Naturally, we tend to assume that first impressions are made when we meet someone face-to-face, but for a jobseeker that moment comes with the cover letter. By the time you get to interview you’ve already impressed; they actually want to like you. Make a pig’s ear of your cover letter though and there’s no way you’ll get that chance.
Jim Harvey, recruitment specialist at MyJobMatcher.com, offers his top tips for making the best first impression with the ideal cover letter.
Audience
Think carefully about who you are writing to. Do your research and address your letter directly to a real person, with a name. Beginning with ‘Dear Sir/Madam’ shows that you either haven’t read the brief thoroughly or couldn’t be bothered to find out the relevant details for yourself. And with that in mind, convention states that you should always end with ‘Yours sincerely’.
Tone
Don’t be too formal. Put the reader at ease by keeping your writing conversational and adopting a warm, personable tone. Say something in your head before you type it. If it sounds ok, the chances are it will read well.
Content
Now you have to consider why you’re writing. This might seem obvious, but it will determine what you write. There are three, distinct sections to a cover letter:
Introduction – Say who you are, the position that you’re applying for and where you saw it advertised.
Pitch – Fundamentally, this is the entire purpose of the cover letter and will make or break your chances of being shortlisted. Use the job and person specs to convince them that you’re worthy of an interview. Try and avoid overusing phrases like ‘I did’, ‘I was’ and ‘I am’ which can make you appear self-obsessed. Instead, try something along the lines of, “My experience with […] involved these skills that you have listed and here are some statistics that back that up.”
Quality over quantity is key – Present someone with a document that resembles a densely-worded, political manifesto and you might have stumbled upon a cure for insomnia, but it will be an instant turn off for most employers. Draw their attention to the hugely impressive CV that is included or attached and say that you look forward to hearing from them. By saying that, you imply that your expectation is nothing short of an interview. Sow that seed in the mind of the recipient and it becomes virtually impossible to dismiss a well-constructed application.
Proofread
Don’t press the send button or lick the envelope until you’ve read your letter at least three times. Then find someone to proofread it for you.Then leave it for at least two hours before you proofread it again with refreshed eyes.
Your likely too fall at the first hurdle bye making silly typo. (4 in that sentence.)
Electronic
If sending an email, put the job title and reference number in the subject line. You could attach your cover letter as a word document, but given that you’re trying to make an instant impression, why make them open something else?
And please use a professional email address and signature. If you are billy.nopants@
To access thousands of live jobs that are waiting for you right now visit www.myjobmatcher.com