A covering letter introduces you to a prospective employer, and tells them why you’re the best person for the job.
It aims to catch their interest, and convince them to read your application thoroughly and ask you in for an interview.
Why should you write a covering letter?
In a covering letter, you get to show an employer your skills, highlight your selling points, and answer the three main questions they want answered:
- Can you do the job? Do you have the right qualifications, knowledge, skills, abilities and experience?
- Will you do the job well? Are you dependable self-motivated, and enthusiastic?
- Will you fit into the organisation? Are your values, image and goals a good match with the company’s? Will you get along well with clients and co-workers?
Address all the employer’s needs, in the order they occur in the job advertisement. Leave no doubt that you’re the best applicant for the job!
What will a new employer look for first?
If a lot of people apply for this job, the employer may have as little as 30 seconds to decide whether to bother reading your whole application.
In that time, they’ll want to find out:
- whether you meet the selection criteria
- your experience, skills and qualifications
- your level of professionalism
- clues to your personality
- how well you communicate in writing
- how well you order information in a letter
- how good your grammar, spelling and punctuation are
- how carefully you check for typing mistakes, formatting errors and wrong information.
Keep your covering letter relevant
Sometimes you can use the same resume for different positions, but never use the same covering letter. Write a unique covering letter for each individual job and company for which you apply.
Focus on what you can offer the employer, not on what you want from the job. Highlight the selling points you have that are most relevant to the job. Indicate the mixture of skills, experience and enthusiasm you can contribute to the company.
Always send a resume to fill out the information in your covering letter.
Further information