How To Write A Cover Letter For A Job Application: A Tough Task Resolved Easily!

It is not a trifle to find a job of your dream even if you are a top-class professional with exceptional skills and talents. From the very beginning, it is a fierce rivalry. You need to get noticed, but there may be hundreds of competing applications. It is not a secret that only a small portion of them get examined properly. Thus, yours must be impressive and grasp the attention at first glance. At that moment, your strongest ace is the cover letter.

Many applicants tend to omit this step. If the job posting does not demand a cover letter, they only write a brief introduction to their CVs instead of exposing their professional backgrounds and other advantages immediately. Still, you should not ignore the chances that a cover letter brings. Companies appreciate soft skills more these days. They want to get familiar with the personal traits of candidates before interviews. A cover letter gives them an opportunity to get the information at once.

We’ve made this guideline on how to write a cover letter for a job application. In this article, we are going to illustrate the main requirements of this document. Also, we’ll highlight the practical tips that will help you in writing. As the hiring managers mostly refer to cover letters for the candidates’ data during the preliminary evaluation, you can’t afford to fail this essential step.

How to Write a Professional Cover Letter That Will Do You Justice

Before we proceed to the structure and mandatory elements of the cover letter, let’s clarify its essence. It might seem strange, but lots of details concerning this document may puzzle. How large should it be? What data should it include?

A cover letter to a company serves as an introduction to your resume. Its goal is to make the reader interested and transfer them to the more formal and detailed list of data in a resume. A cover letter puts your personality in focus. Taking the resume data as a foundation, it summarizes the information and converts it into a freer form.

It is still regulated to a certain degree. Still, it allows you to be more creative in introducing yourself as a candidate. Thus, you can use some anecdotes from previous experiences or let yourself be more emotional.

Cover letters don’t have any official formats – it allows different elements and organization. There aren’t even strict content requirements. However, certain rules exist. In any case, you need to provide a definite set of data to the potential employer:

• your past job experience and professional skills – how they match the vacancy requirements;
• your work potential – how you can help the company get more profit;
• your motivation – why you’ve got interested in the vacancy;
• your most essential hard and soft skills.

You might notice an evident similarity with the personal statements you did in college and grad school. This document has a similar purpose: you describe why you are the best-matching candidate. If you are successful at that stage, the manager proceeds to your CV to learn more.

Therefore, we’ve clarified the essence and the most crucial requirements of the cover letter. Now, let us review it in detail and define how to organize the information correctly.

Peculiarities of the Structure of a Cover Letter to Notice and Match

All manuals on cover letter writing will recommend telling stories instead of listing facts. This recommendation is decent. Managers are people, and a catchy story has more chances to grasp their attention than a dull collection of standard constructions.

However, even if you could tell excellent stories about your previous work experience, the exposition format is as critical. Those facts you plan to mention must be united smoothly. The structure of a cover letter turns the list into a logical narrative. It must present evident connections and conclusions to help the hiring managers notice you and motivate them to learn more.

The Top of the Letter

According to the business letter writing standards, you should provide your name, address, phone number, and email address at the top of the letter. After that, you need to address the right person – the company representative whom you contact. The job posting should have this information. If there is an employee who is in charge, there will be their contact details. If the vacancy does not provide such data, you can omit that section. After this section, it is the place for the current date.

• Make sure to provide your active contact phone number and a valid email address. If you also use instant messengers – you may mention them too. Company representatives might want to communicate with you via those digital means;

• Get yourself an “official-looking” email address. Ideally, the format is a combination of your first and last names, and it must not have any harebrained elements. The head of the letter is the first thing that the hiring manager sees, so build a professional image at once;

• If you don’t have an email address matching these criteria at the moment, register it. It would be helpful to have a dedicated email address for such communication – this way, you won’t lose the company’s response in your inbox.

Important: Many companies provide online job application forms on their websites or on official job searching portals. If it is the case, you will only need to fill the necessary fields. However, if you send your application by email and attach the cover letter to a resume – pay attention to the format and adjust your letter accordingly. 

Now, let’s refer to the content – what should you put on a cover letter, and in what order. In some aspects, this application reminds an essay. It also has an introductory part, the main body paragraphs, and the conclusion.

