A few years ago, Cover Letters were a fancy addition to complement your resume and were aimed at just making an impression. Fast forward to 2020, recruiters pretty much expect you to include it with your resume and have it tailored to the vacancy that you have applied for. Did you know that vacancies where submitting a cover letter is not mentioned specifically, recruiters still prefer those who add one. In fact, an astounding 72% of them expect Cover Letters even if they are optional.
Now that we have established the importance of cover letters, let us delve into the thought process which makes them so necessary.
- Cover Letters introduce you as a candidate more than your resume. Most of the times, before the hiring manager opens up the resume attachment, they will go through the Cover Letter.
- This document has the potential to make you stand out from the rest of the candidates. Your college buddy who has the same credentials as you do will look more efficient if they write a cover letter and you don’t. Do you know why that is? It is because they’ve made the effort of going through the job requirements and explaining to the reader the exact reasons why they are a good fit.
- Resumes tell a story about you. In simple words, it is a summary of your professional and educational background. Cover Letter, on the other hand, tells the recruiter why they should hire you and what skills of yours will be useful to their organization. See the difference?
When writing a cover letter, it is important to remember what they stand for and how they can be used to propel you forward in the pool of candidates. Here are some of the most important things that your cover letter should ideally include:
- Tell the reader why you want to join their company. According to HR pros, this is the number one aspect of a cover letter that impresses them.
- Explaining your career objectives and how they fit with the job requirements & the organizational vision is very important. It helps recruiters see you in a new light and gives them solid reasons to pursue you as a potential candidate.
- If you have any employment gaps in your career, this letter is the perfect opportunity to explain them, without sounding apologetic about it.
- Make sure the document is one page long. Not more. You’re not writing a novel and the reader doesn’t have time to read one. Keeping the letter compelling. Being concise is the way to go about it.
- Proofread the letter and use simple language. Throwing in jargons can make it look like you’re trying too hard.
- Make sure the letter is readable. Divide it into paragraphs and use a basic font. It’s not a design competition and you don’t need to test out fancy fonts for the purpose of writing this document.
We hope this blogpost was able to give you an insight about cover letters and how they serve to make you look promising as a candidate. We will cover more about how to write them exactly, another time.
