Why Should You Think About Writing the Perfect Cover Letter?
When you’re applying for jobs, whether you’re changing careers or you’re just starting your career, you may find yourself wondering whether or not you need a professional cover letter. Should you spend time writing a good cover letter even if the employer doesn’t ask for one specifically?
Would it be enough to simply send your resume, without an employment cover letter?
The answer in almost every instance is yes: you should include a professional cover letter with your resume.
Why?
First and foremost, today’s job market remains incredibly competitive, and including the perfect cover letter will help you stand out from the competition in a way you’re not going to be able to simply by including your resume.
Writing the perfect cover letter allows you to show your personality and what makes you distinctive, which is more likely to catch the eye of a hiring manager, and it is also a faster way to highlight your relevant experience and achievements than simply through your resume alone.
Writing a good cover letter is your opportunity to show hiring managers just why they should pick you for the position, and it’s also a good place to explain any potential red flags that might appear on your resume, such as a gap in employment.
So, the answer is almost always yes, you should include a professional cover letter when applying for a position, even if it’s not something that’s asked for. It will show that you’re willing to take the time and go the extra mile, which your potential employer is likely to appreciate.
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Top 6 Best Tips for Writing a Cover Letter | Brief Comparison
Cover Letter Tips | Why? | How? |
| Craft a Strong Opening | It’s your only chance to make a first impression | Be direct, reference the job you’re applying for, and highlight your key accomplishment or experience |
| Customize It | Shows you’re really interested in the job and have done research | Address it to the hiring manager specifically, and write in terms of the jobs description and how your value relates to it |
| Do Research | This will demonstrate that you aren’t submitting a stock cover letter and that you are enthusiastic and motivated. | Research company website and social media profiles. Consider corporate culture and also specifics of the job you’re applying for. |
| Include Keywords | Useful for applicant tracking systems but also drawing the eye of the hiring manager to certain points on your cover letter | Choose powerful, action words that demonstrate specific things you have done or can do. |
| Keep It Brief | Hiring managers are busy and want to be able to quickly skim a letter for the relevant information. | Write no more than 3-4 short paragraphs, use direct wording and sentences, and keep grammar structure simple. |
| Use Proper Formatting | Proper formatting conveys professionalism and organization. | Use a standard font and font size, keep margins conventional, and include plenty of white space to make it easier to read. Close with a call to action. |
Table: Top 6 Best Tips for Writing a Cover Letter | Above list is sorted alphabetically
What Are Common Mistakes People Make When Writing a Professional Cover Letter?
Sometimes, as in a situation when you’re writing a professional cover letter, knowing what not to do can be just as important as what to do. There are many mistakes job seekers make when they’re writing a resume cover letter, and without even realizing it, they sabotage their prospects of landing the job.
Professional Cover Letter
The following are some of the things you should avoid doing in your quest to write the perfect cover letter:
- Don’t make it all about yourself. This can sound counterintuitive because isn’t a cover letter designed to let employers know more about you? Yes, but it should be done in terms of the value you can bring to the employer. We’ll cover that in more detail in our list of cover letter tips below.
- Oversharing isn’t necessary for a cover letter. We’ll talk about the length and details to include when writing a great cover letter below, but you don’t need to write a novel about every job or experience you’ve ever had.
- Writing a good cover letter should never include negative details of your life, such as hardships or personal things. You can explain something like a gap in employment, but it should be as brief as possible. No hiring manager is going to be impressed by a cover letter full of details of the difficulties you’ve faced.
- Don’t use your cover letter as a time to simply rewrite your resume. The hiring manager is going to have a copy of your resume, so just rehashing it is pointless and it’s a waste of everyone’s time. The best cover letter is going to bring a unique perspective from what’s found on your resume.
- Proofread carefully. If you send an employment cover letter full of spelling or grammatical errors, you’re not going to get the most job more than likely. In fact, according to a Forbes article, 70% of hiring managers say they would dismiss a cover letter with a typo right away.
- Curb your enthusiasm. Writing the perfect cover letter is about showing that you’re truly interested in the position you’re applying for, but you don’t need to go overboard with enthusiasm. It’s likely to come off as childish and inauthentic.
- Finally, when you’re writing the perfect cover letter, don’t try to be humorous. It’s more than likely going to fall flat or not come across the way you intended when a hiring manager is reading your employment cover letter.
So now that you have an idea of what not to do, you can move on to the tips for writing a cover letter, so you’ll know what to do when you create the best cover letter.
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Detailed Review – Best Tips for Writing a Cover Letter
Below, please find the detailed review of each of the cover letter tips. We have highlighted some of the factors that allowed these tips for writing a cover letter to score so well in our selection.
Craft A Strong Opening
In your career and life, first impressions are everything, and writing a cover letter for a resume is no exception. How you open your cover letter is going to determine whether or not the hiring manager feels compelled to keep reading, and that’s important when you’re up against dozens or maybe even hundreds of other applicants.
