Nowadays, in an unsecured job market, searching for a job is a job itself! Learning how to write an effective CV and an outstanding cover letter can make the difference.
As a matter of fact, a well structured and appealing cover letter can highly increase your chances to get an interview and for recruiters to notice you. This is the reason why it is crucial to focus on your cover letter since it is the best chance to distinguish yourself from everyone else and get noticed.
But how can you write a remarkable cover letter?
Here are five tips that the Womenpreneur Initiative advises you to follow!
Our must: 5 tips you need to write a remarkable cover letter!
- Do Research
Before you start writing your cover letter, you need to know enough about the “hiring company”. To do so, you can search the company’s website to understand its core values and mission. After that, you can also get in touch with some of the company’s employees through an e-mail or their Linkedin profiles. In this way, you will have the possibility to ask directly for advice or further information.
Remember to always be formal and polite, for example, by thanking them for the time they dedicated to you. They may be your next colleagues, you never know!
- Use a catchy sentence to open
The main goal while writing your cover letter is to impress the recruiter, proving him/her that you are the right fit for the job. For this reason, do not repeat the information in your resumé/CV but add something new and catchy. Do not start by presenting yourself again, all your personal information is already in your CV, opt for a catchy opening instead. An example could be: “I am a passionate civil engineer with … years of experience, specialized in... and I would love to bring my expertise and enthusiasm to your dynamic team.” After that, you can present your relevant experiences related to the job offer.
Identify the person you are speaking to! Thanks to professional networks, such as Linkedin, you can easily know the name of the hiring manager. For this reason, write your cover letter directed to him/her. This could enhance your chances to be noticed.
- Use the keywords mentioned in the job offer
For each job offer, recruiters include some keywords, such as the exact name of the position and the required skills, abilities and experiences necessary to be shortlisted or selected. Including these same words in your cover letter will increase your chances to get an interview and/or the job. In fact, the keywords you include in your cover letter are used to match your application with the skills required by the hiring manager. For this reason, you should always try to find the best words to match your qualifications to those mentioned in the job offer.
- Keep it short
A remarkable cover letter should be brief. This would allow the hiring manager to read it at a glance. Human resources managers have to check hundreds of job applications per position. That is why your cover letter should be catchy, brief and professional, in order to stand out and get noticed among other candidates.
- Don’t forget to check grammar and spelling mistakes!
Always double-check your cover letter and ask for proof-reading to make sure that there are no errors. There are different apps that check grammar mistakes that you might want to use, such as Grammarly. Besides this, do not forget to be coherent and consistent with what you write. Use paragraphs, connectors, avoid repetitions and colloquial expressions.
Keep in touch with the Womenpreneur Initiative!
Subscribe to our newsletter to make sure you don’t miss our updates and visit our website and social media to discover more about our tips and programs to boost your skills and enter the job market!
Share this article on your favorite social networks.