Your guide to writing the perfect cover letter
By Jenesy Gabrielle Burkett Fox
Required application materials: resume, cover letter and list of three references.
Seems simple enough, right? But no one really tells you what a cover letter is and what it isn’t. So many of us become intimidated by writing a cover letter because they become daunting. Writing a whole page trying to sell our skills to a future employer is bad enough, but doing so without clear direction can seem unapproachable if we let it.
You can download a resume and cover letter template with examples, guides and a list of over 100 action words at SheMade’s Shop.
So, let’s start with what a cover letter isn’t. A cover letter is not a personal statement. If you applied for colleges or watched “Never Have I Ever” season four, you have some familiarity with personal statements. A personal statement is a narrative essay in the first person “I” perspective written to show your audience (often an admissions committee) “who you are.” It is meant to show your audience how you stand out from other applicants and convince them you’ll fit in with the culture of the university.
A cover letter, however, is a more in-depth paragraph format description of your skills and experience written to a specific audience in application for a specific position. It is an opportunity for you to go into further detail about the skills and positions you highlighted on your resume and specifically how they equip you for the position you’re applying for. It is still written in the first person “I” perspective unlike your resume which is written in the third person.
Your cover letter should not discuss anything that your resume doesn’t have. It should be a more thorough, detailed description of your qualifications, not a second list of positions and skills to go through. There shouldn’t be anything on your cover letter that surprises the hiring committee after reading your resume. As with any application materials, you can expect hiring committees to spend a couple minutes at most reviewing your cover letter before they determine whether to interview you or not. So make sure your cover letter uses keywords from the job posting while highlighting how each of your positions have specific skills that you expect to use in the job you’re applying for.
I like to go through job postings and highlight or write down key words and what seem like the most important qualities they’re looking for. If you don’t know what to look for, start with words or tasks that they list more than once.
It’s also helpful to look at the minimum qualifications and preferred qualifications. While they’ll list things like “1-3 years experience in city planning,” you want to look at translating what they expect you to have into what skills the job will require of you. So, while they ask for one to three years of city planning experience, you’ll list a position that gave you that experience (even if it’s not exactly city planning), state how long you held the position and describe tasks and projects that you believe will help you accomplish the responsibilities associated with the role.
Structure of a cover letter
A cover letter should be no more than one page, single spaced. It should be addressed to the person listed on the job posting as the point of contact. If no one is listed, address it to the “hiring committee.” Be sure to include your contact information (phone number and email) at the top of the page above the address for the company.
Each paragraph of your cover letter should be approximately three to five sentences. Your introduction paragraph should include where you heard about the job posting and why you are interested in the position. Each paragraph of your cover letter should focus on a specific position you’ve held and how that position equips you with the skills you need to complete the job you’re applying for. When you conclude, keep it brief by stating your most stand-out skills you bring to the position and why you’d make a good fit.
You can download a resume and cover letter template with examples, guides and a list of over 100 action words at SheMade’s Shop.
Header photo by Anna Shvets / Pexels
