11) Show confidence. Your personality will emanate
from your cover letter. If you lack confidence in
yourself, it will show. Believe in yourself. How
you present yourself applies not only at the
interview stage, but throughout the job search
process. Be careful, however, between showing
confidence and exaggerating. Keep in mind that your
cover letter will create expectations that will have
to be met at the interview stage.
12) Adopt a positive attitude. Avoid raising
negativity in your cover letter. People don't want
to work with someone negative. If you raise
something negative about yourself in your cover
letter, you won't be in position to respond to
concerns or questions that the reader may have. If
you feel something negative needs to be addressed,
let it be addressed at the interview stage, to the
extent that the issue is raised by the interviewer.
For instance, you may be considering a career change
and are worried that your lack of experience in the
field that you are applying to may affect your
candidacy. Don't refer to this issue from a
negative standpoint in your cover letter. Instead,
address how your past experience or qualifications
can help you bring a new perspective to the
position. To the extent that the recruiter feels
that this point needs to be addressed, he or she
will address it during the interview and you will be
able to answer his or her concerns at that stage.
13) Be professional. Being professional is a
general proposition, but can give recruiters a good
impression of your work ethics. For instance, if
you project the image that you are professional, you
will also project the idea that you can service
customers, you are diligent in your work, you are
punctual, you are organized, etc.
14) Formulate your ideas and propositions clearly.
You don't want the recruiter to read your cover
letter twice in order to understand what you are
trying to say. You want your letter to be clear so
that the person reading it will understand your
message the first time. This is also about setting
a good rapport with the recruiter. If he or she has
to read your cover letter many times before
understanding what you are trying to convey, he or
she might become impatient. If your cover letter is
unclear, it will shed a negative impression on your
application upfront.
15) Avoid addressing compensation issues.
Don't
address issues that relate to your compensation
package this early on in the process. Even if this
is something that is important to you, wait until
the interview stage before raising the salary
issue. At that point, you will have a better
picture of what the job entails and will be in a
better position to argue your case in person.
16) Distinguish yourself from other applicants and
answer the following question: Why should we call
you in for an interview? When recruiters look
at applications at the preliminary stage, meaning
when they screen cover letters and resumes, they are
essentially trying to determine who should go on to
the next round. Because of time constraints, they
obviously cannot ask all applicants to attend an
interview. Unless you distinguish yourself from
others and give the recruiter a reason to call you
for an interview, you will not make it to the next
round.
17) Support your propositions. So what if you
mention that you have good writing skills? Does
your cover letter support your contention? So what
if you mention that you are good at modeling
documents on Excel? How can the reader know that
for sure? You should support your assertions by
giving concrete examples of your accomplishments.
This will give more weight to what you state in your
cover letter and will make it more concrete to the
recruiter.
18) Use your cover letter as a primer for your resume.
Use your cover letter to create interest for your
application. If, after reading your cover letter,
the recruiter sees something special in your
candidacy and, accordingly, spends more time
reviewing your resume, your cover letter has
accomplished its mission. You were able to set the
stage for your resume to shine. Think of it like a
show. You have the presenter and the artist. What
is the role of the presenter? To "present" the
artist in a way that will spark the interest of the
audience and create the ambiance for him or her to
perform.
19) End your cover letter by reiterating your interest
in the position. Concluding on a good note is
as important as starting on a good footing.
20) Proofread. To send out a cover letter that
contains a typo is like going to an interview with a
shirt that is stained. Presentation is important.
21) Once you have finished drafting your cover letter,
let it rest and review it the next morning.
This is a trick used by most professional writers.
By leaving your cover letter aside and reviewing it
later, you will approach the cover letter with a
fresh mind and a new angle.
22) Have someone else review your cover letter. You
may think that you wrote a good cover letter, but
what if you're wrong? It's a good idea to let
someone else review your cover letter. Try to keep
an open mind during this process. You don't have to
agree and you will still have the last word, but
this will allow you to bounce your cover letter off
someone else before it is sent out. You know
yourself and things that may seem obvious to you may
not be so for others.
23) Format your cover letter to match the layout of your
resume. Your cover letter should always
accompany your resume. They are an ensemble
and should look the part too. Use the same fonts,
headings, and formatting.
24) Don't give the person reading your cover letter a
reason to reject your application. Avoid having
your application "rejected" for silly reasons.
Don't give a reason for the recruiter to reject your
application because you addressed it to the wrong
person, there is a typo, you failed to include all
the information that was asked in the job posting,
etc.
25) Keep a copy of the cover letters that you send out.
You may send out a lot of applications while looking
for a job. Some recruiters may call you weeks down
the road. Be prepared for that eventuality.
