Cover Letter Tips
What to include in a cover letter?
The first thing to know is that a cover letter must showcase your abilities, experience and skills.
To write a cover letter, make sure you:
- Make sure you address the right person
- Point out why you are the right candidate
- Showcase your experience and skills
- Reiterate your desire to work in the role
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Don't forget To Add Your CV!
10 Quick Tips On How To Write a Cover Letter
- Keep it Short: 1 page at best. The intro should be no more than 1 paragraph, the body 2 and the conlusion paragraph (1).
- Make it Easy to Read: Ensure your cover letter is clear and concise, watch the tone! Be professional but enthusiatic.
- Use Action Words: These words help give your cover letter extra impact. For example, instead of saying ‘I have to carry out a study’, say ‘I devised and prepared a study’. See more examples on Jobscan.com.
- Don’t Rely on Spell-check: Spell-check does not pick up everything! For instance, you could write ‘to’ instead of ‘too’ and it will go unnoticed by the program. Reread your cover letter several times before submission.
- Personalisation: If you use a template to save time, that's ok, but ALWAYS review your letter before sending! Try and find the name of the person likely to read the letter and address it to them. LinkedIn or the website is a good place to start.
- Make Sure You Relate Your Skills to the Role: If the job calls for problem solving, communication and team working skills (and virtually all corporate jobs do to some degree), show that you possess these skills and outline how you have used them to great effect in a previous job.
- Use numbers: If you can, use numbers or stats to illustrate achiements it’s a nice way to quantify your results and adds to the format of the letter. Remember the STAR method.
- Don't be afraid to use bullet points: This is not always necessary, but depending on the format you’ve chosen or the job role you’re applying for, bullet points could be an effective way of demonstrating your points and adding to the layout.
- Staright to the point: Instead of going down the path of jargon, clichés and general corporate speak, use your own words as it will read a lot better.
- Outline Your Availability: Tell them when you’re ready to begin working, be realistic and honest with yourself first, try tnot selling false expectations.
