Writing a cover letter that your prospective employer is as happy with as you are seems like the unicorn of job seeking; it cannot be possible. Ay, but possible it is. You just have to think a little more like a journalist.
Why a journalist? Well, they’re trained to write as clearly as their bitter brains will allow, presenting the facts while leaving out the fluff. Your potential employer is just like an editor—allergic to fluff. I know, because I’m both. I was taught about author George Orwell’s rules for writing back in university, which (journalism grads aside) not enough people are, TBH.
Want my honest-to-Goddess advice on what your cover letter needs (and really, really doesn’t need) before you apply for that role you’re eyeing? Maybe you do, maybe you don’t, but I’m going to give it to straight you anyway. It’s for your own good. Love you.
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OK, let’s get this out of the way. We all know “weird” is relative, but when it comes to applying for a job, it looks a little like this: Writing a cover letter using only magazine clippings, sending a cover letter by courier with some complementary baked goods, and trying to impress your potential employer by researching their personal interests and relaying them back. For example, “I’m a Pisces, so I know we’d get along great!”
Are you confident and hardworking? Congratulations, you and everybody else. In essence, “show don’t tell” means you never have to praise yourself with a bunch of useless adjectives in your cover letter, because what you’ve done speaks for itself.
So if you managed a team of three IT analysts at your last job or grew a vlog-style Instagram account to 30K from scratch, the message is, yes, you’re confident and hardworking. In fact you’re so confident, you don’t even need to state the obvious. And it’s that kind of self-belief that’ll make you stand out.
Top 21 Cover Letter Tips [to Land The Job!]
Do you have a passion for fashion? No, you don’t! Take your “passion for fashion, ” burn it, then stomp on the ashes. Because tired old clichés are the devil and using them will cause one of two things to occur. 1) Your potential employer will skim over your cover letter even faster than they would otherwise, meaning it becomes totally unmemorable, or 2) They’ll omit an almost-audible eyeroll.
The latter is especially likely if you’re applying for a communications role. So if you’re tempted to describe your approach as “out of the box” or address the reader as “whom it may concern, ” stop. Take a sec. How else could you get this point across?
Cover letters have a way of bringing out an awkward, hyper-formal tone in many of us. Like aliens attempting to emulate a person looking for job, our sentences get all twisty. We say things like “In my last position, I spent four years working with the full suite of Adobe products, ” instead of saying “I’m proficient in Adobe Creative Suite.” Don’t do that.
How To Write A Cover Letter
Use the present tense throughout. It creates a “doing” structure to your cover letter that, like a news report, sounds dynamic and worth paying attention to right now. You didn’t used to crush your roles and responsibilities, you crush them, full stop.
Serious question: Why would you use a long word when you could use a short one? A cover letter full of complicated words and sentences is only going to make your application appear more dense, and therefore more skim-able. Your potential employer only has so much time to devote to poring through every applicant’s cover letter, so don’t let complicated big words work against you.
Stay clear, sharp, and results-focused. This means eliminating any words that don’t need to be there. They’re what we (me) in the biz call a “waste of space.” Chop ’em!
How To Write A Cover Letter That Hits Just The Right Tone
This one’s very closely related to the above. If a word, sentence, or even paragraph isn’t providing new information and keeping the reader slash future boss interested, get rid of it. Every word in a traditional piece of journalism has its place. If it doesn’t further the story, it’s goodnight sweet Prince to those chunks of copy.
Better to throw some of your fussed-over words in the bin than have someone else put the whole thing in their bin, right? Be brutal with your editing. Ask a friend for help. Cut out anything that doesn’t need to be there.
A sparkling clean and engaging cover letter is your ticket to jobbie city. Thinking like a journalist is a little like thinking like a sculptor (if that analogy works better for you): Trim away at your words until only the best and most beautiful remain.Writing a cover letter in which you’re able to flout your awesome skill set, showcase your winning personality, and somehow not sound like a robot cheeseball narcissist can be a real challenge. But your cover letter is one of first tools that will take you from where you are presently (a.k.a. the Island of Unemployment/Current Career Discontent) to the greener pastures of your dream job. Make sure the boat that’s going to carry you that distance is sleek, quick and leak-proof by enacting the following:
I Read #girlboss And I Hated It
Obvious, right? You would think so. But cover letters that blunder badly right out of the gate are more common than you might think. Make sure the most basic elements of your letter—addressee, proper formatting, design, job title as it appears in the listing—is pristine. It’s essential to convey an attention to detail and seriousness about the prospective job. Super basic errors suggest you didn’t take the time to review your work before sending it off and that you couldn’t be bothered to research simple information correctly. Not a great way to begin the conversation. Print it out and read it, even if you’re submitting it electronically. Make changes, print it out again, and then read it again. Ask a friend or family member to take a look at it. Then make changes, print it out again and read it again (yes, again!) before you send it off. Your cover letter needs to be immaculate.
Are you having flashbacks to your high-school English class? Good. This is one of the oldest principles of compelling writing, and a cover letter is no exception. The person reading your cover letter has probably seen some variation of the following sentence approximately one million times: “I’m an incredibly hard worker, extremely organized, and I think I’d be a great fit for this company!” Instead of resorting to something so generic and predictable that it holds almost no meaning, describe an occasion from a previous job or position that clearly illustrates the attributes you want to highlight. On the flip side of that coin: be sure to keep it efficient and as brief as possible!
Most job listings hand you a literal map via the job description and required skills. Don’t make this process any harder than it needs to be! Absorb the language used in the job listing and put it back out there when you’re writing your letter. A demonstrated understanding of what, specifically, the job entails and why your skill set and background are a good match goes a long way.
Girlboss On Linkedin: How To Write A Cover Letter That Hits Just The Right Tone
So you’ve adhered to all of the above; now, you’ve got to separate yourself from the bunch. Demonstrate that this is a company with which you are well versed. Read interviews given by the CEO. Familiarize yourself with when, where and why the company was founded. Mention recent developments or bits of news that you find to be particularly exciting—prestigious awards, an impressive recent earnings report, advances in technology, major press—to show them you are passionate about the trajectory of the company. In other words, flattery goes a long way (but don’t overdo it; no one likes a kiss-ass).The task of writing a cover letter for a prospective job is one of those things that generally falls under the “ugh no no no can someone just do it for me” category, right alongside going to the dentist, picking up “one or two things” at IKEA on a Sunday, drinking a respectable amount of water before going to bed after a long night on the town, and getting a pap smear – all necessary for the wellbeing of your future, but not a whole lot of fun when you’re gearing up to get it over with.
But here’s the thing: As someone who has worked in an industry where cover letters, pitches, and letters of inquiry are a big part of the system, I’d venture to say we’ve all made this process a lot harder than it needs to be, and together, we can take this whole thing out of the “To Whom it May Concern” dark ages. Because while the prospective employer and prospective employee may be sitting on opposite sides of the table, both parties have at least one thing in common: we’re all busy!
Generic cover letters are a waste of everyone’s time, and while the assumption that your resume will speak for itself might tempt you into sending in a bland-ass cover letter, it
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