Crafting a cover letter can be a tough challenge for a lot people. How can you convey 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 search for cover letter templates on the web to use as a template. 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 simple dos and don’ts to help you realize what should and should not be done. Going off of this kind of basic advice, you will be able to craft your own one of a kind cover letters that will help you acquire the interview that gets you the job you always wanted.
The first “don’t” to remember when writing cover letters is don’t tell your whole life story. A cover letter should be one page maximum, unless otherwise specified. This brief page has to include all of the most important information that you want to highlight to this prospective employer. This means relevant job histories and experiences, schooling, and more. Don’t try to make conversation, don’t add filler, 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 attributes.
Another good thing to do is to tailor your cover letter as targeted as possible to the job that you’re trying to get. In other words, you shouldn’t have a one size fits all cover letter that you use for every job application. Your cover letter should highlight individual experiences that you’ve had or lessons that you’ve learned that will apply to this individual position. Talk about why this specific position gets you excited, and why you’d be a good fit.
However, while you don’t want to have a one size fits all cover letter that you send out to everyone, there’s nothing wrong with crafting a few cover letter templates that will speed up the process when you apply to several jobs. For example, maybe you are applying to three types of jobs – marketing positions, sales team positions, and lower level sales team management. You can make a basic template of a cover letter for each of these three types of positions, which talk 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 this job would be great for you, why you would want it, and why you would excel. You’ll still be writing one of a kind, highly targeted cover letters, but you’ll cut your preparation time in half by not having to rewrite it from scratch each time out.
Finally, the most critical “do” of writing cover letters is that you absolutely should brag about yourself in a non-egotistical way. This is the place to show off. Yes, keep your resume “dry”, but the cover letter is the time to inject some personality and opinion surrounding the facts. Sell yourself, and make yourself stand out as different and desirable, or else you’re just another empty piece of paper that will be thrown out.
Crafting a cover letter is not as an exact science. Still, there are a few tried and true rules that you can pay attention to. Follow these dos and don’ts and you will that much closer to writing an amazing cover letter. If you do that, your dream job will finally be in your hands.
