Being able to create effective cover letters is a necessary skill for improved success in your jobs search. The reason it is so important is a good cover letter can entice employers to give your CV/ resume the attention it deserves, it will create the employers initial opinion of you. Some people think you should send out the same generic cover letter for every position, this is a big mistake!! You need to tailor your cover letter so that it is specific to the employer as this will entice them to read your CV. We are going to 8 cover tips that will help you to create effective cover letters that are employer specific ad reader friendly.

Create effective cover letters tip 1: Address the cover letter to a specific person (Hiring Manager)

You need to make sure that your letter gets seen by the correct person, if possible you should bypass Human resources altogether as they only act as a middle man and can slow down the process. What you need to do is find out who the hiring manager is and address the letter to them. You don’t want anyone else to be in the position where they decide whether your letter does or doesn’t get seen by the correct person.

Create effective cover letters tip 2: Explain why you are writing to them.

This is a part that so many candidates miss it’s unbelievable! I have had so many cover letters come through that immediately sweep into their salary expectations etc. but haven’t even mentioned why they are contacting me! So opening your letter with an explanation of why you are contacting the hiring manager sets the right tone.

Create effective cover letters tip 3: Get directly to the point.

After explaining why you are writing to them it’s important that you then get right to the point and plan why they should be reading your CV (demonstrate your suitability for the role).

Create effective cover letters tip 4: Focus your statements on how you will help fill the employer’s need

You need to demonstrate your experience in such a that the employer will immediately want to read your CV for more information. The best way to do this is to think what problem the employer is trying to fix by hiring someone new eg. Increase the department sales. What you then need to do is demonstrate how your skills and experience can provide a solution for that problem.

Create effective cover letters tip 5: Use bullet points to highlight specific accomplishments

Although your cover letter will have some crucial facts about your experience and skills you do want to make is short and easy to read, bullet points will make your cover letters very reader friendly.

Create effective cover letters tip 6: Avoid stating your salary requirements

If possible avoid stating your salary requirement or current salary etc. There are two reasons for this, first you don’t want to be discounted from a position due to your salary requirements and second you don’t want them putting you into a certain salary bracket, you need to be discussing salary once you have demonstrated how you can bring value to the organisation.

Create effective cover letters tip 7: Tell the employer exactly how and when they can contact you for an interview

This is more for your benefit as supposed to the employers, if it’s quickest to reach you by phone the employer will hopefully do so and you can get in for the Interview and impress them far quicker than if they were to send you an email (because you hadn’t made clear the best way to contact you) which you only check once a week!

Create effective cover letters tip 8: Always proof read two or three times before sending.

This is a very basic one which most people now do but I’m still surprised by the amount of letters I get with spelling and grammatical errors. It is also always worthwhile getting someone else to check your letter as well to see how it reads.

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