, writer of Ask a Manager , has some fixes for bad ways to open a cover letter. Go beyond simply listing your knowledge, skills and career history to date.
You should engage carefully with the job requirements and clearly and explicitly show what you have done, rather than tell them.
When describing your accomplishments, consider using action verbs in your CV to keep things concise but powerful. Examples include 'improved', 'transformed', 'resolved' and 'pioneered'. A cover letter can provide valuable insight into your personality and show how you would fit well with the company culture during the job search. It provides an opportunity to creatively expand on any career gaps in your CV in more detail, such as an intentional career break, and family leave to raise children.
It also provides an opportunity to add any periods of volunteering on your CV. It could also help you to challenge any potential unconscious bias in the hiring process by confidently explaining your knowledge, experience and expertise and using your background to your advantage.
However, you should steer away from being too familiar, using jokes or making reference to something personal about the HR manager that you may have seen on LinkedIn. You're not an employee yet , and you could unintentionally blur the line between confidence and arrogance. On the flip side, you should also avoid using overly formal or stilted language, industry jargon, or complicated words that you wouldn't normally use, such as 'advantageous' instead of 'helpful'.
Try reading your cover letter aloud, videoing yourself and watching it back, or asking someone you trust to listen to you read; if any elements don't sound like you, re-work them until you're happy they do. Ideally, you should find a balance between appearing credible and serious about your application, whilst remaining friendly and approachable. Even if a cover letter is not specifically requested, providing one could give you a competitive advantage.
A carefully crafted and engaging cover letter could grab the attention of the hiring manager — and help to land your dream job. With a cover letter, you can make the connection between the resume and the job. This could mean that you may not have to customize your resume as much for each job application, since you can use your cover letter to show how your skills and experience are relevant.
Your cover letter also allows you to show your writing skills, which is important for creative and administrative roles. These could all be important considerations for the hiring manager when selecting quality candidates for an interview.
There are occasions when you need to include a cover letter with your resume. These include:. On the other hand, there may be times when you should not include a cover letter with your resume. For example, if the job application explicitly states that you should not send a cover letter or if the application process doesn't provide a way for you to submit a cover letter with your resume, which sometimes happens with online application forms.
As you adapt each cover letter to make it relevant for each job application, there are certain things you should include in all of them:. If possible, address your cover letter to the hiring manager. This information may be given on the job posting. Alternatively, you could call or email the company and ask to whom the application should be addressed.
If you are unable to get the person's name, you can replace it with their job title, team or department. Be sure to include your name, email address and phone number on the cover letter. This information will be on your resume as well, but putting it all on the cover letter can help save the hiring manager time.
Also, should your cover letter and resume be separated, the hiring manager can still contact you. Quote the exact title of the job for which you are applying. Your cover letter should be formal and professional. However, you can adapt your cover letter to fit the style of the business. Check the company's website and social media to help you determine the appropriate tone to use. Discuss how your skills and experience can contribute to the company's success. This is an opportunity to show how much you know about the business.
It also allows you to demonstrate how the qualifications on your resume line up with the needs of the company. Look for keywords in the job description and be sure to include them in your cover letter. This is simply a closing line thanking the hiring manager for considering your application, and inviting them to read your resume and call anytime to schedule an interview.
If there are times you are not available, this would be a good place to mention them. You can use this template to guide you when creating your cover letter. After you have decided on the information to include, you can change the wording to suit your own formal style and the tone of the business.
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