A Winning Cover Letter: The worst mistake ever.

Chances are you went through several drafts of your CV before you submitted it to a prospective employer. You wrote and rewrote each line several times and had friends, family, even strangers proofread it or you even had a professional firm do it for you. But if you send it off without enclosing a cover letter, your hard work may never be seen. I recently had to read an email application for someone who had one line as a
cover letter. It really left me wondering about the seriousness of such a candidate.

Most HR managers, directors, recruiters or other decision makers prefer a good cover letter attached to a CV. Think of it as the first chance to stand out in a sea of applicants. Your cover letter, if done well, tells the hiring manager you are qualified for the job and a serious candidate. Perhaps more important is the opportunity to show your personality.

For this reason, many hiring managers discard any CV’s that don’t have cover letters. Omitting a cover letter tells the employer that you can’t make the effort to sell yourself and to save him or her some time. Writing a cover letter is an easy way to keep you in the game. 

Here are some things to remember as you write your cover letter:

1.   It’s your cover letter, not your memoir: A lady once sent me quite a long cover letter and asked me to critique it and of course get back to her on what could be wrong. I had to actually take a minimum of 20 minutes off to read through it because it came to 2 pages of story after story which of course was irrelevant. Keep the cover letter to a few organized paragraphs that fit on one page. You want to give the reader a glimpse into your personality and your ability as an employee, but no one needs to know every little detail about your life. 

2.   Be yourself: Being yourself doesn’t mean being your Saturday-night self. It means putting a little personality into your writing. Recruiters aren’t looking for jokes, but they do want to know a real person is applying for the job. Don’t copy someone else cover letter and send it as you. The point would be it is not you.

3.   Let the CV speak for itself: Hiring managers read the cover letter before they (hopefully) flip the page to look at the CV. They might decide they don’t want to read the CV if your cover letter sounds like it’s restating the exact same information without offering anything new. Discuss a specific achievement or experience that shows your qualifications for the job. The cover letter and CV combined give you their attention for only two pages, so don’t waste it repeating yourself.

4.   Know your audience: If your boss greeted you each morning by saying, “Hello, employee,” you’d be irked she didn’t know your name. Cover letters beginning “Dear Sir or Madam” and “To Whom It May Concern” leave similar impressions. If the job posting does not specify who will receive the applications, you are exempted and you are allowed to address it as such. If you do know the name of the person, use a formal title such as Mr., Ms. or Mrs. It adds a personal but professional touch that will be appreciated.

5.   Why you want this job: Sure, a paycheck would be nice, but hopefully you want this job for another reason. The company’s history, accomplishments and culture probably played a role in your decision to apply. Let the hiring manager know. It tells him or her that you’ve done your homework and are serious about being a member of the team.

6.   Your manners: Even though job hunts are increasingly taking place online, you still need to adhere to business etiquette. As you would on any professional correspondence, include your full contact information as well as the hiring manager’s name and company address. And of course, avoid any typos and grammatical errors, which include net speak (k? thx).

7.   Take your time: You already know how important a cover letter is, so don’t rush through it. Treat it with the same care you used for your CV. Check your facts. Write several drafts, revise it and look it over again. Let your first impression be a good one.

We hope this helps.

The writer is Juliah Karimi of Staff Kenya.