Due to demand from our facebook members, Im going to give you all a step to step guide to writing a KILLER Cover Letter.
These are my own personal secrets that I use when I do cover letters for other people and have done so for the past 6-7 years.
Basically if you are not sending a cover letter with every application you are doing yourself a massive disservice to complete with 200 of the others out there applying for the job.
A cover letter is ESSENTIAL to get you in front of an employer and help your conversion rates to get interviews.
I do a lot of these for my clients and I personally find them easier to do than resumes once you get the hang of them.
I don’t know why I haven’t done an article on this before!!
Anyway….a lot of people have trouble writing their own cover letters.
I don’t know why that is, it may just be that people find it hard to articulate their experiences and sell that to the role that is on the table.
Or it may be that they person has had a lack of experience and is just starting out.
Whatever it is, have a read below as I will guide you through some tips to get your application to stand out and be shortlisted for interview—–>>>>>>
STARTING YOUR COVER LETTER (Intro)
Starting your cover letter is a bit like an introduction.
Employers want to know what you are applying for and what you are doing.
This includes where you have applied and what role you are applying for, where you seen it and when you seen it.
Your intro generally is only one sentence.
I wouldn’t write any more than that. (As you want to concentrate your efforts on more of the ‘selling’ you stuff and get to this quickly)
See below an example of what I do to write an intro;
SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
You want to go into selling yourself and what you do straight away.
Again with one sentence preferably.
Relevance is very important here.
You must cross reference your current skills and experience CLOSELY to the job you are applying for otherwise it is a waste of time.
For instance, if you have sales skills, and you are selling them in your cover letter for a job as a forklift driver, it goes without saying you are wasting your time.
The more relevant, the better your application will be.
If you’re having difficulty with cross referencing, (particularly career changers) let me know
In this part of the cover letter, I generally explain;
Your years of experience
Your previous company
Your previous role
An adjective about you (highly skilled, Highly competent, trusted, experienced, etc)
This will make sense when I post the example below;
ELABORATE ON SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
Here is where you go deeper into what your skills and experiences specifically are.
If you have had 4 years’ experience as a retail manager, what did you do? (That is relevant to the job applying for)
Don’t assume I know what you did, spell it out for me.
For this area, I would specifically look at the KEY WORDS of the job you are applying for.
You need to interchange them.
For example, if you are applying for a job at a construction company and the job ad keeps mentioning working with power tools, safety and working with the public as important areas, you mention them here. (As long as you have done them)
Similarly, in this example, as a retail assistant manager, the ad(as an example) is asking for someone with a strong customer service base and great communicator.
So that’s what Ive put here…………….
DOT POINTS ON SKILLS
Yes, you may think ‘skills again’???
Think of the above as a small taster and/or a description, and NOW this as a ‘list’ of everything you have done that is relevant to the industry.
Lists of about 6-8 dot points (no more) to help employers skim read if they wish and also get to the nitty gritty of who you are FAST.
Remember, Skills are KING on a cover letter and what gets you the job.
If you are just starting out and are quite new to the workforce, you can just put soft skills here.
But if you have several years’ expertise, I would always recommend hard skills in addition to softskills.
(If you don’t know what hard and soft skills are or what to put first, check out my newsletter#12 article here)
Note, not all of these skills listed in bullet points have to be sourced from the ad, HOWEVER we always mention the KEY WORDS at the top.
Don’t feel you are repeating yourself.
You are just positioning yourself to the employer as an ‘expert in xyz’ which you are.
Once you cover the key words, you can then write whatever you like that will still be semi relevant to the role.
‘Management of staff rosters’
‘Responsibility with EFTPOS, Registers and Store Financials’
‘Meeting of quarterly key performance indicators’
‘Excellent feedback from in store staff from 360 interviews’
Check out the example below;
Another great tip is in the first DOT POINT I always mention my years of experience in the industry im applying for that is related. (For me, 7 years recruitment experience- if im applying for any recruitment role)
Eg, ‘7 Years Recruitment and sales skills in various industries’
This again just solidifies my positioning.
REFERENCES AND PROOF
You can say everything under the sun about what you can do but where is the PROOF??
Who can back you up??
Its important to convey what skills/abilities YOU have that your references are attesting to.
I always like to put ‘attitude’ somewhere in the key words.
(As skills without a good attitude to work means nothing.)
You need to also make the employer seem like they are welcome to contact your references.
Conveying this says that you have nothing to hide and you are backing yourself.
That’s why I write ‘please feel free to contact my references should you require further information’
CONCLUSION AND 'CALL TO ACTION'
I always start my conclusion with if you are after an ‘expert in xyz’.
For example, ‘If you are after a retail specialist with 4 years customer services experience….please contact me at xyz….’
Again, reinforcing your experience and your skill base, relevant to the job.
As mentioned above, you can use soft skills if you are less experienced.
For instance if you have 6 months experience or less use this;
‘If you are after a dedicated and reliable team player, with exposure to customer service, please contact me at xyz…’
You can add more adjectives to suit the role.
In this example below with my application to ALDI, I have added ‘reliable’ and ‘able to handle all situations’.
You can change these words however you like.
Some others include;
‘Dedicated’
‘Committed’
‘Great communicator’
‘Successful’
‘Reliable’
‘Proven Leader’
‘Excellent Attitude’
You can cut and paste whatever adjective you like.
Whatever you think sounds great and best describes you in your work environment.
I personally always like to use ‘Excellent attitude’ and ‘Reliable’ as descriptors as this is what I know employers value in individuals the most but find lacking in most applicants.
DONT forget to add your phone number in your conclusion!
What you may not understand is that some employers lose your resume and only have your cover letter to go by. Doesn’t happen frequently, but it does happen.
Therefore, please make sure that your phone number is on your call to action and that your phone number is CURRENT.
THATS BASICALLY IT!!
Don’t try to overthink it. Don’t try to write too much.
You can still have an awesome cover letter in about half a page.
In a basic form, employers want to know.....
Do you have the skills and expertise to do the job?
Do you have the attitude and reliability to do the job?
Do you have the people to back this up?
Once written down in a way you can sell yourself, you will get an interview.
And then its time to sell yourself again and back this up!
Its all about conversion.
Converting an opportunity from paper to face to face.
And that’s what we are trying to achieve with a cover letter.
THANK YOU!!
Thanks everyone and I hope this helped!!!!
Feel free to comment/UPVOTE below and also…..PLEASE don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter at www.thejobapp.com.au for more free helpful tips and hints!!
Until Next Time,
Chris