One of the most confounding aspects of applying for a job is composing a compelling cover letter. “I can just upload a resume and an employer should know that I want the job. Why bother to write a cover letter?” asks almost every job hunter these days.
Indeed, few people enjoy writing cover letters, and even when they are submitted, the common impression is that they are only read about half the time.
On the other side of the hiring desk, there is hardly a recruiter or human resources person who isn’t bored to death with the stock, overused phrases that are so often utilized in cover letters because people don’t know how to exploit this vehicle for their own benefit.
[See: The 25 Best Jobs of 2018.]
Write a unique cover letter for every job to which you apply. Yes, it takes time and thought to do it well. No, you won’t be applying to many jobs every day. But the quality of your applications will skyrocket, and so, too, will your likelihood of getting seriously considered when you follow the suggestions in this article to buttress your resume for each employer.
Show that you have the “excellent communications skills” that virtually every professional job requires. Your cover letter is a writing sample. It conveys how well you express yourself, whether or not your grammar usage is correct and how you can build a compelling case.
Don’t just regurgitate your resume. A cover letter isn’t about restating everything that is on your resume. But you can appropriately pick out one or two key points from it that specifically correlate the job which you have or had to the job for which you are applying.
Answer the question: “Why do you want to work here?” The very fact that you are submitting your resume obviously tells an employer you want the job. But it doesn’t say why you want the job. And it doesn’t explain why this job is a better fit for you than any number of other positions to which you might apply.
The cover letter gives you the opportunity to show what you know about the employer’s needs and why you would be passionate about fulfilling them. Go beyond, “I want/need your paycheck” to “I relish the opportunity to be a part of a team/company that is known for X.” Use the cover letter to seamlessly meld the employer’s job description to your background.
[See: The 8 Stages of a Winning Job Search.]
Tackle red flags head-on. Your resume might raise some real or potential red flags like employment gaps, missing credentials, frequent job hopping or your age. Don’t think that such things will go unnoticed and try to avoid dealing with them. Instead, use your cover letter to deal with them head-on and lower those red flags.
Perhaps you are aiming for a leadership role, but you never finished college. Use this opportunity to acknowledge that fact and conjoin it with an explanation of how you have effectively led throughout your years of experience, how up-to-date you are with leadership best practices and even how those with degrees look up to you for your knowledge.
Perhaps you took a chunk of time off to care for an ill family member. Tell about the situation in general terms, and then explain how circumstances have now changed and that you are chomping at the bit to get back into the workforce.
Whatever the situation might be, provide just enough information to explain it and then pivot away from it to defuse it. And, while you are at it, you might highlight how you have used skills necessary for your job in a different context.
Avoid value judgments and don’t draw conclusions that aren’t yours to make. So often people say things like, “I’m sure that upon review you’ll see I’m the most uniquely qualified person for this role.” Crickets!
You can never know how many people you are up against for a role, what their backgrounds and accomplishments might be and how you really stack up against them. You don’t have the information necessary to know if you are most uniquely qualified or not. And you, therefore, shouldn’t draw that presumptuous conclusion! It is the job of the hiring authorities to have that information and figure out which candidates will be worthy of serious consideration.
[See: The 10 Worst Jobs for Millennials.]
Be personal. That means going above and beyond to figure out who will be reading your cover letter and personally addressing it to him or her. It means leaving off all the canned language that everyone despises. And, most of all, it means writing a compelling, honest personal statement about your background and how your experience will enable you to become a key contributor to your next employer.
It all comes down to this: It is your job to give the hiring authorities reason to conclude that you have the ability and desire to contribute to their organization’s ongoing success.
Your cover letter can effectively complement your resume in this effort.
Happy hunting!
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Cover Letter Do’s and Don’ts originally appeared on usnews.com
