How To Write A Cover Letter
We often encourage you to attach a cover letter to your job application. But is this necessary in all cases? And what should those who do not have a high opinion of their literary abilities do in order to write a convincing and succinct text? We figure out when you can add a few words about yourself, and when – better not and Buy Essay usa .
When a cover letter is highly desirable
Carier start
You are not yet known as a professional, and you still have little to offer the employer. In such a situation, a letter can increase your chances of finding a job. Even if the resume does not yet contain great achievements or the names of well-known companies. In a cover letter you can indicate an interest in a specific professional field, briefly talk about educational achievements that characterize you in a positive way.
Change of profession
A cover letter will be helpful if you decide to change your line of business. This situation is similar to the beginning of a career, but with the difference that you are not quite a “blank slate”, your experience in your previous profession may be useful in a new way as well. The main thing is to present it correctly. A resume will tell you about a previous career, and in a letter you can just explain the meaning of this experience for a new field of activity. For example, attentiveness and accuracy when working with documents, the ability to quickly switch between several tasks, strong communication skills are appreciated regardless of the professional field.
Higher position
If you are submitting a resume to a higher position than you currently occupy. The accompanying text will be very important. It is worth talking about how you could expand your area of responsibility. What managerial experience you already have and what tasks in your previous job can be assessed in terms of your potential as a leader. The purpose of the cover letter here is to convince the prospective employer that you have all the necessary qualities to move to the next level.
Incomplete compliance with the requirements of the vacancy
You really like the vacancy, you feel that the functionality is within your reach, but formally you do not meet all the requirements listed in the vacancy. Let us emphasize: this is not about the case when you have absolutely no relevant experience (employers immediately reject such responses). And about a situation when you only partially do not correspond to the portrait of an ideal candidate described in the vacancy. Then there is a chance, because sometimes employers have overstated requirements. After a month or two of unsuccessful searches, the employer realizes that there are no candidates with such a set of experience and skills, and lowers the bar of expectations.
Briefly list in your cover letter what experience you are ideally suited for this job, what skills you lack, and why you think it is recoverable (for example, this is a skill that you are ready to learn in a couple of months).
Creative professions
For creative seekers, a free story about yourself and your portfolio is even more important than a resume. “The letter allows you to go beyond the accepted format of writing a resume, to demonstrate your own style and creativity,” explains Polina Brezhneva, an expert of the Ready Resume service .
If the vacancy involves working with texts (journalist, PR manager, copywriter), a cover letter is a good opportunity to show your skills.
Sometimes employers directly indicate that they are waiting for information about the candidate in free form. For example, Artemy Lebedevsaid that, for vacancies in his studio, he does not even consider responses in the form of a standard resume listing previous jobs. A short story about yourself with links to specific examples of work and a well-executed test task is enough.
Top position
According to Polina Brezhneva, an expert of the Ready Resume service , responding to a vacancy from the senior management category traditionally requires a cover letter, this is something that goes without saying. The manager must be able to present himself. “Sometimes applicants for top positions write too long letters,” says Polina. “But in fact, a good letter from the head should contain only constructive information: list the projects that he has implemented, and give in figures as many indicators as possible, which was achieved in these projects.”
When you can do without writing
For line-level retail and operations professionals who do not work directly with customers, a cover letter is not required. For example, it is enough for a call center operator to send only a resume, without an additional story about yourself.
Mass recruiting does not involve evaluating candidates through cover letters. If a large retail chain simultaneously employs 70 cashiers, then recruiting managers will first of all pay attention to the appropriate experience and the absence of comments from the security service. They probably won’t even have the physical ability to read the cover letters. Therefore, an additional story about yourself when responding to such positions is not required.
A cover letter is a chance to attract attention
If your case is not one of those when a cover letter is very desirable, and not one of those when you can definitely do without it, then it will simply be useful to you as an additional plus.
Firstly
it should very briefly list the main arguments why your experience is suitable for this particular job.
Yes, of course, the recruiter can already estimate it from the more detailed information in your resume. But such a letter will make the recruiter read your resume more carefully, because you have already highlighted the main thing.
In addition, this will set you apart from most job seekers who either do not send cover letters, or are limited to general phrases like “Please consider my candidacy!” or “I want to work for your company.” A meaningful letter in the spirit of “I am suitable for this vacancy because …” Shows that you carefully read the requirements listed in the vacancy and correlated them with your experience, that is, you respond consciously. This is an advantage in itself, because many job seekers send responses to all vacancies in a row, without even reading them to the end and buy essay writing service.
Secondly
The letter is an opportunity to mention the details of your experience that are important for this vacancy. Which are not mentioned in the resume. For example, you want to send a response as quickly as possible, but you do not have time to tailor your resume specifically for this job. Make important points in your letter.
An illustrative example is an ordinary accountant. It seems that you can tell about all your accounting experience and skills in your resume. The ability to present yourself creatively to an accountant is not required for work. So why would he need a cover letter? In it you can clarify, for example, about:
- The scale of the employing company (regional, federal, international). The number of staff, the direction of activity, and the form of taxation;
- The total duration of your profile work experience;
- How many legal entities were you servicing at the same time. If you worked in a holding company or had several clients on freelance;
- Two or three non-trivial tasks that you have faced, and which, judging by the vacancy. Also, take place in this position. This can be a transition to new software or a new version of it. Restoration of accounting or starting from scratch, and so on;
- Additional functions that you performed on top of standard accounting tasks. If it is important for the job (say, economic planning and analytics).
Thirdly
it is appropriate to write in a letter about what is usually not written in a resume. For example, which of the functions that you performed did you like the most. Or what attracts you to this particular company.
By template or in your own words
Any online spelling and punctuation checking service can help you with literacy. The situation is more complicated with the content of the cover letter. Especially for those who cannot boast of talent in the field of storytelling – and there are most of them.
Should you use templates that are easy to find in various Internet sources? Is that as a starting point, starting from which you write your text?
“The letter should be lively and personal. This is its main value, only, in this case, it convincingly and really works. Explains Polina Brezhneva, an expert of the Ready Resume service. – The letter is your direct speech.
What can you advise for those who are not sure of their ability to write successful phrases: think about what information is needed in the cover letter in your case (sketch out something like a plan), and then try several different options with which you can use this information formulate and writing. Ask someone you trust to evaluate the text objectively and choose the best wording or recommend a different one.
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