Businesses always find it difficult to get the right staff. This might surprise you, because every day you hear stories of mass redundancies in the news… But many businesses are constantly looking for talented colleagues and they are not so easy to find. So if you have now been given your opportunity and you are trying to distinguish yourself from the other candidates, then give yourself more of an opportunity of finding the job of your dreams! An effective covering letter is one of the ways in which you can set yourself apart from the others. Here’s a series of dos and don’ts for your covering letter :
Don’ts when writing a covering letter:
- Your covering letter needs to stand out. Don’t copy someone else’s letter, but make sure that it is tailored to the company and job in question.
- Companies want to read in your letter why you want to work for them, and they want to read this straight away. Do not therefore use long, cumbersome or poetic sentences, but keep to the point.
- Your letter of application is a supplement to your CV. Don’t just summarise again everything that is set out in your CV, but provide more of an explanation. Nor do you need to include every item from your CV in your letter of application.
- Make sure that your CV and covering letter are tailored to one another. Don’t refer in your letter to any training courses or positions that are not in your CV.
- Do not give vague descriptions of yourself or the position that you are looking for. Otherwise the Human Resources Manager will not immediately understand what you mean and they may misinterpret this. Just say which position you are looking for and what you are good at.
- Your letter of application is something personal. Do not use standard wording or outdated wording. Write in your own style.
- Make sure that you are not arrogant or exaggerate, but neither should you undersell yourself either: you may say specifically what you are good at.
Dos when writing a covering letter :
- Say clearly why the company should choose you for the job. And why therefore you think that you should have this job. Use clear arguments, without coming across as being arrogant.
- If you know the name of the recruiter, you are best to send the covering letter directly to him/her and to address him/her at the top of your letter. Anyone who feels that they are being addressed personally will be pleased to read your letter.
- Start your letter of application with your strengths. You are best not to highlight your weaknesses in your letter, as otherwise they will undoubtedly be raised during an interview as questions.
- Word your letter so that it is positive and forward-looking. Write “I am prepared to quickly familiarise myself in a new specialist field” rather than “As I have been unemployed for some time now, I am no longer familiar with the most recent developments”.
- Substantiate what you write by providing facts, and give some professional success stories. Rather than frequently used terms such as ‘organisational skills, committed, ability to deal with stress’, instead give examples that provide evidence of this. Example: ‘I successfully led international projects in which I had to draw together the proposals from various companies into a joint plan.’
- Collect as much information as possible about the company. Where applicable, you can contact the company to request more information about the company or about the position. This not only shows interest, but it will ensure that you have all of the information that you need to write an adapted letter of application.
- Only include the most important information in your letter and keep the wording concise and clear. The HR Manager may get to know you, and so you may also say something about your personality.
- Also specify what you have achieved professionally for this purpose, what you are proud of and what your career objective is.
- Specify in your covering letter in particular how you stand out from the other applicants with the same qualification.
We hope these dos and don’ts will help you when writing your covering letter. In the mean time we wish you every success with your application!
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