A cover letter is a powerful tool that can immediately show employers how your skills and experience align to the role they are recruiting for.
A cover letter is a powerful tool – meaning this is your chance to show that you genuinely want the job, to demonstrate that you’ve done the research on the company, and that you’ve taken the time to read the advertisement and understand what they are looking for.
Clients often ask me for a generic cover letter. My response is always – I have a template that can guide you on how to complete your cover letter, but come back to me when you find a job you really want and I will write a cover letter to target the advertisement.
This week a client did exactly that and requested me to write a cover letter to target a job. Well done to them in following my advice! I spent a lot of time carefully reading through the advertisement and their website with their mission and values, and their resume to align all three. If you take this time you can get a real sense for what the company needs beyond the detail and words, almost like reading between the lines.
My client submitted her cover letter and resume and received a phone call within 30 minutes. The employer told my client they were just about to make a decision on a candidate and she asked the Director to hold off until he saw my client on Monday. My cover letters are simple and to the point. The cover letter needs to be a teaser, hitting all the key words and directly relevant experience, to entice the employer to read on to the resume. If the cover letter has given them a good feeling, when they read on to the resume, they are already positive with what content they are about to read. Avoid story telling and getting into too much detail, mention three or four key relevant skills, experience and qualifications, and then bullet point the strengths. Bullet points are easy to scan through, usually with the first four or five words telling what is about to follow so the reader can choose to skip over the detail. After all, why read a lengthy detailed cover letter when you can go directly to the resume with all that detail! And don’t forget, employers could be reviewing potential candidates’ resumes in the hundreds, so it is important to keep it short and concise so you hit the short list pile for first review! Good luck!
