The Cover Letter Writing category provides helpful advice and tips on preparing and sending out a cover letter.
The cover letter is one of the most important career documents for generating job interviews. Articles include advice on improving your cover letter, dealing with common concerns, avoiding cover letter mistakes and improving your cover letter content.
Effective Cover Letter Examples and Formats
A cover letter can take many forms. It can be an email, a fax cover sheet, or a traditional paper document. Whatever you call it, an introductory letter that accompanies your job application and resume is a critical element of any effective career search and should never be forgotten. Learning how to write a letter that makes a high impact is a process, but the time spent, will be well worth the effort.
Useful Cover Letter and Resume Tips for Nonprofit Careers
Guest Post: Useful Cover Letter and Resume Tips for Nonprofit Careers
by Brian Jenkins, BrainTrack.com
Nonprofit employers evaluate resumes and cover letters differently than most corporate employers. They want to get a sense of who you are and what you are passionate about along with a detailed description of your skills and work experience. Nonprofits are seeking employees who are committed to their mission and want to make a positive social impact.
Is Your Cover Letter Fluff or Substance?
A good cover letter is a critical element to any résumé submission. I have heard some ‘so called’ career experts say a cover letter isn’t needed any longer because it doesn’t get scanned into applicant tracking systems, but having been a senior level Human Resources professional, and after discussing with numerous recruiters and hiring managers; I can tell you that cover letters are essential.
3 Important Aspects of Your Resume Cover Letter
Before going ahead with the importance of a cover letter, I would like to elaborate on the meaning of a cover letter. In general, a cover letter is a writing that you send along with your resume when applying for a job. The cover letter gives a brief overview of your professional achievement and your message for the HR personnel. Most of the companies expect a cover letter along with the application.
Three Reasons Why Your Cover Letter Is Not Worth The Paper It’s Printed On
Contrary to what you might think, a cover letter is important. It is part of your career search materials. Are you telling me that when applying for a position, you are just going to send in your resume? The cover letter is your introduction. You wouldn’t go up to someone and just start talking without introducing yourself, would you? This is the same thing. You need a cover letter when applying for work. Now, I haven’t taken a poll or done any formal research regarding who reads cover letters and who doesn’t read them. When I was in a hiring position, I always read them. And, it worked out well; many times I identified and hired people that I wouldn’t have just considered from the resume. Many people provided information in the cover that they couldn’t include on the resume. So here are some things to consider regarding why your cover letter is not working for you:
Cover Letter Etiquette
Whether you’ve written one or one hundred cover letters in your lifetime, they can present enough challenges to make you dread the process each time. It’s for this reason that many people resort to the “carbon copy” cover letter as opposed to creating an original one for each job application.
The “carbon copy” cover letter is not recommended because it lacks authenticity. Even worse, it forces you to turn your back on cover letter etiquette. If you want to make sure that your cover letter is unique and appropriate, let’s take a look at some cover letter etiquette tips to consider.
Cover Letter Questions Answered
Creating an effective cover letter can be challenging when you’re not sure how it should be structured, or exactly what information should be placed in it. But the good news is that there are some basic guidelines you can use to help you get started.
Prepping/Organizing Your Cover Letter
Sometimes, the most difficult aspect of creating a cover letter is actually deciding what you want to say and how you want to say it. You know that first impressions mean everything when finding a job, and in this case, the cover letter provides the first impression.
A good way to make sure you create the cover letter you want is to spend time prepping and organizing it before actually writing it. So to get you started, here are some great organizing tips:
Explaining Short-Term Jobs in Your Cover Letter and Resume
With the economy still recovering from a tough year, many people may have been laid off once or even twice within a relatively short period of time. While this was once viewed as taboo, employers have become more sensitive to this type of circumstance.
