Writing a Cover Letter
When you are looking for a job, there are some documents that you need to prepare, one of them is a cover letter. Writing a good cover letter is very significant for jobseekers because it will show their values, give a good impression and help them getting attention and more chances of being interviewed. Therefore, it requires possessing an excellent writing skill, especially for cover letters. In this lesson, you will learn all about cover letters and how to write a good one.
Before you write a cover letter, let’s check your understanding of the cover letter by answering these questions, "What is a cover letter? What is the function of a cover letter? What makes a good cover letter?". As you know, we use cover letters to apply for a job. It's used to describe information not appearing in your CV or resume and highlight your skills and experiences that you think are related and applicable to the position and company you are applying for. Although it is supposed to cover many things, you have to keep it brief and clear.
Deciding on the right type of cover letter is also important for you. There are several types of cover letters that you can use to apply for your dream job. First, there is an application letter also known as a traditional cover letter. It's written to apply to specific jobs that you find from advertisements or company websites. Here is an example of the application letter. As you can see in the first paragraph, it mentioned where the jobseeker saw the job vacancy.
Next, there is a referral cover letter. It’s used if you are referenced by someone related to or from the company that you want to apply to. Several companies sometimes ask their employees or people they trust to help them find great candidates to fill up the open positions for their companies instead of making the advertisement for it. Here is an example of a referral cover letter.
The last one is a letter of interest, also known as a letter of inquiry. When you are interested in working at certain companies that might be hiring but you don’t know what specific vacancies they have, you could write this letter to promote yourself to the employer as to why you could be a good asset for those companies. It might be used for arranging an informational interview so that you could learn more about the companies and their work culture. This is an example of an inquiry letter.
After you learn about the function and the types of cover letters, now you are going to learn about the general format of cover letters. You can use this format for the three types of cover letters before. Since a cover letter is one of the formal letters and used for business purposes, you have to use formal language and do not use slang words in it. Here is the format of a simple cover letter.
First, your address. It’s important to write your address in your cover letter especially when you are going to mail it by post. You need to write the street, city, state, and postcode of your area.
Second is The Date. Don’t forget to write the date of your cover letter. You can use the UK or USA format for your cover letter. However, be careful with the placement of the date if you use the UK format. It usually appears after the employer’s name and address.
The third is Employer’s Name and Address Write the complete name of the employer’s name with his title, the company’s name, and address.
The next one is Salutation/ Greeting. Before you write your cover letter, please find the information of the employer’s name or to whom you are writing your letter. For example, “Dear Mr. Bass,” or “Dear Ms. Calder,” It always uses the last name, you don’t need to write their first name. However, if you don’t know or can’t find the name of the proper person, you can address the letter to “Dear Human Resource Department, Dear Director, or Dear Manager,”.
The next one is First Paragraph (Introduction). In this part, you have to mention the position that you are applying to, where and how did you find the vacancy. You may also want to write why you are interested in it and why you are qualified. To make it concise, write two to four sentences that can briefly introduce who you are to the employer. Here are some examples of the introduction of cover letters.
Next one, we have The Body Paragraph or The Second Paragraph In the body of your cover letter, you have to write some highlight skills that match with the qualifications in the advertisement and relevant experiences to the position you are applying for. For example, you could tell the employer about what related courses you have taken, your recent or prior employment, achievement, and lesson learned you have got from jobs or internships you did. If you have a long list of relevant experiences or skills, please select three of them that you think are highly related to the qualification. And don’t forget to review your CV or resume before you write this paragraph, make sure that you describe the points that you write before.
Now we have The Closing Paragraph or The Closing Paragraph. In this paragraph, you have to reiterate your interest in the closing sentence, end by stating that you look forward to furthering discussion by writing your contacts such as phone number or e-mail, and thank the employers for their time considering your application.
The last one is Complimentary Close, Signature, and Name. The last part of your cover letter is you need to write the formal complimentary close, for example, “Sincerely,” and “Sincerely yours,” and followed by your signature and your full name. Both of the forms are commonly used in American English, yet there are some other examples for complimentary close such as “Yours sincerely,”, “Yours faithfully,”, “Most sincerely,”, “Cordially,” and “Cordially yours,”. If you are familiar with “Regards, or Best regards,”, they are used for less formal letters. For that reason, it is better not to use those in your cover letter.
A cover letter is part of the screening step by the employer to help them give an impression of your writing ability. There are no absolute phrases and expressions that you have to use in your cover letter. You can do as creative as you can as long as it still sounds formal and polite. However, if you are new or still learn to write a cover letter, the format that you just have learned will be very useful for you. And if you take a look closely at the examples, there are some phrases, expressions, or sentences that are usually used to begin writing or organize a cover letter. For example, in the introduction paragraph, you could use these openings “I am writing this to apply for…., I am writing to express my interest in…., I am writing to inquire about…., I am applying for…, I am interested in….”.
Next, it is the opening for the second paragraph of the body of your cover letter. Here are the examples, “In my previous job, In my current job, During the last years/ months, During my internship program, My combination of your education and experience, Through a number years in the working field”
These are the examples of the phrases that you could apply for your closing paragraph such as, “For further information about, I enclosed my resume, I would appreciate the opportunity, and Should you need additional information”.
Before we end the lesson, here are some tips or general rules when you write or organize a cover letter. First, select the right type for your cover letter. Next, keep it short (not more than 1 page). Then, try to address your letter to a specific person. After that, give examples to describe your experience and value. Next, use formal language, check your spelling and grammar. Finally, proofread before you send it.
This is the end of this lesson. For the next module, you will learn how to write a proper email (sending the resume and cover letter through email), the follow-up email, and the responses after you received the interview invitation from the employer. However, you have to do the quizzes before you continue to the next module. Thank you for taking this lesson and see you.
