What is a Cover Letter?
Before starting to write a cover letter, you should know what a cover letter is and how to write a professional cover letter. Many people send their Resume without a professional cover letter and miss their chance of getting interviewed. A cover letter is a single pager document that contains information about your skills and experiences and shows why you are qualified and a strong match for the job requirements.
Employers search for thoughtfully written cover letters as one of the screening methods. Job applicants who are not sufficiently interested in their positions may be filtered out by a cover letter screening method.
Cover letters are sent for basically two purposes:
- If there is a particular vacancy in a company or organization and you are applying for that post, you can consider your cover letter as ‘Letter of application’ and send it along with your Resume.
- If there is no such job opening advertisement but you want to express your interest in a company or organization and want to work with them, you can consider your cover letter as ‘Letter of inquiry’ and send it along with your Resume.
A cover letter must be up-to-date and they should be different for different job posts. You should take extra care in writing a cover letter.
- You must check for grammatical mistakes and typos.
- You must write a strong opening statement that clearly states that you are the right person for the particular opening.
- Your professional skills related to the vacancy or the company must be added.
- You must add your achievements, excellence, and accomplishments in the last company you have worked for / currently working for. It shows that you are an achiever and can take challenges and responsibilities.
- You must customize cover letters for different job posts.
Header:
The header must include:
- Your name.
You must write your full name without personal title like ‘Mr.’ ‘Mrs.’ ‘Ms.’ ‘Miss.’ - Your contact number.
Your personal contact number, that is easily reachable, must be a part of the header. - Your professional email address.
Your professional email address must be there. - Name of the receiver (recruiter).
Now you have to use a personal title for the receiver name. - Designation of the receiver.
Designation of the Receiver must be added in order to give him/her respect. - Date.
The date must be included in this section.
Optional:
- Your designation.
You can add your current company designation if you want to mention. - Your address
Your address is not mandatory here, as you are attaching your Resume with the cover letter. - Linkedin profile link.
If you have a LinkedIn profile that looks professional and up-to-date, you can mention that too. - Your personal website address.
If you have a personal website, you can mention that to flaunt your expertise.
Greeting:
- If you know the name of the person whom you are sending the letter, you must mention his/her name. Recruiters love to see their name in letters. They feel that you have written the letter especially for him/her.
Example: Dear Mr. George or Dear Ms. Smith - If you don’t know his/her name, you may greet this way:
- Dear Hiring Manager
- Dear (Organization Name) Team
- To whom it may concern
Body Text:
- An eye-catchy first paragraph that makes a good impression and catches the recruiter’s attention.
- In the second paragraph, you should mention why you are eager to join the company.
- In the third paragraph, you have to prove why you are the best fit for that job, and if the recruiter hires you, how the company gets benefited.
- Closing paragraphs makes a strong impact. If you just put: ‘Thank you for your time.’ or ‘I need the job’, that could be worse. You must write something that values. Example: ‘Looking forward to meeting in person.’
Closing:
You need to put a formal closing at the end of the letter.
- Thank you,
- Best Regards,
- Sincerely,
And your name on the next line.
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