{"id":83,"date":"2016-07-21T13:06:51","date_gmt":"2016-07-21T13:06:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/career-tips\/?p=83"},"modified":"2024-01-10T16:44:41","modified_gmt":"2024-01-10T16:44:41","slug":"how-to-write-a-cover-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/how-to-write-a-cover-letter\/","title":{"rendered":"How to write a cover letter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are you being underpaid? Upload your CV to ValueMyCV<\/a> to find out how much your skills are really worth!<\/em><\/p>\n

It can be hard to know where to start with a cover letter.<\/p>\n

Some people go overboard and write lengthy essays of self-praise, while others can barely think of enough to fill a paragraph.<\/p>\n

Whatever the job you\u2019re going for, following these simple steps will make penning that killer cover letter easy:<\/p>\n

How to write a cover letter<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Start with the personal touch<\/strong> \u2013 Letters which begin \u2018Dear Sir or Madam\u2019 have nowhere near the clout that addressing an individual will have. Find out the name of the hiring manager and address it directly to them.\u00a0 Common sense, perhaps, but don\u2019t start with \u2018Dear John\u2019 – go for the more formal \u2018Dear Mr. Smith\u2019.<\/li>\n
  2. Open with a bang<\/strong> \u2013 Recruiters have short attention spans. Don\u2019t waffle in your opening paragraph but cut straight to the chase.\u00a0 Move quickly on from the \u2018I\u2019m writing to you today\u2019 spiel to telling them why you want the job and what you can offer \u2013 \u2018I believe I\u2019m the ideal candidate for this role because\u2026\u2019 And make sure your opening gambit is one which will hit them between the eyes.<\/li>\n
  3. Let them know why they need you \u2013 <\/strong>Don\u2019t use the main body of your letter to just repeat what your CV says. They don\u2019t care about what dates you worked where, they want to hear about your skills. Use the ValueMyCV<\/a> tool to find out how much your skillset is worth then really go to town on emphasising your most valuable assets.\u00a0 Remember to avoid corporate drone speak though; nobody really likes a \u2018blue sky thinker\u2019.<\/li>\n
  4. Shout about your success<\/strong> \u2013 Once you\u2019ve told them about your skills, hit them with your experiences of past success. If you were the top salesperson in the team last month, shout about it. Been promoted?\u00a0 They need to know.\u00a0 Use the second half of your letter to really highlight just what a big player you\u2019ve been in your last job.<\/li>\n
  5. End on a high \u2013 <\/strong>Use the last paragraph to tell them how much you\u2019re looking forward to meeting them at an interview. It\u2019s not pushy, it\u2019s proactive.\u00a0 Asking for an interview and letting them know how soon you could start shows you\u2019re enthusiastic and really want the position.<\/li>\n
  6. Sign off correctly \u2013 <\/strong>It might be old fashioned, but you might just be addressing your letter to someone who cares. Yours sincerely\u2019 if you found a name to address the letter to and \u2018Yours faithfully\u2019 if you had to resort to \u2018Sir\/Madam\u2019. Emails, of course, are a little less formal, so something along the lines of \u2018I look forward to hearing from you\u2019 would probably do.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    One side of A4 max is the golden rule in almost every case \u2013 long enough to cover the main points, short enough not to put them off reading.\u00a0 Finally, always, always<\/em> read it back at least once. (And then read it again).\u00a0 A badly written letter can do more harm than good.\u00a0 Now go and put pen to paper and sell yourself!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Are you being underpaid? Upload your CV to ValueMyCV to find out how much your skills are really worth! It can be hard to know where to start with a cover letter. Some people go overboard and write lengthy essays of self-praise, while others can barely think of enough to fill a paragraph. Whatever the Continued \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1110],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cvs-cover-letters"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20918,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions\/20918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}