You need to be able to capture the attention of the hiring manager with the very first sentence of your employment cover letter, which is why this is a top tip for writing the perfect cover letter.
Key Ways to Create a Strong Opening When Writing the Perfect Cover Letter
Below are some cover letter tips specifically related to writing the ideal introductory paragraph.
Be Direct
Hiring managers are busy people, and they look at countless resumes and cover letters probably every day. They don’t have time to read your entire cover letter to determine who you are or what position you’re applying for.
That’s why one of the most important cover letter tips is to make sure you’re direct in your very first sentence. You want to let the hiring manager know right away what position you’re applying for.
You can also use the first sentence to highlight your most relevant experience when you’re writing the perfect cover letter.
For example, writing a good cover letter might include an introductory sentence like this:
“As a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill’s journalism program with three years’ experience as a reporter for XXX, I’m an excellent fit for the role of Senior Copywriter.”
This sentence lets the hiring manager know your education, your relevant experience, and the role you’re applying for all in one sentence.
Think About It Like an Elevator Pitch
One of the biggest problems many candidates have when they’re trying to start writing a good cover letter is that they frame it as if they’re writing home to their grandmother about all of their great accomplishments.
Instead, they should approach it from the perspective of writing to an investor. The employer is the investor, and you want to convince them that you are worth their investment.
Your first paragraph should be written as if it’s your elevator pitch to get them to invest in you.
Know What Not to Say
As mentioned above, some of the top cover letter tips for writing a good cover letter aren’t necessarily about what you should do, but rather what you shouldn’t do. Don’t do any of the following in the opening of your cover letter:
- Start it with “to whom it may concern.”
- State your name (your name is already on your resume and cover letter, you don’t need to say it again. It’s a waste of space).
- Include overused phrases like “I am writing to express interest in the open position.”
- Refer to your resume or ask them to look at it (they already know they have your resume. Use your space more wisely).
Finally, don’t ever use the opening of your cover letter to highlight why you might not be a good fit or places where you might be lacking experience.
Customize It
When you’re writing the perfect cover letter, it should never be a stock letter that you send to every employer for every position you’re applying for. It’s important that you take the time to make sure your professional cover letter is completely customized to the job you’re applying for, the company, and if possible, even the person you’re writing to.
Key Ways to Customize the Perfect Cover Letter
Below are some specific ways you can customize a professional cover letter and make sure you’re writing the perfect cover letter.
Addressing It
Often hiring managers see stock cover letters that start off with something like “to whom it may concern” or “Dear Sir or Madam.” This can instantly be a turn-off because it shows you haven’t put much time or thought into creating a letter just for the position you’re applying for.
Instead, take the time to do some research and find the name of the person who’s likely to be in charge of hiring. You may be able to find it on the job listing, making it easy to start writing the perfect cover letter, but if not, do some digging and see what you can come up with.
Name Drop
If you know someone who works at the company or you’ve been referred to the job, make sure you mention the person you know. Your cover letter is a very good time to mention that, and it can make hiring managers feel more familiar with you.
Of course, the best cover letter isn’t going to revolve around your relationship with someone at the company, but you can include it as you introduce yourself.
Write About the Position
When you’re looking for cover letter tips to start writing the perfect cover letter, one of the most important things you can remember is writing about the position you’re applying for.
The best cover letter isn’t going to just be all about you. It’s going to be about what you can bring to the position, so make sure you don’t submit stock cover letters that don’t address the actual position.
You want to highlight your relevant skills and experiences within the terms of the position.
Cover Letter for Resume
The Balance has an article about writing a personalized cover letter, and according to the site, employers not only expect a personalized cover letter, but they expect the breakdown to look something like this:
- 33% of the perfect cover letter would include tailored skill descriptions based on the job description
- 26% would include clarity and specific references to the job being applied to
- 20% would highlight key details from your resume
- 19% would show your personal value
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Do Research
If you don’t do research before writing a professional cover letter, the hiring manager is going to know. If you can’t be bothered to do some research, there might be a sense that you aren’t willing to put much effort into the position if hired.
If the job you’re applying for is important to you, then writing a great cover letter should involve a little legwork and research.
Key Ways to Research Before Writing a Great Cover Letter
In terms of cover letter tips and ideas for writing a good cover letter, below are some specific things to keep in mind to research before you start writing.
Research the Company
First and foremost, before you start writing a good cover letter, one of the most essential cover letter tips is to research the company you’ll be submitting it to. You can visit their website and social media profiles and find out the corporate culture they have, which will help you determine the tone of your cover letter.
For example, if you’re writing a cover letter for a resume that’s going to be submitted to a fun, quirky startup, your tone is going to be different than it would be at a long-established, traditional corporation.
