Expert Unveils Top Cover Letter Writing Tips in a NutShell

Are you researching cover letter writing tips? If so, you’ve come to the right place for tips on how to write an excellent application letter.

Have you finished your resume and are thinking, now what?

Do you send off your resume and wait for your phone to ring? Nothing else?

You can wait as long as you like, but it probably won’t ring. Why? Because you forgot to include your cover letter! Or maybe you did include a cover letter or letter of intent, but it failed to impress the reader.

So, to answer your burning question, “Is a cover letter as crucial as everyone says it is?” Yes! It is important!

Whether you are applying for an entry-level or executive position, a cover letter can be integral to getting your resume read.

A cover letter introduces the job applicant to the hiring manager or human resources specialist. This document must pique potential employers’ interest and encourage them to read your submitted resume and other supporting documents.

A cover letter is your opportunity to make a great first impression. Therefore, you must invest the time and effort into crafting an appealing and convincing cover letter!

What does a cover letter contain that makes it so crucial?

Winning Cover Letters Include:

  • Education and credentials
  • Years of relevant experience
  • Related prior positions
  • Hard skill sets
  • Soft skill sets
  • Transferable skills – for career changers
  • Core competencies/greatest strengths
  • Why the job candidate would be an asset to the company or organization
  • Commitment to the company
  • The job candidate has unique talents and expertise to move the organization forward and solve potential problems.

However, sometimes, what’s important is not what’s written on the page but how it is communicated.

Did you write your cover letter with passion and conviction?

Do your personality and enthusiasm shine through?

Did you show how you can improve the company’s performance?

Have you sold yourself as a potential employee and a standout human being?

Don’t underestimate the importance of how you format the cover letter. Professionalism, modern design, and ensuring the font type and size match the resume will make a difference.

Your eagerness must LEAP off the page!

Make the reader feel as excited about your candidacy as you are for the opportunity.

So, how do you sell your excitement and enthusiasm in your cover letter?

The key to expressive cover letter writing is to incorporate strategic words and phrases, such as:

  • My commitment to advancing your company is…
  • Based on my past success, I can produce a forward-thinking organization…
  • Colleagues would describe me as an enthusiastic, collaborative, and driven leader…
  • Being a diligent and results-oriented professional…
  • The greatest assets I bring are my unique experience, passion, and self-motivation…
  • I have a proven talent for collaborating with and motivating colleagues…
  • With a solid track record for building a highly driven and engaged team of co-workers…

What are some other items you should consider incorporating into your cover letter?

Three additional items you should include in your cover letter are:

  1. Top relevant accomplishments
  2. Quotes and testimonials from previous bosses, supervisors, teachers, or clients
  3. Addressing any obstacles or potential red flags about your work experience.

Greatest relevant career accomplishments

When digging up your best accomplishments to highlight in your letter of intent, make sure they are relevant, impressive, and well-explained. They should demonstrate skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, collaboration, etc.

These professional achievements should describe the challenge, the action taken, and the result. The CAR acronym—Challenge, Action, Results—can help you write your accomplishments.

If you can incorporate facts and figures, you will be better off. Since facts are easy to break down and comprehend, they mean a great deal to a hiring company. Furthermore, by using figures and expanding upon your achievements, you can demonstrate how your talents and skills benefit an organization. Therefore, you can prove your worth to the organization you are applying to.

Incorporate one professional accomplishment in paragraph format or 3-4 accomplishments in shorter, bullet-point format.

Quotes and testimonials

Speaking of proving your worth… Quotes and testimonials can be valuable tools to market yourself. At the bottom of your cover letter, you may want to incorporate a testimonial from a past supervisor, demonstrating your hard work, dedication, and importance in your former organization’s growth.

If you are deciding between a few quotes, choose the most recent. You can select quotes from past work evaluations or one of your recommendation letters.

Additional notes about attention-grabbing cover letter writing

Regardless of the position you are applying for, ensure your letter of intent looks tidy, professional, and well-thought-out. You should keep the document to one page, using appropriate titles and the correct person/company of interest address.

Incorporate complete sentences and compelling wording. Do not include fluff or filler to lengthen your document—the reader will surely notice that trick and will not be held in your favor. Furthermore, ensure your document is spaced properly and easy to read. Spaces between paragraphs, or white space, are an excellent tool for making the document easier to peruse.

One final cover letter writing tip…

When creating your cover letter, you will want it to match your resume.

This means that you will need to have to match:

  • Header/contact information at the top
  • Font style and size for the text in the body of both documents
  • Margins for the documents
  • Similar content and highlights, but worded differently

These similarities between your job search documents will ensure they look consistent, cohesive, and professional. It will also ensure that if your documents get separated, there will be no doubt about which resume your letter belongs to.

Don’t let an absent or poorly written cover letter prevent you from landing your dream job!

Ask yourself: is your cover letter grabbing attention for the right reasons? If the answer is no, it’s time to take a different approach to cover letter writing to ensure you land job interviews.

If you found these cover letter writing tips valuable, I would appreciate you commenting and sharing this post with others!

Contact Candace if you need help with your resume and cover letter.

Contact directly by email: candoco@telus.net or call toll-free: 1-877-738-8052.