A resume is never send without a cover letter and a cover letter is as important as a resume.
A cover letter has two functions:
- To take attention on your resume,
- To try to be called for an interview.
Confusing cover letter with the resume is a common mistake. Some candidates write the things to be written in cover letter in the first part of the resume. Do not do this. If you do, both your cover letter and resume lose their effectiveness.
Addressing of the Cover Letter
This is one of the most difficult things to do. If you respond to an advertisement and if the names of the person to whom you will send your resume are given, it is easy for you. If you begin the letter like “Dear Tom Savage” and if you don’t respond the advertisement but you write for searching a job opportunity and if you know to whom you will send, there is no problem again.
However, the case is not like this and you may have to begin your letter with addresses that are not personal such as “to whom it may concern”, “dear sales manager”, “Dear general manager”. Try to learn the name of the related person as much as possible. If you don’t have any chance like that, there is nothing to do but writing general expressions.
Don’t use abbreviations. It is more correct to write “Dear Human Resources” instead of “Dear HRM”. Don’t confuse the name of the person to whom you will send you letter with the name of the company.
The content of the cover letter:
The first sentence is very important and should arouse interest. Write which position you are applying for and why you are interested in that position. Show that you are well-informed about the sector in middle paragraphs. Then, express that you are qualified for that job.
You can spare one paragraph for your job experiences, one paragraph for your educational information for this. Express you want this job at the end and ask for an interview. Write that you will call him or her next week at the end of the letter. Thus, you can free the manager from a burden.
The format of the cover letter:
Cover letter and resume should match each other. They don’t need to be the same. The letter should be short. Paragraphs should be 3-6 line long. The letter should be suitable for fast reading. The first lines of the paragraph are the most important sentences. After you wrote the letter, just read the first lines and analyze whether they have an impression or not.
Your name and address should be included in the letter. Prefer concise and direct sentences. It should be one page long at most and should have wide margins. It should definitely be original, it should not be photocopied, it should be signed with pen. There can’t be a cover letter without signature.
