Writing a CV cover letter is a challenge for many people, myself included. What do you include in it? How do you make it sound professional yet impressive? How do you ensure that this addition to your resume makes the employer hire you? In this post, I’m going to share some tips gained from both personal experience and research. Hopefully, they’ll help make your job application irresistible.
Top 4 Tips for Writing a CV Cover Letter That’ll Land You a Job
-
Start with the right greeting
A generic ‘hello’ is definitely not a good way to make your first impression on a prospective employer. Therefore, you need to be more personal when choosing a salutation for your cover letter. The best way is to make it personal, which will show your respect for the person you are addressing. Lead with ‘Dear John Smith’ or ‘Dear Mr. Smith’ if you are sure of the person’s gender. However, as some names might be confusing, it’s better to go with the full names.
If you don’t know the name of the person who will read your cover letter, use ‘Dear Hiring Manager’ or ‘To whom it may concern’. According to this survey, employers like these options best.
-
Make your introduction meaningful and memorable
When writing a CV cover letter, you should use the introduction section to make the best first impression on prospective employer. Therefore, instead of using the standard ‘I am…applying for the…job’ you should lead with something that will immediately show off your qualification. Those first sentences have to explain the prospective employer why they will want to hire you.
The tone and style of your introduction should be based on the company culture. For example, if you are going for one of the top legal careers for women, your introduction has to be formal and professional. However, if you are applying for some new creative startup, you can be less formal and maybe even include some witty remark.
-
Explain gaps in your resume
Writing a CV cover letter gives you a chance to give more valuable information about yourself. This is exactly what can persuade prospective employers to hire you. Use this opportunity to explain what the gaps in your career path. This will show that you have nothing to hide and make your resume look more trustworthy.
-
Make sure your cover letter answers three ultimate questions for the recruiter
Can you do this job? Can you fit in with the existing team? Are you a likeable person?
These are three questions that a hiring manager will ask themselves when reading your cover letter. Therefore, you need to make sure they will find the answers they seek. Personally, I advise studying some cover letter examples and templates to see how to do this.
Do you have anything to add on how to write cover letters? Please, share in the comments!
Leave a Reply