How to write a good cover letter

Nail that first impression

The cover letter is often the first thing a prospective employer will see. It takes time and skill to create a good cover letter that showcases your experience, your enthusiasm for the role and most importantly, your personality.

Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash

I have written and received many cover letters and CVs over the years, and below are my reflections from both angles, and what I have seen and experienced as working or not working. You may of course have different experiences which are based on which industry you work in and the sorts of roles you are applying for, but hopefully these pointers will give you some structure for your next application.

Some Do’s and Don’ts

-          DO Create a different cover letter for each job you apply for, to add a personalised touch.

-          DO proofread and check before you send – the last thing you want is to be referring to the wrong job, wrong person or – the worst one in my opinion – wrong company.

-          DO include up-to-date contact details and make it easy for the recruiter to get in touch with you. Make sure your email address is appropriate and is one you have access to regularly.

-          DON’T add excessive detail over pages and pages – many recruiters will be wading through tens if not hundreds of CVs and cover letters – give them the information you want them to have in a clear and easy to read way.

-          DON’T just use the cover letter to repeat what’s in your CV. This is a space for you to tell a story and add depth to the CV statements.

-          DON’T mention why you want to move roles or hint at anything negative – this is a chance to show why you are the best person for this role, it is not a space to list all your grievances about your current workplace or colleagues.

The Design

-          Do some research on the industry you are applying within. Is it a creative and design-heavy space? If so, you will want your cover letter to reflect that with examples of creative projects, and it would typically have some stylistic flair. Is it an academic-based industry? Then simply-formatted cover letters with lots of evidence-based information are usually the norm in this space.

-          Ideally you want a style, font or a template that matches your CV. This will show your attention to detail and cohesion.

Preparation

-          Take some time to look around the company’s website. What is their mission and vision or goals? What are the key projects they are working on? What other job vacancies are available and what can they tell you about the direction the company is moving in?

-          Are there any articles about this company in the news or in industry blogs and magazines? Have the senior leadership given interviews to magazines that you can read, to understand their ethos?

-          Do you know any people who work at this organization? What can they tell you about the culture?

-          Sometimes it might be a good idea to reach out to the HR team to find out more about the role and set up an informal informational interview.

-          Deep-dive the job description – the best way to do this is to go old-school – print out a copy of the job description and highlight words that you think are important to the role. Try and ‘read between the lines’ – are there any patterns or themes coming up that will help you tailor your cover letter?

-          Think about the needs of the recruiter/company you are applying for and how you can meet those expectations. Put yourself in their shoes and think about framing the letter around their wants and needs rather than a long list of your own achievements. How can you meet their needs? What can you bring to the table? What are the problems you can solve for them?

The Structure

There are many different ways to do this, but it is important to make sure that yours is specifically targeted to the role and industry, you show genuine enthusiasm for the role, and your personality shows through. There are plenty of templates online to give you a good starting point but try and avoid using them word-for-word as it will be really obvious to a recruiter. However you shape it, you may find that you end up following a pattern similar to the below structure.

Introduction:
Address the right person, outline the role and explain where you saw the role advertised. Outline in 1-2 sentences why you are clearly the right person for the role and what you can bring to the table and solve for them.

Why do you want this job?
This is where you can demonstrate your motivation and enthusiasm for the role and, based on your preparation, you can demonstrate your knowledge of the company. What have they done recently that you admire? How do they set themselves apart from their competitors? How does this link to your own experience?

Why do they want you?
Make sure to emphasise your personal value and how you can help them address their challenges. What is going on in the wider environment that may change how the company operates in future? How can you help them with this? Use some of the keywords you highlighted in the job description and link them to your own skills and experience. Some people like to use a list or bullet points, and some will use sentences here. Go for the style that best suits you for getting your point across.

Summary:
Reiterate your enthusiasm for the role and how it would be a privilege to work for the company. How can you tie everything up from the previous parts of the letter into 1-2 sentences?

Language

-          Tone: Try not to go too over-the-top with flowery language and keep it as authentic and close to your style as possible, but with be mindful of conveying a sense of professionalism. You may find it useful to ask a friend or family member to check over your cover letter.

-          Keep it positive: Avoid negative words and focus on building and improving and collaborative and open words. Even if you are applying for a few roles at the same time, you want to make sure the recruiters feel special and this is the only role you want, without being too sickly-sweet with your descriptions.

-          Keep it simple: Make sure you choose confident words, ‘I can, I will’, rather than ‘I feel, I believe’. Keep your sentences short and to the point. Avoid acronyms and jargon – some people helping with recruitment may not be familiar with the lingo, so try not to alienate them. If you do need to use acronyms, try and spell them out the first time. If you are referring to numbers or data, be precise.

Good luck out there and let me know if this has helped!