With a good cover letter (also known as job application letter), you may sell yourself better and have a chance to get the job.
Cover Letter іѕ a document sent together wіth thе job applicant’s resume.
Here are top ten mistakes that you shouldn’t do while writing a cover letter:
- Not addressing a specific name of the recipient: Do NOT use “To Whom It May Concern,” “Dear Sir or Madam”. Always address a specific person i.e. “Dear Mr. Brown” or “Dear Mrs. Brown”.
- Writing a Novel: A good cover letter should be no longer than one page.
- Writing a generic cover letter: Creating a template cover letter saves your time. But you should customize each one to each employer and job to show how you fit the requirements.
- Forgetting to include your contact information: Or giving wrong contact information, or using a cutesy email account in your contact information i.e. beautiful87@… or bigboy79@…
- Unnecessary formatting: Do NOT use unnecessary formatting and different fonts in your resume. Black is the best font color. Do not use weird fonts like comic sans. Use professional fonts like Times New Roman or Arial instead.
- Being too casual or familiar: Your tone should be kept formal.
- Spelling or Grammar errors: Double check for possible spelling and/or grammar errors. Your cover letter must be error-free.
- Repeating your resume: You will be wasting precious space – and the potential employer’s time – if you simply repeat your resume. Use the cover letter just to highlight the aspects of your resume that are relevant to the position.
- Telling the employer what the organization can do for you instead of what you can do for the organization : This mistake is common among inexperienced job-seekers like new college graduates.
- Not sending a cover letter. This is the worst of all. ALWAYS send a cover-letter with your resume.
