You’ve found your ideal job, you’ve crafted the perfect CV, and now you sit down to send your application to what you hope will be your future employer. You just need one more thing – a cover letter.
While this can feel like an unnecessary step in an already time-consuming job hunt, it is an opportunity for you to sell yourself outside the confines of a CV. Done well, a good cover letter can put you in a good light before the recruiter has even opened the rest of your application.
Here, Telegraph Money outlines how to write the perfect cover letter. In this piece we will cover:
- What is a cover letter?
- How to write a good cover letter
- Write a new letter for every application
- How to format your cover letter
- Know who you are writing to
- Tell them why you are applying
- Why are you the right candidate?
- Include specific examples
- How to end your letter
- What about your CV?
What is a cover letter?
A cover letter is a note that you write to a recruiter or hiring manager when applying for jobs. It should act as an introduction to you and back up your CV, which sits alongside it. You usually attach it to your application or use it as the body of an email.
You should speak about your motivation for applying for the role in question, your skills and experiences and try to let a little bit of your personality shine through.
It’s a lot to ask of a handful of short paragraphs – it is typically thought that three to five paragraphs is plenty for a cover letter – but there are simple steps you can follow to help you write the perfect introduction to your job application.
How to write a good cover letter
Write a new letter for every application
It can be tempting to trawl through your old job applications or even to use the cover letter that you wrote for another opening just weeks ago, but it’s best to avoid regurgitating the same letter for different employers. Recruiters and hiring managers will be able to spot bland, generic sentences easily.
Research the company and its culture, its goals over the next few years and any newsworthy changes in the industry in which it operates. You should also pinpoint a list of keywords that appear in the job advert and seem important to the role that you can try to use in your cover letter.
“Candidates routinely let themselves down through not personalising their cover letters. Go beyond the companies’ websites and look at their socials and extra content, such as podcasts,” Gina Visram, a career coach from Your Career and Future, said.
“The recipient is likely to get the impression that you are genuinely interested in the organisation. As many applicants don’t make this effort, you have the opportunity to stand out.”
How to format your cover letter
As the cover is technically a letter, some companies will expect you to format it as such. This means listing out your basic contact information — name, location (you can be vague), phone number and email address — at the top.
If you are sending it in the body of an email, you could choose to add these details at the end.
You should also ensure the document looks clean and uncluttered, so use the same font and size as you use in your CV and all the way through the cover letter. If you’re using a document (rather than an email body), use 1.15 spacing to make it more readable.
Know who you are writing to
Do your best to pin down exactly who will be reading your cover letter. This could be the head of the department or a hiring manager, but most companies will list some form of contact on the job advert – this is your best bet.
If there’s no obvious contact, check the company’s website. Look at LinkedIn or other social media sites to see if there is someone suitable to whom you can send the letter.
If you still have no luck, do your best to avoid generic introductions such as “To whom it may concern” and opt for “dear hiring manager” or a simple “hello” instead.
Tell them why you are applying
In your opening paragraph tell them why you are writing to them – that you are applying for this specific role and this specific company. Don’t be vague, as it implies that you are sending out a blanket letter to various companies about their “job openings”.
It’s up to you how much flare you put into this opening paragraph. If you are applying for a corporate position at a traditional company, it might be best to simply state that you are excited to apply for the open position and mention why you like the company. Show off your knowledge of the firm.
If the role is more creative and you feel comfortable being less formal, you could use this part to grab their attention with an anecdote about why you are interested in the role. Are you a customer of theirs for instance, or do you admire something that they have recently accomplished?
Why are you the right candidate?
Next, you should explain why you would be a good fit for the position. Look through the job advert and pick out what seem to be the most important attributes and skills the hiring manager is looking for.
Abby Robbins, recruitment director at Yellow Bricks which specialises in hiring for professional roles, even suggests printing a range of job descriptions for the type of role you are seeking, and recommends using a highlighter to mark the skills that appear most regularly. This helps you pin down the “must haves”, she said.
Tell them how your skills and past work experience match what they are looking for. Don’t be afraid to use the advert’s specific wording – it proves that you have done your homework and understand what the role entails.
Include specific examples
Think about previous work experience that backs up what you have told the recruiters about yourself. If you’ve tried to convey that you are good with clients for instance, can you provide a customer satisfaction rate, or any target measures that prove this?
If you can’t use numbers, think about anecdotal evidence. You could write something along the lines of: “In my role as [x], I was lucky enough to work along some major clients such as [y] and [z]. In fact, I was a fundamental part of the bid process to secure [y]’s long-term business, having come up with [explain pitch idea here], and ultimately I became the lead point of contact on the account.”
Laurie Macpherson, a career mentor, said: “Give them specific examples of when you have done the thing that they are asking for before and the result.
“So if they ask you to have ‘managed teams globally’, tell them how you have done that and how well it worked. About four or five examples would work.”
It’s worth mentioning how you would use these skills and experiences at the new company, too.
How to end your letter
Like with any piece of writing, signing off can often be the trickiest part. Don’t fall into the trap of repeating what you have already written – you’ve already explained why you want the job, the skills you have to match the specific role and backed it up with evidence.
Instead, you could simply tell them that you appreciate any time that they have spent reviewing your application and that you look forward to hearing from them.
If you have used the name of the person you are writing to at the start of the letter, the formal sign-off is “yours sincerely”. If you have used a generic term, it’s “yours faithfully”. You could also use a “kind regards” or “many thanks” if you are happy to do so.
What about your CV?
Once you have impressed recruiters with your cover letter, the next thing they will look at is your CV – a document that outlines your education, experience and skills.
Like a cover letter, a CV should explain why you are a good fit for the job for which you are applying, but in more detail. The employer is likely to filter through applications quickly, so it’s worth taking the time to get it right. Here’s how to write the perfect CV.
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