Make Your Cover Letter Kick Ass!
With unemployment soaring due to the COVID-19 epidemic, so has the competition for jobs. As a result, “how do I make my application stand out?” has become the question du jour.
I’ll likely cover resumes in a future article, but for now, let’s start with the cover letter. I’ve been reading a lot of articles written by career gurus sharing best practices, so I wanted to throw my hat into the ring and share what I have found to work best for myself, both as a candidate and as a hiring manager. Here are some of my top tips:
If you want the job, write a damn cover letter! If your hiring manager is using a platform like ZipRecruiter, it shares resumes with them somewhat relentlessly. While you might think it’s super convenient to bang out several job applications in an afternoon using the ‘Easy Apply’ function, consider the other side. Hiring managers are often presented with a rogue gallery of resumes, and most look exactly the same.
Avoid a one-size-fits-all letter. I created many a boilerplate cover letter earlier in my career, which didn’t work…at all. Hiring managers can sniff out a template from a mile away. If I can, they can. I realize that if you’re applying to the same type of job, there’s going to be some degree of repetition, but please write a fresh cover letter every time. Try to locate the hiring manager using LinkedIn or a similar resource, so you can address the letter to them directly.
Content is king. Think about what you’re writing and who’s reading it. Your resume is used to outline what you have done and what you know. Your cover letter should outline how you’ve applied that knowledge. My advice is to scrutinize the job specification, which is often presented as a bulleted or numbered list. Then, come up with an anecdote about what you’ve done for each of those points. Don’t have the experience? Show how adept you’ve been at rising to a new challenge or learning a new skill. You don’t want to tell them everything, though — save something for the interview.
Find your voice. I suggest looking at the firm’s website, as well as the job ad itself, to determine the organization’s tone of voice. Matching your own voice to theirs prevents you sounding overly formal, or the opposite.
Call to action. Those in sales and marketing will be familiar with this phrase, as you are advertising yourself here. You want to close things out with an action. Try scheduling a call, asking for timescales for a follow-up, or something else that shows some eagerness and hunger for the job. The choice is yours, but it’s a good way to end the letter.
So there you have it: 5 tips to master a cover letter. If you have any tips that have worked for you, I would love to hear them! Likewise, if you’ve got any questions, fill in the contact form and I’ll get in touch. If there are any other topics that you’d like me to cover in future blog posts, drop a comment. Best of luck out there and happy job hunting!