Create a Better Covering Letter
Filed Under Applying For Jobs
When you send in your CV to a company or a recruitment agency, then you should include a covering letter, explaining that you have included your CV and that you hope they have a position for you to apply for or that they will keep your details on file if they do not etc.
The covering letter is the first thing that an employer or recruitment agency will see, so you need to make sure that it presents you in the best possible light. You need to ensure that yours is a little bit different from all the others that employers see, injecting a little of your personality into the letter, but don’t go over the top when it comes to being funny.
First of all make sure that your covering letter is polite. This may seem obvious, but often the letter is presented in terms of the applicant doing the employer a favour. If this is how your covering letter reads, then it may well end up, with your CV, being filed in the bin!
Always ensure that your letter has no spelling errors and that it reads well. If you are unsure about this, then ask a family member or a friend to read it for you and tell you whether or not it is well written. The letter should be quite warm in tone, but also relatively formal. You are not sending a text to a friend: you are enclosing your CV, which is an important document.
Make a brief reference to your CV in the letter and highlight some of the main skills, experience and work experience that you have. Be brief and do not simply copy chunks from your CV. The covering letter should be a way of summarising your experience and just drawing some positive attention to you, not giving chapter and verse of your history to date.
Finally, if you are posting a hard copy of your CV and covering letter, then remember that it may need extra postage, due to its size or weight, so take it into the Post Office and ensure it has the correct postage attached!
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