How to Do a Cover Letter
There are so many people these days that are wondering how to do a cover letter because they have truly not even been in the workforce for many years and have no clue where to begin with writing great cover letters. Here you will learn a few things that will help you write a cover letter for resume that will leave the employer wanting to give you a call back fast!
First and foremost, before you begin writing your cover letter you will want to know what type of cover letter you will be writing. Generally there are three types of cover letters that you will be writing on, which are:
An Application letter which basically just responds to a job opening that you may have found somewhere. You will still want to let them know all of your credentials just as all great cover letters do.
- A prospecting letter inquires about possible positions within a company.
- A networking letter basically just requests information and assistance in your job search within that company.
When you are learning how to do a cover letter, you definitely want to make sure that each cover letter is intended specifically for the purpose that is outlined above. You will definitely not want to design one cover letter that you will send out all across the board to potential jobs and businesses. The reason that you do not want to do this is simply because if you do not design a powerful cover letter that stands out and that is parallel to that company, they will easily get bored with it and it will get dismissed and possibly thrown in the shredder.
How to do a Cover Letter that Works
In order to write great cover letters that will get the eyes and the time that you want, you will need to explain to the reader why you are interested in that company and particularly in that position. They should express a high level of interest and knowledge about the position and should explain why you would be a great asset to the company. Here are few things to put into a cover letter for resume.
- Your first paragraph should explain why you are writing to the company by sharing why you are interested in that particular company.
- The second paragraph should tell the possible employer what you offer to that company and why you are a better pick over other candidates.
- Your last paragraph should explain to them how you will follow up with them in regards to that position and how they can get in touch with you.
Once you have the “meat and potatoes” of the cover letter, you will want to make sure that you keep your paragraphs to a minimum. Like mentioned above, you will want to use three paragraphs and possibly four if you have an extensive job experience that you may feel that you need to share. You want to make sure that you think about what you really want to say because in actuality you truly have about 20 seconds to either impress or “turn off” the potential employer when reading your cover letter.
Remember to always keep it professional and think about the words that you use because there are some employers that will scrutinize your cover letter. The whole point of writing a great cover letter is the fact that you need to grab the attention of the person so that they can immediately go from your cover letter and right into your resume.
If you are looking for an example of a cover letter for a resume, you will want to check out some of the resources that we have here on the site that give you some assistance with writing better resumes and some that can even do all of the work for you.
Filed under Learning Center by on Nov 23rd, 2011.
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