Crafting a cover letter can be a real challenge for some people. How should you say all the things that you want to? How will you make yourself stand out from the competition, which in today’s economy is fiercer than ever? One suggestion is to find some cover letter templates online to use as a guide. But even then, you should have an idea of what a good cover letter looks like. The good news is that you can follow some easy dos and don’ts to help you understand what should and should not be done. Building on this kind of simple advice, you will be able to create your own one of a kind cover letters that will help you acquire the interview that gets you the career you always dreamed about.
The first “don’t” to remember when writing cover letters is don’t tell your whole life story. A cover letter should not go over one page, unless otherwise specified. This brief page has to include all of the critical information that you want to share with this prospective employer. This means relevant job histories and experiences, education, and more. Don’t try to make conversation, don’t add fluff material, and don’t ramble on and on. Stick to the most important topics and you’ll gain a good reputation of being direct, while also highlighting all of your best traits.
One thing to do is to tailor your cover letter as specifically as possible to the job that you’re applying to. In other words, you shouldn’t have a generic cover letter that you use for every job application. Your cover letter should talk specifically about individual experiences that you’ve had or lessons that you’ve learned that will apply to this individual position. Be sure to include why this specific job excites you, and why you’d be the perfect candidate.
However, while you do not want to have a one size fits all cover letter that you send out everywhere, there’s nothing wrong with crafting a couple of cover letter templates that will save you time when you apply to several jobs. For example, maybe you are going after three types of jobs – marketing positions, sales team positions, and entry level sales team management. You can write up a simple template of a cover letter for each of these three types of positions, which go into detail about the experiences and skills that apply to each.
Then when you apply to a specific job, you can fill in the blanks talking specifically about why you would be a good fit for the job, why you would want it, and why you would excel. You’ll still be writing unique, highly focused cover letters, but you’ll cut your preparation time in half by not having to rewrite it from scratch each time out.
Lastly, the most critical “do” of crafting cover letters is that you absolutely should brag about yourself in a non-egotistical way. This is the place to show off. You should keep your resume “dry”, but the cover letter is the time to inject some emotion and opinion surrounding the facts. Sell yourself, and make yourself stand out as unique and desirable, or else you’re just another plain sheet of paper that will be dumped in the recycle bin.
Creating a cover letter is as much art as it is science. Yet, there are some tested and true tips that can make the process easier. Abide by dos and don’ts and you’ll be that much closer to creating an amazing cover letter. If you do that, your dream job will finally be within your reach.