How to Write a Perfect COVER LETTER in Six Steps with Example

Now if I told you there is something you can do to increase your chances of getting that dream job by about 90% you would pay attention wouldn't you? Wouldn't you? Well there is. Now your CV is your CV. I hope it looks good and when you get to the interview I'm sure you'll make a good impression but let me tell you it's the cover letter which is crucially important. Unless you have a good cover letter few recruiters are even going to open your CV and which means you won't get the chance at the interview. So in today's lesson we are going to show you how to write a great cover letter that will engage the reader and help you land the job you want so stay tuned. Welcome to LetThemTalk and today we're going to look at how to write an amazing cover letter or covering letter as it's sometimes called and if English is not your first language we have some tips about this too. Now the cover letter is crucially important on so many levels. A CV or resume is about facts, your experience, your educational background. Yes you can make it look good and you can make it sound impressive but you can't lie about your experience or your qualifications. It is, to some extent, fixed. On the other hand, the covering letter is the first interaction you will have with a recruiter and, as you know, first impressions count so it's important it's vitally important to get it right and furthermore the cover letter, unlike the CV, is the chance to get your personality across. The objective of the cover letter is to make the reader, the hiring person, curious enough to read your CV. Recruiters and human resource staff are busy people and if they are receiving hundreds of applications a day they won't have time to read each one in great deal. Most of them will first look at your covering letter and read that for about 30 seconds and if they're impressed they will move on to your CV if not, I'm afraid, it ends up in the bin. Now let me tell you that 90% of cover letters are either average, bad or very bad so just making a small change can increase your chances of getting to the interview by a significant amount. Now first of all I'm going to give you some general points including things you should and shouldn't do and then I'm going to take you step by step about what you need to do with an example of a cover letter. So first of all keep it brief. A couple of paragraphs maybe a third, half a page, that's about the right length. So often I've seen cover letters that are a page and a half, two pages long. Firstly it shows that the person is unable to get their message across in a concise way. All the information about your background, your qualifications, your experience, it's in your CV so you don't need to talk about that in great detail. Don't tell them your long personal story it's not interesting and it's not what they want. It also shows a lack of respect for the recruiter's time. Sometimes you see cover letters that are too short. I would like to apply for the position of accounts assistant please find my CV attached. This says nothing this also will end up in the bin. OK so make it personal. Do not use the same cover letter for each job you apply. Worse than that I've seen, believe it or not, I've seen the email sent to multiple recipients. Now that shows that you can't even bother to write a separate cover letter for each job. Now do you think you really want to work with a person like that? Every letter should be personalized. Do some research on the company. Yes, I know it takes time but it's time well spent. Read the website, read articles about the company that you find online or in the media. When you are writing it imagine that the person you are writing to is sitting opposite you and imagine you are having and as with any conversation don't just start talking about the achievements, how great you are and what you want. It's going to bore a person if you're speaking to them and it's going to bore them in writing too. I really want to work for a big organization and I think your company I could get some useful experience, develop my career and maybe in a few years I could do a master's and if you could finance that it would be great. Actually, to be honest, I don't really like London but my girlfriend has just moved here and I'm following her you see. Now do your best to get the name of the person who is recruiting. You can use Google, you can use LinkedIn, you can use social media, you can call up the company. If you can't get the name don't write to whom it may concern. That sounds cold. You could write dear sir slash madam, dear hiring manager. Of course it's much, much better to write a name but if you don't get a name don't panic you can personalize the body of the letter. So in the letter there should always be something that's going to give you the impression that you took the time and effort to write to them. Now believe me if you do this even if you don't get to the interview stage you will almost certainly get a reply. In fact I would go so far as to say that you should make it your goal to get a reply rather than an interview. Make that your challenge. So how do you personalize it? Well, for example, I recently read online that XYZ are surely going to open a subsidiary in Madrid. It seems like your company is going from strength to strength that's great news. By the way, in addition to my other skills I do speak Spanish and I would love to play a part in your expansion whether it be at home or abroad. Or if you're going for a local government job I've just downloaded your app and I used it to find a parking space in the city and it was great though I do believe that if I had the opportunity to work on it I could make it even better. So your mantra should be it's not about you it's about them. Don't write about yourself and what you want tell them what you can do for them. Don't say I've got three years experience in business studies and I'm looking for a company where I can progress my career. Do say I've got a degree in business studies which provided me a great academic background and with these skills along with my passion I'm sure I would be a great asset to your team. So even if you don't have any significant work experience the cover letter gives you the chance to get them excited. Now a few more points I would recommend. Put the cover letter in the body of the