Cover Letter
How to Write a Cover Letter
Purpose
A cover letter is the first piece of information about yourself that your potential employer will read. The main function of a cover letter is to highlight the position you are applying and the skills you possess. The cover letter has to be tailored towards to specific jobs you are applying to. A cover letter provides an opportunity to introduce yourself, highlight the key points from your resume, and be considered for a job interview. Your cover letter should:
Formatting & Style
Remember, your cover letter may be one of tens or hundreds the employer may receive, so it’s important that you format it in a standard business style, so that it’s presented simply and concisely, and is easy to read. Meeting these standards should involve these features:
- 1 A4 page, typed using a simple 11 -12 point font (e.g. Calibri Times New Roman, Arial)
- Plenty of white space (wide margins)
- Spell-checked and grammar-checked
- Sentences are well-constructed and not ‘padded out’
- The tone is positive and straightforward
- Without slang, SMS abbreviations or casual terms
Content
The content should reflect your written communication skills, your level of interest in the position, your knowledge of the organisation, and the relevance of your skills to the selection criteria of the particular job in question. These key selling points should be consistent with the details contained within your resume, and communicated by a series of well-structured paragraphs. The content should also reflect your skills in synthesizing evidence drawn from different sources and constructing consistent and well-supported arguments.
The content should include:
- Your address and contact details, the recipient’s address
- Today’s date
- A formal greeting to the relevant contact person
- The purpose of the letter, including details of the position (position title, reference number)
- Evidence of your interest in the position and the field
- Evidence of your research into the organisation
The content should not include:
- A simple list of your skills without any supporting evidence of demonstrated skills
- Sentences or phrases plagiarised directly off the organisation’s website
Typical Structure of a Cover Letter
Date
APPLICATION FOR XXX POSITION
First Paragraph - The Fundamentals
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Paragraphs 2, 3, 4/5 Why do you want to work for this employer, and why should they want you? – A summary of your relevant study, skills and experience.
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Closing Paragraph - What do you want to happen next?
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