Posted by CV Nation on
When applying for jobs, you will usually be required to submit a cover letter. Recruiters use cover letters to assess your suitability for jobs and learn about your experiences, skills and achievements.
An effective cover letter can help you stand out from the crowd and make a positive impression on recruiters.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to prepare a cover letter for any job that does exactly that. We’ll also show you six great cover letter examples.
Cover letters, often referred to as motivation letters, are introductory letters that usually accompany your CV when applying for jobs.
Cover letter are usually one-page in length, expressing why you’re applying for the job and highlighting your skills, experiences and achievements.
When writing your cover letter, follow our six-step process to ensure you cover all the key points and sell yourself as effectively as possible.
Take a look at the cover letter examples in this guide to see how we have used this formula to create engaging, effective cover letters.
Here is our six-step cover letter writing process:
1. Introduction
2. Overview of Knowledge and Expertise
3. Unique Value Proposition (UVP)
4. Why You Want to Work for the Company
5. Key Skills
6. Polite Ending and Call to Action
Let’s take a look at these steps in detail:
Start your cover letter with a concise introduction that explains who you are and why you’re applying for the job.
Provide a brief overview of your knowledge, experience and expertise. Use this paragraph to draw attention to what you bring to the table.
Your Unique Value Proposition (UVP) is what makes you unique. Demonstrating your UVP can set you apart from other candidates and convince recruiters you’re the right person for the job.
Identify your UVP by thinking about what makes you unique, then convey this in your cover letter.
Convey why you want to work for the company. This is where you can use your research to show how you are aligned with the company’s values and culture.
Showcase a few of your key skills to show what you can bring to the table.
Bring your cover letter to a close by thanking the reader for their time and including a concise call to action. This will usually be for the recruiter to get in touch with you to discuss your application in more detail.
One of the keys to writing a great cover letter is research. By researching the company you’re applying to work for, you’ll be able to tailor your cover letter and show how you’re aligned with the company’s culture and values.
How do you conduct research into companies?
To conduct research into the company you’re applying to work for, examine the company’s website. You may want to take a look at their ‘About Us’ or ‘Careers’ pages. This will help you learn about their culture and what it’s like to work for them.
Additionally, you could view the company’s social media accounts and the job description to learn more about their culture and values.
If you’re submitting a cover letter in the body of an email, you will need to format it slightly different to cover letters that are attached to emails or submitted as a document.
Email cover letters do not need to include the address of the company you’re applying to work for. You also do not need to include your name at the top of the cover letter, as is demonstrated in some of the cover letter examples in this guide.
Here is an example of an email cover letter:
If you’ve got no experience in the profession that you’re pursuing a job in, focus on your transferable skills and experiences.
For example, if you’re applying for a customer service job but have no customer service experience, you could focus on your communication skills and your experiences working with customers.
Here is an example cover letter for someone with no experience:
Using appropriate line spacing between paragraphs ensures your cover letter is professional in appearance and easy to read.
Letters that don’t use line spacing often appear as one huge block of text. Most recruiters won’t even read these letters, so make sure to utilise your word processor’s line spacing feature.
To add spacing to your cover letter in Microsoft Word, highlight the text, click ‘Layout’, then add 8 pt. spacing in the ‘After’ section.
This will ensure your paragraphs are easily distinguished from each other. It will also optimise your recruiter’s reading experience, which can only be a positive thing!
Margins are the blank spaces at the edges of your cover letter. The size of your margins will depend on the amount of content in your cover letter.
If you have a lot of content to include, your margins should be narrower, which would give you more space. If you have a shorter cover letter, your margins should be wider.
Ideally, you should be aiming for margin sizes of between 1.7 cm (0.66”) and 2.5 cm (0.98”).
Select a common, easy to read font, such as Calibri, Times New Roman and Arial. Avoid using overly creative fonts. Such fonts will make your cover letter look unprofessional and difficult to read.
For most fonts, including Times New Roman, Calibri and Arial, you should choose a font size of between 10.5 pt. and 12 pt.
Unless you’ve been specifically asked to submit a longer cover letter, don’t exceed one page in length. Long cover letters make for a poorer reading experience and recruiters may not read your cover letter if it’s too long.
Ensure to proofread your cover letter to iron out any spelling and grammatical errors. Errors in your cover letter can make you look unprofessional and have a negative impact on your job applications.
When saving your cover letter, make sure to give it a simple, professional title. Examples of professional titles for your cover letter include ‘Cover Letter’ or ‘My Cover Letter’.
Avoid unprofessional titles such as ‘coverletter023432’. When recruiters see such titles on documents, they may instantly see you as unprofessional.
If you’re submitting your CV along with your cover letter, state that you’ve enclosed the CV. To do this, include the abbreviation ‘Enc.: CV’ at the bottom of your cover letter, as demonstrated in the cover letter samples in this guide.
