Sell yourself with results

Writing better cover letters

Here are some tricks from the professional writing business, which will help get you short-listed for a position.

Write a fresh cover letter for each job

 Sure, it’s faster and easier to take the cover letter you wrote for your last application, change the name of the company and send it off. But it will fail.

While it’s OK to recycle a few strong sentences and phrases from one cover letter to the next, NEVER send out a generic letter.

Cover letters are tailored to specific applications.

What is it about that particular job which grabs you? Tell them that.

What special or unique skills do you bring to the position? Tell them that.

A common pitfall is to use the cover letter to regurgitate what’s on the resume.

Use the cover letter to sell yourself for that particular job.

In a cover letter, paint a fuller picture of your experiences and accomplishments, and show why you’d be perfect for the job.

For example: “By analysing past client surveys, NPS scores, and KPIs, I bought a data-driven approach to the task of re-engaging former clients.”

What approach did you take to tackling one of the responsibilities you’ve mentioned on your resume?

What details would you include if you were telling someone a (very short!) story about how you accomplished that bullet point?

What have been some of your best achievements and results? Be specific.

What about your personality, passion, or work ethic which made you especially good at getting the job done?

These questions lie at the heart of writing strong cover letters.

For more information, the link below from Seek on cover letters is good.

https://www.seek.com.au/career-advice/article/how-to-write-a-great-cover-letter

Put your best foot forward

Malcolm builds expert resumes, cover letters and LinkedIn profiles, which unleash an unbeatable business case to promote you as a ‘must have’ asset to an employer.