Corporate culture and fit have become extremely important to modern companies, and they’ll often go with a less experienced candidate in the name of a good culture fit, which is just one of many reasons this is one of the important cover letter tips for writing the perfect cover letter.
Research the Position
The ultimate goal when writing a great cover letter should be linking your skills and experience to the position.
You can’t do that if you don’t know the ins and outs of the job.
When searching for tips for writing a cover letter, make sure you take this one seriously and give it enough time and attention, because it’s one of the most critical cover letter tips.
Thoroughly research not only the job description listed by the company where you’re submitting your employment cover letter but look at similar job descriptions as well. This will give you an idea of the necessary skills and requirements that seem to be universal in the position, so you’ll know how to focus your letter.
It can also be important to think about any challenges the company might be facing so that you can frame yourself as someone well-equipped to help them tackle those challenges.
Research the Hiring Manager
This has been mentioned on this list of tips for writing a cover letter, but it’s an important one: research the person you’re submitting your best cover letter to. You want to create an instant connection by mentioning their name and addressing the letter to them.
This is the fastest way to show you’ve taken the time to do a little research as well and to demonstrate that you’re not just sending the same standard cover letter to every job you’re applying for.
Include Keywords
One of the most overlooked cover letter tips on this list of ways to start writing the perfect cover letter is the inclusion of keywords. Keywords are important in a few different ways. First, keywords are going to be those words that catch the attention of the hiring manager and stand out.
Also, if you’re applying for jobs online through an applicant tracking system, keywords can help hiring managers find you.
Key Ways to Include Keywords When Writing a Great Cover Letter
Ways to integrate keywords when writing a good cover letter are detailed below.
Applicant Tracking Systems
There are a couple of different reasons using keywords is included on this list of cover letter tips and ways to start writing the perfect cover letter. First, as mentioned, you may be applying for jobs and submitting your cover letter for a resume online.
This means you’re using keywords as you would for SEO if you were writing content for publishing online.
Applicant tracking systems are going to be searching for specific terms related to the job, so try to use the job description to identify valuable keywords you can add to your cover letter. Just don’t overdo it, or your employment cover letter won’t read well.
Also important to note is that simply listing keywords isn’t going to work well when you’re writing the perfect cover letter. It’s important to realize with this tip for the perfect cover letter that you provide context because applicant tracking systems are looking for that just as much as the actual keywords.
Skill Keywords
While thinking about the role of applicant tracking systems is important when writing a resume cover letter for the modern job search, you also have to ensure that you’re still writing for people.
Try to incorporate skills-related keywords that will indicate that you understand the job description and also that you can apply things you’ve done and your personal qualities to that position.
Action Keywords
Also important when you’re deciding on wording to use when you’re writing a resume cover letter is conveying a sense of action. You want to show the person reading your professional cover letter that you don’t just understand the position they’re hiring for, but that you’ve taken action previously in your professional life that has led to results and problem-solving.
You want hiring managers to feel as if you’re going to bring that same sense of action and problem-solving ability to their company.
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Keep It Brief
The people who are going to be reading an employment cover letter don’t have a lot of extra time to spend, or at least that’s what you want to assume when you’re writing a great cover letter.
You have a very short window of time to capture their attention with your professional cover letter, so keeping it short and concise is important on this list of tips for writing a cover letter.
Key Ways to Write a Concise Professional Cover Letter
Below are some specific ways to follow this particular tip for writing the perfect cover letter.
The Ideal Length
One of the most relevant cover letter tips for writing the perfect cover letter is to find a good balance in terms of length; writing a good cover letter that’s neither too short or too long.
If you write a professional cover letter that’s too short, it may appear that you don’t care. If it’s too long, it’s not going to be read.
Most experts agree that one of the key tips for writing a cover letter regarding length is to aim for about a page.
You can even make it a bit shorter than that at about ¾ of a page, and it will get the job done and likely be appreciated by the person reading it.
Sentence Structure and Wording
Using complex sentences and big words is not likely to impress the person in charge of hiring. One of the big cover letter tips to keep in mind when you’re writing a good cover letter is to keep it simple, concise, and to-the-point.
A lot of this has to do with your sentence structure and word choice. Keep it all simple and factual, and don’t try to “sound smart” by using a lot of unnecessary words.
When you’re finished writing a resume cover letter, go through and see if there are places you have unnecessary wordiness or sentences that are too complex, and eliminate these issues.
For example, think about the following sentences:
“In my past position, I was responsible for a plethora of essential duties related to grant writing and fundraising, and during this time my work led to the raising of additional funds for the non-profit I was working for.”
This sentence feels clunky with a lot of unnecessary words that don’t actually say anything.
Consider this instead:
“As the grant writing assistant at The Ronald McDonald House, I increased fundraising revenue by 75%.”
The second sentence says so much more than the first, in far fewer words.
