No matter how powerful your resume is, you still cannot land on the best possible job for you if your cover letter is not there, or is not doing its job. Similar to writing a proposal letter, the process to create a cover letter has dos and don’ts. A cover letter is your one shot chance to get noticed and eventually encourage the hiring manager to read your resume. Hence, it is crucial to create a cover letter that will boost up your resume and credentials.
In creating a cover letter, there are 3 important elements you have to remember: professionalism, information, and precision. The professionalism of how you create a cover letter shows your intellectual capability and your communication skills. The info you incorporate while you create a cover letter stresses how valuable you are for the company. ;and creating a cover letter with precision entails how efficient you are of submitting real information.
Typically, the cover letter has 4 parts: the introduction, the body, the request for further action, and the conclusion. In the introduction, you have to address the company you are applying to and if possible, address the hiring manager. The body of the cover letter states your qualifications and your interest in the position while the request paragraph states your availability and your willingness to be interviewed. It is imperative that you put your contact information in the request paragraph, otherwise the hiring manager may not know how to contact you. In the conclusion you basically sum up everything you have said in the previous paragraphs and tie all of the information together. It is very important to thank the hiring manager for his or her time at the end of the concluding paragraph.
While you create a cover letter, keep the body of the cover letter as informative as possible. However, it should be compact and precise. If possible, create a cover letter with a body that has only 1 to 3 paragraphs. Be aware that hiring managers do not usually read the whole information in a cover letter. So, create a cover letter that is attractive, easy to read and direct.
To assure that you get the interview there are three things you should avoid while you create a cover letter. The first thing you should avoid is to address your cover letter using generic salutation. By creating a cover letter that is generic it implies you have less interest in the company you are applying to. When you create a cover letter, assure that you address it to the person in charge in human resource. This says that you have done research and made the effort to finding the hiring manager.
The second thing to avoid is to create a cover letter with irrelevant information. Clogging up the cover letter with unnecessary information will distract from the point of the cover letter, to get the hiring manager interested in you.. It is essential that you create a cover letter that attracts the hiring manager attention if you want to get interviewed and that can’t be done with irrelevant and boring information.
Lastly, you should not create a cover letter that only serves as a summary of your resume. The content of your cover letter should not be similar to that of your resume. If you do this, your cover letter will look repetitive, boring and unworthy to read. Bear in mind that you should create a cover letter that is brief and precise and acts as an introduction to your resume. It should not be a fifteen page summary of your life experiences.
Cover letters are not something that can be learned overnight, but a craft that can take quite a bit of research and preparation. However, with these great tips on how to write an effective cover letter you’ll go from hunting to hired in no time at all.
Landon Long is the founder of InterviewMastermind.com. You can download his FREE "Resume Rebel" Video Course to learn how to write a resume and stand out in a slow economy.
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