Striving for cover letter perfection
After spending hours working on your CV cover letters can seem like more hassle than they’re worth – trust us, we’ve been there too!
Writing a cover letter
Unfortunately, in most cases, a cover letter is a necessary evil. Writing a bad cover letter is the equivalent of spending hours preparing to give a perfect interview then turning up late, with a hangover, in a tracksuit, chewing gum.
Basically, it’s your employer’s first impression of you and it needs to be word perfect.
Here are a few tips for writing a great cover letter:
- Check it for mistakes in spelling and grammar. And then get someone else to check it. A cover letter littered with mistakes makes you look lazy and uninterested in the role. Make sure you’ve included the right contact details too!
- Keep it short. A cover letter is meant to be an introduction to your CV so try not to duplicate too much information. Try to stick to the four paragraph rule: why you’re applying; what you do now; what you could bring to the role; close and request a meeting
- Tailor it to the company. Regular recruiters will be able to tell if you’ve just sent them a generic cover letter and it kind of stamps on the part of your letter where you emphasise how much you want to work for that particular company
- Give your application a personal feel by finding out who will be dealing with your application and addressing your letter to them
- Pick out key traits or skills that are requested in the advert and give examples of how you demonstrate these
- Keep the tone upbeat. This isn’t the place to moan about your current role
And don’t forget to sell yourself! A cover letter isn’t the place to come over all modest – make sure there’s no way they could turn down your request for an interview!