The Introduction

Start with a greeting. If the job posting includes a hiring manager’s name, address your letter to that person directly. If there isn’t a name, use a standard polite greeting like “Hello.” It is better to avoid formal introductions (To Whom It May Concern) and casual greetings (Hello there). Here, the middle way is the best.

After the greeting, proceed with the explanation of what position you apply for and why. It is essential to show your enthusiasm and express interest in a position at once.

The Body

This section usually contains several paragraphs. At the beginning of the Body part, summarize your background and most essential skills and achievements. Mention only relevant features related directly to the particular job application. The goal is to show that you are qualified for it and that you’ve already achieved much. It is a signal for all hiring managers that you are a worthy candidate with potential. 

Important: Don’t list all your skills and achievements. They are present in your resume, and the manager will come to them. However, at that moment, they might get bored by lists. Therefore, choose one or two features from the most recent experience. They must be valuable for this application. Note that you should not only name them but also provide a story. Illustrate how you used that skill, what you achieved, and how it proves you are the best match for the job. 

Dedicate the next paragraph to your reasons to apply. Also, explain which benefits you will bring to the company in the same section. Use the “show, not tell” approach – it is not a movie, of course, but do your best to make the story visual. Be concrete and refer to the practical cases from your past experience: define the problems you faced and how you resolved them. Your primary goal is to demonstrate your expertise in action. Of course, you should not turn the cover letter into a collection of dozens of stories – keep them for the interview. The fundamental principle is the same: choose one or two strongest examples that do you justice.

The Conclusion

Summarize your relevant skills and experiences again and stress that they make you a perfect candidate for the job position. Convince that the company will benefit from hiring you. The final sentence should be a call to action, but make it polite. For instance, mention that you’ll gladly provide the hiring managers with more information. In the end, put a signature. Usually, it is a combination of the closing line (“Sincerely Yours,” or “Best Regards”) and your name. 

Keep the cover letter short. Some job descriptions specify the cover letter size, or there can be a limitation set in the online application form. Still, in every case, your cover letter must be concise, clear, and short. The reason is the same: the hiring managers get too many applications, and they need them brief.

How to Do Cover Letter for Your Dream Job: Do and Don’t

We’ve also collected some additional tips and warnings. To learn how to do a cover letters correctly, you should pay more attention to some aspects and avoid mistakes. Which ones? Let us describe. 

Do:

• Be very concrete in your cover letter. Name the positions you occupied, describe the cases and problems precisely, and use numbers. If your actions helped the company save money, get rid of obstacles, or improve performance – specify the percentage, degrees, etc.;

• Always use keywords from the job posting in your cover letter. Read the description attentively and note all those keywords. The thing is, hiring managers will also search for them in your text. Here, the usage of those keywords will add relevance to the letter;

• If the job description stresses certain requirements, focus on them too. You need to consider your background and pick examples matching those precise requirements. Read all the submission instructions precisely and follow them. If it requires providing certain specific information in a cover letter – make sure to provide it, etc.; 

• Consider the tone. It should match both your personality and the company. Before you start to write a cover letter, research the company. Also, analyze the text of the job position. This way, you can define how the company positions itself and what it seeks in employees. It would be good to make an impression of “speaking the same language.” 

• Consider your vocabulary. Cliché phrases turn your job application into just one more in a row, an unimpressive one. Use words and constructions that make your cover letter text more vivid and help you stand apart. But ensure meaningful usage of all terms and avoid rare and complicated ones. 

Don’t:

• Never lie. No matter if you imply that you possess some skills that you don’t have or exaggerate your achievements, such things are easy to reveal. The hiring managers may also research your candidature if your cover letter interests them. So, don’t risk it. If you allow any lies in the cover letter and get revealed, you may appear on a blacklist and ruin all your career prospects;

• Don’t include irrelevant data. Any stories from your experience must work in favor of your candidature for this particular position. Otherwise, they are unacceptable. Managers search for concrete evidence, and irrelevant information will only annoy them;

• Don’t use any pre-written templates of paraphrased examples of successful cover letters. If you apply for several different vacancies, compose a separate, unique cover letter for each application. Ensure to adjust it to the concrete job requirements. 

Conclusion

As you see, writing a cover letter is a feasible task. Using our recommendations, you will cope with it! Still, if you think you need a professionally done cover letter, we’ll be glad to help you. Just contact the team!