email. If you put it as a separate attachment it just adds extra unnecessary steps. What I see sometimes is a cover letter to a cover letter I'm writing to apply for this job blah blah blah please find my cover letter and my CV attached. Do you really need a cover letter for a cover letter? No as soon as the recruiter opens email it should be BANG there it is. Don't give them unnecessary obstacles in front of reading your application. Check the spelling and grammar. Now I've already made two videos about how to approach an interview links in the description or there somewhere. Now in those videos I said that if English is not your first language that's OK the interviewer is not a grammar teacher they won't notice any small gram mistakes and while this is true for an interview I'm afraid for a cover letter it's not. The cover letter should be checked for spelling and grammar if you're a native speaker or a non-native speaker I do recommend that you get the letter proofread by another person even if your cover letter is wonderful if you can't be bothered to check the spelling and the grammar if it has spelling mistakes that looks bad that looks really bad and it'll end up in the B. Now a word about grammar and style write the cover letter in a formal but friendly style if it's too formal you will sound distant and cold if it's too friendly well that's not good either in order to get the balance right try first of all to use active sentences rather than passive sentences so for example instead of saying I was employed as a technical assistant for two years say I worked as a technical assistant for two years instead of saying your company has been recommended to me by Don Redburn say Don Redburn recommended your company to me. Do not use the word VERY just strike it out just strike it out of your cover letter and use another word so for example do not say I'd be very happy to meet you do say I'd love to meet you and don't be too friendly never, never use emoji yes I have seen that do not use Comic Sans or Wingdings or a cursive font you can use the first name if you know the hiring manager through a contact so for example hi Lucy Robin Cooper recommended I get in touch with you now if you don't have a personal connection to them then use MR or MS. MS is good to use if you don't know the marital status of a woman and it's very polite so use that MS okay so now we've looked a lot at what you shouldn't do but let's look at what you should include and get an example so here we are number one state the job you are applying for number two tell them who you are and a few words and sentences about your work experience and or your educational background number three give a few adjectives to describe yourself number four make a personalized statement make a personalized statement number five tell them what you can do for them and number six a call for action and it doesn't necessarily have to be in that order but those are the things that you should mention so here's an example I've chosen a job in marketing to be honest I don't know very much about marketing but it's just an example and you can adapt it to the field of the job that you are looking for Dear Ms Talbot, I'm writing to apply for the position of marketing strategy manager at biggles limited posted in marketing today. Always say the job you are applying for and where you heard about it and if it's an unsolicited letter you could just say that you're applying for a vacancy in the marketing department. I'm a graduate with two years experience in the field of marketing. My university degree in business studies gave me an excellent combination of skills in sales, budgeting, branding, pricing, product life cycle and much more. Since I graduated I've gained considerable practical know-how at a leading software house where I have been working with large and small companies helping them to plan out and implement media campaigns and gain footholds in new markets. Throughout my career I've been reaching goals and exceeding expectations. Do have a glance at my CV to find out more. So here I introduced myself and I gave them a taste of my skills and experience and hopefully they will be curious enough to read my CV. You'll find me an enthusiastic, friendly and reliable person. I'm hard-working and I have a certain creative flair which I hope I can put to good use at biggles. There you are a few adjectives to describe myself. Of all the companies in the field biggles is certainly the one that interests me most simply because it matches my own style and outlook. Your recent campaign for community pharmacies was so original and humorous. I know not everyone got the joke but for me it was outstanding and, by all reports, extremely effective. It was this as well as the strength of some of your other campaigns that roused me to write to you today. So here's something about the company that shows that you've taken an interest. I would love to bring my skills, knowledge and passion to your organization. I can make a positive contribution to the future of biggles. Give me the chance and I will help develop new marketing strategies for your clients and increase your business. So that's what I can bring to the company. In short I'm a great candidate for this position so please get in touch with me by telephone or by email and I'd be happy to attend an interview at your convenience. There you are that's a call to action. I know recruiting can be a long and stressful procedure so I'd like to thank you for taking the time to consider my application. Finally a polite sign-off and if you take the time to show that you appreciate the recruiter's efforts that sounds nice. Your sincerely and your name. If you've addressed them by name and that's what we've done here dear Miss Talbot then you should use your sincerely. If you've written dear sir or madam and you don't use a name then sign off with yours faithfully that's the traditional way anyway. OK I hope you found that useful now go out write a good covering letter good luck with your job search and let us know in the comments how you got on. So I went to bonsai college where I got a first class honours degree in animal and fish husbandry. I did a specialization in halibut migration patterns and for the last two years I've been working in the marketing department of a tinned banana processing plant in Southampton and I want to get some more experience.