Your cover letter is your opportunity to make a great, first impression on your potential employer. As such, you’ll want to put great effort into getting it right. However, you also want to make sure it is short and to the point. Here are a few tips for creating a perfect cover letter.

Decide on Your Purpose

While your purpose lies in obtaining the job that’s offered, there are several different types of cover letters you can write to achieve your goal. Knowing which type of cover letter you want to write will help you get things right. Some of these different types of cover letters include:

  1. The traditional cover letter is a great way of replying to a job you’ve seen advertised.
  2. Create a network for people you’d like to meet and get to know.
  3. Cover letters targeted at recruiters will help get your foot in the door of a recruiting agency so they can handle your job search for you.
  4. Direct mail is great when you want to send your resume out to several different companies in hopes one of them will have a job opening and show some interest in filling their job with you.

It’s a good idea to take some time to consider each of these and when to use them. You’ll probably find it’s a good idea to write all these various types of cover letters so you have them on hand when you want to use them.

Reflect the Company’s Culture

When you want your cover letter to stand out, don’t simply use the ad’s words. Instead, find a way you can make your cover letter stand out. For instance, if you’re applying for a job in data analysis (a statistically based company), make sure you quantify your cover letter so it’s appealing for those who are really interested in data. On the other hand, when applying for a job with a young, creative company make sure you use a more casually written cover letter.

Focus on the Company’s Needs

Lynne Sariksas, director of the MBA Career Center at the D’Amore McKim School of Business says it’s vital you’re really specific when addressing a company’s needs as “outlined in the job description and show them how you can address their specific needs.” While your main goal is to get a job, you must present yourself as a solution for their needs. According to Donna Shannon, author of How to Get a Job Without Going Crazy, you should “provide specific examples of how you can help the company.” For instance, when you’re trying to get a job as a salesperson you should discuss how you’ll help the company increase its revenue. On the other hand, when you want a job as an executive assistant, talk about the problems you can tackle for them each day. Essentially, your goal here is to tell the company what you can do for them on a daily basis.

Keep Your Ego in Check

Although it’s tempting to brag about what you think you can do for a company, don’t. Instead, make sure you use the word “I” sparingly. When writing your cover letter it’s your opportunity to talk about their needs and how you’d meet them. As such, you don’t want to overdo it with the bragging. Instead of starting every sentence or paragraph with the word “I.” Take some time and put some thought into ways you can get your message across using other words and various sentence structures as well.

Conclusion

If you need help writing your cover letter, contact us. We’re happy to help! Otherwise, check out this blog post for more tips!