subject: What Makes A Brilliant Cover Letter? [print this page] What Makes A Brilliant Cover Letter? What Makes A Brilliant Cover Letter?
In an ever increasing competitive society you must strive to impress with a cover letter as well as a CV. They certainly are expected nowadays and when you go that extra mile to prove yourself you will make a lasting impression. First impressions really do count in every area of life, so do your best to create a positrive one.
Creative, or innovative cover letters will attract the attention of the reader and immediately encourange them to want to read your CV/Resume. This should always be the main reason for writing one, to grab attention and stick out as a potential candidate.
There are a few tricks that you should use to rise to the top pf the pile and I will discuss those now.
1. -Regard your cover letter as a sales pitch
Each brilliant cover letter starts with an attention grabbing sentence or statement. You must come across in a professional manner and make sure that you know what you are talking about. It is always good to give them exactly what they want, always over deliver. Cover letters are no different. In fact, I like to treat the entire letter as an expanded resume headline. However, you must remeber not to include everything you have ever done in your cover letter as you will end up talking about things that are irrelevant to the job. That's what your resume is for.
It is important to be true to yourself and be creative, but you must never lie or exaggerate the truth.
2. Get Your CV/Resume Read!
THE PURPOSE OF EVERY COVER LETTER IS TO INVITE ATTENTION TO YOUR RESUME, AND TO GET IT READ... IN FULL.
How do you go about doing this? You should address the requests and needs of the employer first and foremost. What have they asked for in the job description? This should be your starting point. You should ask yourself if you are proficient in these skills before you put pen to paper or finger to keyboard. Doing this is relatively simple once you get the knack. You will normally find these job requirements near the top of the job advertisement or in bullet points somewhere in the posting. If there are very few requirements then you will have to do a little more research to ensure that your cover letter is targeted to this particular company. Do they have a website? If so, what is their mission statement and ethos? What types of people do they like to employ? Do not be afraid to add skills that would impress and that you feel are relevant too..
Still keep in mind though this is a sales letter. You're selling your ability to do the job. Keep selling, but be creative..
It is also a good idea to give the reader a little insight into your personality here as you cannot do this properly in your CV/Resume. Come across as warm, personable, professional and interesting. Look at what people they like to work with or employ and highlight these qualities. Ask yourself if you would fit in well with them and you will know where to go from here.
After successfully addressing each of the criteria asked in the job advertsisement you will need to summarise your letter to create a lasting impression and invitre the reader to give you an interview.
Cover letter tip number three:
SUMMARIZE YOUR PRIMARY SELLING POINT AND REQUEST AN INTERVIEW.
You must now use this as your opportunity to reinforce what you have just told the reader throughout your cover letter. This should normally be one or two sentences. At the end of this you will then ask for an interview where you can discuss the application further.
An example of how you might end a cover letter is:
Thanks for taking the time to consider my application. I'm confident your position for an entry-level management trainee strongly melds with my strengths and my desire to help others achieve success.
Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you.
Respectfully,
YOUR NAME
You can finish by writing a brief sentence referring to your current resume being attached as well as letting them know you'll be following up.
I hope that you can see that writing a cover letter is an important and valuable part of any job application. You must appear unique, creative and ideal for the position to even be considered. When you begin to do your research your confidence in what to include will grow too. This should lead to a lot more interviews for you too. Good luck!
