Relating the cover letter with the various qualifications, roles and responsibilities stated with the position greatly enhances your chances of success.
A crucial part of applying for a job is developing a suitable cover letter to accompany your other papers. Generally speaking, this document entails a short explanation detailing why you are suitable for the position involved. It’s designed to support the information provided with your curriculum vitae, and when done efficiently it can help you stand out from the other candidates.
Some of the things you should consider when developing a cover letter for a job application include:
Customize your details
A common mistake made by many people is the use of one cover letter for all of their applications. In such circumstances, the cover letter usually offers general information regarding the candidate’s potential and capabilities. Such details, however, don’t offer any helpful specifics to the recruiter concerning why one would be suitable for the position.
Relating the cover letter with the various qualifications, roles and responsibilities stated with the position greatly enhances your chances of success. If an employer is looking for someone who can provide creative content, for instance, then giving examples of how you would achieve such requirements can enhance their interest in your application. You can do this by providing samples of the previous works you have done in this aspect.
Keep it short
It’s important to remember that an employer will be sieving through numerous applications when searching for suitable candidates. This means that they won’t have the time to go through long statements when reviewing cover letters. The document should thus be about half a page and consist of short and precise sentences that get right to the point.
Lengthy letters might discourage a recruiter/employer from going through the details entailed within. Don’t try and sugar coat your words or beat around the bush.
Double-check your grammar and formatting
As the adage goes, the devil is in the details. How you construct your cover letter offers additional insight on your character for the employer. This means that your language should be perfect, lacking any grammatical errors or amateurish statements. Your cover letter should reflect your professional proficiency.
Avoid using contractions where possible, and maintain a formal tone when providing your details. Do not use lengthy paragraphs, but rather separate the information to shorter stanzas consisting of four to five sentences each at most.
Avoid Repetition
Your cover letter should not be a brief of your CV. It’s supposed to supplement this document and not act as a summary. Don’t talk about your qualifications or any information that is already listed in your resume. Instead, try and add to the content presented in your CV by going into further details about the positions you have listed, for example, or adding content that has not been included.
