How To Write A Cover Letter - A Few Tips
Getting your cover letter in order could be a very important part of succeeding in your jobhunt. Of all of the factors that can prove valuable in your hunt for a new job, your cover letter could be one of your best allies. Here are a few suggestions for some things to look at or think about when you’re writing your cover letter.
1) Most important of all is to make sure you do actually write a cover letter. That may seem like a “duh” situation, but there are actually a lot of people who don’t use a cover letter. This really pains me, because there are so many people who aren’t getting what they could out of having a great one. Chances are very good that these folks aren’t doing too well in their jobsearch, and there’s really no reason for it. Even a mediocre cover letter is better than none, although of course you want to have the best possible.
2) Always do your research and use it to make your cover letter very distinctly personalized towards the company to which you’re applying. A “standard” cover letter that’s generic enough to be sent to a dozen different employers is weak enough to be thrown away by each one of them. Employers want to know that you are serious about working for their company, and a distinctly individualized cover letter that is obviously designed for their company and no other is a great way to showcase that quality.
3) Make sure your cover letter is flawless in spelling, grammar, and completely typo-free. The whole paper is designed to show how professional you are, so avoiding gradeschool errors is an absolute must. Some employers will just pitch an applicant for a single spelling mistake.
4) Be proactive! This is so necessary, it’s almost more important than the cover letter itself. People who sit and wait for things to come to them get nowhere. They wait forever. You have to be the person to get out there and find opportunities. You have to be the one stimulating the jobfinding processes. You want an interview, go get one. An employer isn’t just going to say “oh, that was a nice cover letter, I’m going to call this guy repeatedly to set up an interview, as many times as it takes to get ahold of him.” YOU have to call HIM (or her, have to be nonsexist). Don’t wait for anything. Get it done. Remember that it’s the applicants who stand out and impress with their determination and drive to succeed who get the jobs.
There’s more to the game than just these four tips, but these are really some of the most important things to remember, so I’ll cut it down to this for the purposes of this article.
If you’d like some more information, here are some free cover letter examples you can use to figure out how to put your cover letter together. Learning how to write a cover letter isn’t really so hard as it may seem, which you’ll quickly learn if you just get started.
Tags: cover letter examples, sample cover letters