Cover letters are a must if you want to get the best chance of landing work. We have updated the most recent resumes and cover letter tips for job seekers; this would help them to get the job they’ve been yearning for.
Our professional tips would guide you on how best to create your cover letters to win more interviews. To get an abridged form of our advice, find out the best cover letter tips below.
Make it easy to read
For your cover letter to become more attractive and readable, ensure that you include the following features;
- Margins: Ensure that your cover letter margins should lie between 1″ and 1.5″. You can adjust the margin depending on the length of your letters. Ensure that there are no stuffed words in your cover letters, but they should be full.
- Font: look for fonts recommended for cover letters, like Ariel and Helvetica. Your font size should lie from 10.5 and 12. Keep in mind that business letters must have a conservative appearance in general.
Your font size, style, and color should go hand in hand with what your resume has to make it more consistent. To clarify this, download different samples of cover letters and pair them with your own to find out if you are doing it right.
There are lot of free resume builders on the worldwide web including a really intuitive one by us. However, not many career websites stress enough on the importance of cover letters. Sometimes the cover letter can be the difference between you and your competition.
Expand on your resume, but don’t repeat it
It would be best if you creatively placed your complements (skills, experience, and education accomplishments) in a special way shown clearly. Adding up on your cover letter, list down and explain how your experience would impact the target company and why you are the best candidate.
Moreover, if your cover letter only consists of resume content, it is not a good cover letter. Your cover letter is missing out on the most important part that would have brought a positive impression. Therefore, the recruiter might reject your cover letter.
Try out these strategies by noting down your past experiences.
- List down one or more past achievements.
- Explain the relevance of your experience to the company’s problems
- List down competently the problems faced in the industry to demonstrate your expertise.
Include numbers in your accomplishments whenever possible
Your cover letter and resume should have solid evidence of your past achievements listed in values. Other than saying that you “increased sales,” you should write “increased sales by 20%+.”
If you don’t number your accompaniments, your cover letter will have less impression since they didn’t quantify.
You can quantify your accompaniments in different ways, for instance;
- Management: Quantifying the number of people you’ve trained, managed, or on board
- Company goals: analyzing and evaluating the reports given by your department and showing your contribution (whether they’re production targets, sales, customer service satisfaction, or expense saving)
- Miscellaneous: Numbering Size of budgets managed, customers handled per day, or KPIs achieved.
An example with no numbers
My duties include filing taxes, filling clients’ bids, and looking for tenants.
Example with numbers
My clients are proud of me because I have accomplished the following.
- Analyze bids from contractors, which has reduced the annual expense by 2.1%
- Filing taxes competently resulted in a 47% decrease in tax-related penalties.
- Getting potential 65% tenants and changing them into actual tenants.
Demonstrate that you’re a cultural fit
If you feel you are the best for a hiring manager, you have the potential of being chosen and offered a job.
To determine the company’s culture and know if you are eligible, check the company’s social media and website.
- Find out “About” or “Hiring” pages on the company’s website. Here you will find the company’s core values, company’s mission, and the type of people the company would wish to hire.
- On its social media and blog: weigh its public-facing voice, culture, and image. Is it serious and business, or is it fun and quirky-like — or inclusive of both?
- Make the tone and language of your cover letter reflect the beliefs, principles, values, and the perception of the company in its materials. Include visual cues too— if the company’s website has a minimal design, it would be best if you would use a simple cover letter template.
Avoid acronyms, abbreviations, and jargon.
Do not use acronyms and abbreviations in your letter because they sound awkward. Most people think that being a professional means learning a lot of acronyms, jargon, and abbreviations in your industry. Just assume that the reader is a layperson because they usually are. For example, Hr managers and recruiters vet most interviews before top professionals read them out.
Moreover, spelling out abbreviations and acronyms ensures that you are hitting the right cover letter keywords and resume keywords chosen by a company’s applicant tracking system (ATS). Unless the acronym is common to many people, spell it out.
Show some personality (but not too much)
Employers are also human and wouldn’t want to hire someone who works like a robot. They aim to employ someone who would work well with them. Unlike resumes, the cover letter is the appropriate place to express yourself appropriately.
Therefore, it would help if you give the best in your first impression to win a chance. Avoid too formal and unnatural language because you are not a robot.
Additionally, show your interest in the job, whether it’s the work or the company’s culture. Giving the reason you are the best fit for the company will increase the chances of getting the job offer.
Finish your cover letter with enthusiasm
Express yourself confidently by requesting an interview to show that you are serious. When closing your cover letter, don’t forget to leave your contacts (email and phone number) to the hiring personnel and tell them that you are looking forward to a face-to-face interview.
You can also note how you would contact them in a week if you haven’t heard any feedback from them. Although this is seen as aggressive in the UK, hiring managers in the US are likely to hire you.
Final thought
Almost half of the applications without cover letters are rejected by recruiters. Jobs that require dedicated professionals require a cover letter.
You have been wondering and questioning whether cover letters are necessary. The entire job process of job application may be too exhausting; therefore, you would prefer to reduce this to the many documents you provide.