But even if employers are understanding, it’s a good idea to acknowledge multiple short-term jobs carefully. So to help you better explain your circumstances in both your cover letter and resume, here are a few tips to consider:
What Counts in a Cover Letter
Writing a cover letter is a commonplace aspect of conducting any job search. When you apply for a job, even if the prospective employer does not ask you for one, it’s good to send one as a way to give them a little more insight into who you are and what you’re capable of.
But despite the fact that people write them everyday, many still are unclear about the more important aspects to keep in mind. So to help you out, let’s look more specifically at what counts in a cover letter.
Writing a Cover Letter: Research Tips Worth Exploring
The process of applying for a job can be taxing to say the least. But the process of writing a cover letter can be downright exhausting – especially when you’re unsure of how to express your interest in that job you’re applying for.
The good news is that expressing your interest can be as simple as taking the initiative to do some deep digging. That is, digging for information on how the position fulfills the company’s goals, what they are looking for in an employee, and what you’re looking for in a job. Of course, getting this done requires research. So to help you get started, here are a few ideas …
Tweak Your Cover Letter to Every Job
Is Your Cover Letter Fast Food or Five Star?
If you’ve been job hunting for some time now, you probably have come to the realization that it’s a jungle out there. It’s a jungle with lots of job seekers vying for the exact positions that you are seeking. You have the experience, education and achievements that warrant an interview… but you’re not getting any. What’s going on?
Much to your chagrin, and no matter how much you protest, the culprit could be you – not the employer. Well, not you personally but how you’ve represented yourself. Did you throw your cover letter together thoughtlessly, change the company and title and call it a day? I was afraid of that. Each customer has its own requirements. Think of your resume package as a four-course meal.
Five Tips to a Successful Interview Follow Up Letter
The interview follow-up letter is the last of the essential tools in your job-hunting bag. This is for more than one reason. The two obvious ones are the thank you and follow-up, and the other important reason is to fill in any holes that you suspect that you left open during the interview.
Writing Your Cover Letter – You Really Can Do It
The dreaded cover letter. This is where you, the job candidate, have to convey all this important information as to why you’re the perfect person for the job. It shouldn’t be that difficult, right? For multiple reasons, however, it makes some job seekers procrastinate applying for jobs. Do you ever find yourself making the following excuses?
The Power of a Good Cover Letter
When your resume and cover letter first reach the prospective employer, the employer will start to form an opinion about you.
If Your Resume is the Cake, Your Cover Letter is the Icing
The following cover letter sample gives an idea of what most job hunters should do when composing these. It consists of only a very few paragraphs, and is therefore short and easy to read.
What is so Important About Cover letters?
In a word – EVERYTHING!
It’s taking the best of your qualifications and characteristics and making them exciting and enticing to the prospective employer. It’s a carefully crafted letter that leads the employer to the resume to see why you are the best candidate for the job.
The Cover Letter Checklist
When you have completed the first draft of your cover letter, compare it to the list below. Some of the items on the checklist refer to content and other items refer to format. You may have even read some of these before. As you review this checklist, compare it to your letter and determine if there are any additional changes that need to be made before sending it ? and your resume ? to the employer.
How to Write a Winning Cover Letter
A cover letter introduces your resume and spells out your reason for sending the resume. It also presents your qualifications and availability to prospective employers. If written in a succinct, appealing format, it is your first opportunity to make an impression with the hiring authority or HR department.
Winning Cover Letters
Your cover letter presents your intentions, qualifications, and availability to a prospective employer in a succinct, appealing format. It’s your first chance to make a great impression, a personalized letter indicates you are serious about your job search. Your resume can give the nitty-gritty of dates, places of employment, and education but your cover letter must entice the reader to take the extra few minutes to consider you when faced with hundreds and thousands of candidates for any one job opening.
This blog's author, Debra Wheatman of Careers Done Write, provides executive career services including resume and cover letter preparation, job search / interviewing strategies and professional branding including how to effectively use LinkedIn, Twitter and other social media in your career.
Visit CareersDoneWrite.com to learn more about how we can put your career in gear with interview catching resumes and professionally written career documents.