Make It Readable
When you’re writing for online audiences, there are some things you want to do to make it easy and skimmable, and these principles are useful for writing the perfect cover letter as well. First, along with keeping sentence structure short, you’re also going to want to keep paragraphs short and put some white space between each of them.
Usually, around three paragraphs should work well, and we’ll talk about what should be in those paragraphs on the last part of this list of the best tips for writing a cover letter.
Paragraphs should be no more than a few sentences each, and you might consider adding bullet points, as long as they’re pertinent and valuable. For example, you could take the key skills required for the job, turn them into a bulleted list and then write a sentence beside each that demonstrates in real, measurable terms what you can bring to the table with regard to those skills.
The more readable, the better, and you always want to start writing a good cover letter with the assumption the person reading it is going to be skimming. Even if you’re looking for tips for writing a cover letter that isn’t going to be sent digitally, the same concepts usually apply.
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Use Proper Formatting
When you’re writing a great cover letter, it’s important that you not only follow cover letter tips pertaining to the content of the letter, but also certain style and formatting tips for writing a cover letter. The format is going to convey a sense of professionalism and bring structure to your professional cover letter.
Key Tips for Writing a Cover Letter with Good Formatting
Specific tips for writing a cover letter with good formatting are detailed below.
The Technicalities
First and foremost, when exploring tips for writing a cover letter that’s formatted well: don’t try to do anything out of the ordinary in this area. You want your employment cover letter to stand apart because of the content, not because you’ve used an odd font or strange structure.
Stick with the basics and a font that’s easy to read, like Calibri or Times New Roman, in a standard size such as 12 point. Also, keep margins standard, and as mentioned above, leave plenty of white space on the page.
This makes it easier to read and more digestible, so the person reading your employment cover letter is more likely to notice salient points. You don’t want to start writing a resume cover letter that looks cluttered or full of blocky chunks of text.
If you’re submitting your employment cover letter and resume by email, keep the subject line concise and to-the-point, avoid trying to be funny or gimmicky, and save it and attach it as a PDF. When you go ahead and save your professional cover letter and resume as a PDF, it will show that you care enough to make it convenient for the person reading it.
Paragraphs
As part of this aspect of the cover letter tips in this guide to writing a great cover letter, aim for three to four short-but-relevant paragraphs.
The first paragraph should outline the position you’re applying for, and an introduction to who you are. Also, as mentioned earlier in this list of tips for writing a cover letter, you can use the intro paragraph to let the reader know who you might know at the company.
Use the second and possibly third paragraphs to link your experience and skills directly to the most important skills listed in the job. Use powerful words, and when possible give exact numbers and specifics. For example:
“I increased sales revenue by 10% and customer retention by 15% while at XXX.”
Finally, in the final paragraph, ask the person reading to take action in a confident yet polite way. You can let them know what you’re sending over with your cover letter, for example, your resume and a writing sample, and request a time to talk more about your qualifications.
You could also be more proactive and set a time that you plan to contact the hiring manager. For example:
“I will email you within the week to speak more about the opportunity.”
Ensure that your contact information is clearly accessible on your cover letter, to make things as efficient as possible for the person reading.
Edit and Proofread
Finally, along with cover letter tips involving the technicalities of formatting, this is also the time to stress the importance of proofreading. You want to look for spelling and grammatical errors, unnecessary wording, or sentences that are too long.
You should also check to make sure that your cover letter looks pleasing to the eye and that you haven’t gone overboard including irrelevant information.
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Conclusion—Top 6 Best Tips for Writing the Perfect Cover Letter
Writing the perfect cover letter takes time, and it can take some practice, but in the end, it’s well worth it in most instances to have the perfect cover letter. When you’re writing a cover letter for a resume, there are a few key areas to think about above all else. These cover letter tips include:
- Create a strong opening line and paragraph. The best cover letter is going to immediately get the attention of hiring managers and show them in as few words as possible who you are and what value you can bring to the company.
- Don’t ever use the same cover letter for more than one position. Even if you feel like you’ve written the perfect cover letter, you need to make sure you’re writing a fresh letter for every resume you submit.
- One of the most pivotal tips for writing a cover letter involves the research you do. Make sure you know the specifics of the position you’re applying for, who you’re applying to, what the company does, and what their culture is.
- Include keywords. This is important on this list of tips for writing a cover letter in terms of both applicant tracking systems, but also to pique the attention of people reading your professional cover letter.
- Keep it brief. When you’re writing the perfect cover letter, you want to keep it at a page or less. Use succinct wording and sentences to convey the most important things about yourself, within the context of the job.
Finally, to wrap up this list of tips for writing the perfect cover letter, when you’re writing a cover letter for a resume, make sure that you format it properly. This includes having an easy-to-read font, three to four short paragraphs, and white space breaking up the text.
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