All About Cover Letters

How to Write a Cover Letter

The Elements of a Good Cover Letter A cover letter gives a first impression of you. It will give an employer or recruitment consultant hints about your communication and language skills. Plus, the style of the letter will be an insight into your personality and professionalism. It may also be an indicator of how serious you are about working for this organisation. Remember that employers and recruiters are reading through many resumes for a single position, so the cover letter is an opportunity to stand out before they look for more details. If you are emailing a CV make sure your cover letter is also saved as the first page of your attachment. This ensures it stays with your CV and provides a quick reference to who you are. What to Include in your Letter Keep your letter brief – absolutely no longer than 1 page. Make sure you choose positive language and use bullet points when listing things so that the important parts are easy to read. Spelling and grammar are so important. Ask a friend to help proofread your letter. There are four main areas to cover:

Outline who you are and which position you are applying for. This should include where you saw the position advertised or how you heard about it. Be sure to include any reference numbers to the job so it is easy to associate your application with the correct position.

You then need to sell yourself by mentioning your skills and experience. Think about how your current skills could transfer to this job.

An employer will want to know why you are interested in working for their company. You will need to tailor each cover letter to specific jobs so it pays to research about the company. Find out about the industry, the company style and its products. If you apply through a recruitment company, chances are you will not know who the organisation is until you are asked for an interview with them.

Generally Yours sincerely or Best regards are a professional way to sign off, followed by your signature, and your name typed underneath.

An Example of a Good Cover Letter

8 January 2006

Consultant Name
Recruitment Company Name
PO Box
Auckland

Dear ___

Re Entry Level Call Centre Role, NZ Herald 08/01/04, Ref: JC1234

I am a first year school leaver looking for an opportunity to gain full time employment. I have held two part time jobs while I was a student, one at the retail shop Whictoulls and the other a Countdown supermarket. I worked at Whitcoulls last year as a part time Customer Service Assistant, one night a week and every Saturday and Sunday, and at Countdown the year before that as a Checkout Operator two nights a week and weekends on shift work. The skills and experience I can bring to the advertised role include:

• Customer Service experience
• Familiarity with computer programmes
• Cash handling skills
• Stocktaking
• A can-do attitude and energised personality

Please find my CV attached with my referees at the back. I look forward to your response and am most easily contacted on my mobile number 021 123 456.

Yours sincerely
Jane Smith