Crafting a Stand-out Cover Letter: A Guide

Cover Letters are an exciting topic and there is a lot of debate all over the internet as to whether recruiters or hiring managers will actually read a cover letter. My own advice is to use a cover letter when your sending out your resume directly to a hiring manager, and skip it when your sending it to a recruiter.

This begs the obvious question-- How do I write a Great Cover Letter.

To write a great cover letter you will need to demonstrate your personality, knowledge and exactly what makes you different from the other candidates that have applied. One rule of writing great cover letters-- DO NOT just repeat what your about to say in your resume. You resume is very likely to be "skim read" and if the relevant information on your resume

The What

You will need to get to the point very quickly and therefore within the first sentence point out which job you are making an application for and who inside the company recommended you for the specific job. Try to be a targeted as possible whenever you are indicating a role.

Obviously, if your applying to a job from a job advert, make sure that you include the job title. If you're sending out your resume straight to a company and do not know the particular position then you can use the department and a level of seniority such as senior sales, or Junior

Use networking programs such as LinkedIn or someone within your personal network you hopefully will be able to find a contact. Make sure that you ask for permission before you drop their name. If you genuinely can not find someone to recommend you to a particular role, then open your cover letter with the reason you have applied for this role.

99 % of hiring managers and recruiters will look at the first few sentences so be sure they are good. I need a job is honestly not a very good opening line and usually means in which no further progress will be taken with your cover letter and typically means that less time is taken looking at your resume before it hits the bin.

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