Tag: cover letter tips

THE GRAVY, ISSUE 5

Cover letters scare lots of job seekers. 

“How do I write a good cover letter?” 

“How long should it be?” 

“What about the heading and address and all that stuff? What do I do about all that?” 

“Should I write a general cover letter, or a specific one for each job?”

Let’s talk about cover letter writing. And guess what! Cover letters (in my opinion) are actually pretty easy. Especially compared to resumes.

FIRST THING’S FIRST…

Cover letters are easy because they’re short. Really short. The whole thing, including the heading, the addressing, and content, should be 1 page. That means your actual content should be around half a page–4 paragraphs, 14-17 sentences.

You can do that.

If your cover letter is longer than 1 page, it’s probably too long. Kinda like resumes, nobody likes reading cover letters. Hirers read them mostly out of necessity, so don’t give them a whole essay. It’s overwhelming. Give them the highlights in 1 page, single spaced, and standard font size/type.

YOUR HEADING AND ADDRESSING

Your cover letter heading should be the same as your resume heading:

Name nice and big, with your contact information and maybe your LinkedIn profile (if you have one and it’s ready to go) below it. The consistency will help you stick in the minds of your readers.

Then comes the addressing. Personally, I think this part is just a relic of a time when people would actually mail in application materials. It’s not the most important thing in your cover letter, but it’s nice to include it correctly since it’s still convention. Here’s what you should include:

• Date
• Hiring Manager’s Name
• Hiring Manager’s Title
• Company Name
• Company Address Line 1
• Company Address Line 2

Followed by: “Dear [Hiring Manager’s Name],”

Here’s the thing. It’s often kinda hard to find the name and title of the hiring manager because it’s not always listed anywhere. If you can’t find it, just leave it out of the address part and instead start your letter with “Dear Hiring Committee/Manager.”

Pretty easy, right? Stick with me!

LETTER CONTENT: INTRO

This is the part where people’s struggles begin, but there’s a strategy and organization to writing a good letter. Again, I recommend 4 paragraphs, starting with an intro.

Your introduction paragraph should be just that: An introduction. Introduce yourself, how you found out about the job posting, what you’re excited about, and what the reader will discover about you as they continue to review your candidacy.

You want to do this in a way that is unique to you. For example, you’re not just a talent acquisition professional, maybe you’re a bilingual talent acquisition professional with a passion for building reliable relationships that produce mutually beneficial outcomes. The opportunity to hone in on the details of the company’s acquisition process excites you, and you’re confident that you can leverage those details to attract and hire top tier talent.

Think of it like this: Imagine that the candidate pool is 100 people. You want to write an intro that maybe 15 other candidates could write. That’s how you stand out from the crowd. 3-4 sentences.

LETTER CONTENT: PARAGRAPH 1

Next Issue on March 16th: The 5 Major Screening Factors

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