Writing a professional cover letter that gets you hired is no small feat. As you can see from any job application guide, a cover letter doesn’t need to be very long. But it has to be concise, professional, and it should include all the key components to grab the reader’s attention. These cover letter tips shown below will give you a good idea of how you can format your cover letter and ensure you write compelling content that gets you hired.
Always do your research beforehand
Before you write a cover letter, check a job application guide and also learn more about the company at hand. It’s crucial to learn as much as you can about a company before applying to them. Plus, you can study a job application guide, implement cover letter tips, and learn more about the expectations of that business. Knowing that will make it easier to narrow down the exact style and message that will fit their requirements.
Understand the professional cover letter format
You always want to stick to the tried and tested format. The idea is to use this format:
- Go with a professional font like Times New Roman, Calibri, or Arial. When it comes to the font size, you can opt for 10.5 to 12. That way, it’s easy to read, clear, and there are no issues understanding the info that you want to share.
- Using 1-inch margins helps because it adds to the consistency of the format while still being easy to understand.
- Aligning your text to the left also helps add a very professional look and style. Avoid using justified text because it brings uneven spacing and that will certainly make it harder to read.
What’s the right cover letter structure?
Creating a compelling, professional cover letter can prove to be difficult. However, you want to know exactly what structure to go for and how you can address every single detail. Here’s what you want to do here.
- Start with a professional heading where you add your info. It can be aligned to the left or right, or it can be in the center.
- After that, you want to greet the hiring manager. Use their name because it’s a great way to add a personal touch, and you’ll also show that you actively took the time to see who is handling potential hires.
- Write the introduction. Here, you want to start with a hook, showing that you know the role; you can introduce where you found the job offer and also express your enthusiasm about it. Next, you want to focus specifically on your qualifications and what skills actively make you the best possible choice for this specific job.
- Now that you have the intro handled, you want to write the body paragraph. Within this body paragraph, you want to show off that you have the relevant experience for this workplace and also know what will qualify you for this specific job as well. Aside from that, you want to include specifics and examples that help highlight your expertise. Use numbers to quantify your results; those will always help make your results stand out more. Connecting your experience to the role can also help enhance the process and push it to the next level in a more cohesive manner.
- Once you cover that, you can write the closing paragraph. Here, you always want to express interest and gratitude for the job role but also thank the hiring manager for taking the time to read your stuff. Adding a call to action where you request the hiring manager to contact you in order to schedule an interview is a great idea.
- At the end, you should have a sign-off. That means you can use formal closing statements like “Best Regards” or “Sincerely”, and then you can leave your email, name, and phone number right under that for ease of access.
What should you avoid when writing a cover letter? Best practices to consider!
When you write a cover letter, you always want to avoid making it too long. If it’s very long, a lot of managers will just skim through. Additionally, it’s not ok to leave out relevant experience and skills, because you will undermine your chances. Not only that, but you have to maintain a professional look and feel to the cover letter. And, of course, it makes sense to proofread it lots and lots of times, as it will help deliver exceptional results down the line.
Conclusion
Our cover letter tips are very useful if you want to enhance your cover letter and take it to the next level. There will always be challenges as you try to create a very compelling, professional cover letter. Keep in mind that you only have a single chance to get hired at the desired company. Making the right impression and standing out of the crowd can be difficult, but these tips will help increase your chances. Give them a try, and don’t hesitate to optimize them based on your niche!