How To Write A Cover Letter

October 11, 2011|How to find a job| No comments yet

The lost art of the cover letter - the first thing that a potential employer sees. The cover letter should let the employer know within the first three lines that you are a professional problem solver. This goes for any industry. Remember those words. Professional problem solver. Everything that you write in your cover letter will relate to this theme.

Begin with a joke

Not comedy funny joke, because you are not a comedian. Something relevant to the company that lightens the mood. If there are any interesting facts about the company or the person with whom you will be interviewing, here is the place to put them. This section should be no more than three lines and then should segway straight into.

Your personal introduction

Now your potential employer hardly wants to know about your cat, or that you pick your nose while you watch football. Note this is a personal introduction, not a personal ad. To keep it professional, introduce your professional self. After this introduction, your cover letter should explain, succinctly, why you are right for this job.

“Your environmental budgeting position intrigued me because aside from studying microbiology as a major in college, I was always tapped at my previous company to figure out how to make the numbers work. I found that I could get a lot more done by presenting companies with manageable budgets.“

The last part of the cover letter can be explained as the “call to action.” Thank your reader for their time, and express your interest in a face to face interview. The entire cover letter should be no more than one page long, with date, salutation, and signature included. Space the cover letter so that the body of the letter is evenly placed in the center of the page.

It is also now customary not to indent any lines at all in the cover letter, including the date. If the cover letter is to be done over email, make sure not to indent as margins are unpredictable inbetween email clients.

Your format should look similar to this:

- Date
- 2 carriage enters
- Inside address
- 3 carriage enters
- Salutation
- 2 carriage enters
- body, with skipped line between each paragraph
- body should consist of 2-3 3 line paragraphs, as explained above
- 2 carriage enters
- Sign off
- Space for hand signature if the letter is to be printed
- Electronic signature