Writing a Good Cover Letter | Keys to a Successful Cover Letter, Tips, and Pitfalls to Avoid.

Writing a good cover letter is central to a professional application. A successful cover letter is a springboard to a job interview; however, a cover letter can be disqualifying if the recruiter doesn't find it satisfactory.
To write an effective and relevant cover letter, follow our advice: we'll give you tips and pitfalls to avoid to write a successful cover letter.

1. Writing a Cover Letter: What to Do

Write a cover letter for each application
A good cover letter is a personalized letter intended for a specific recruiter. Adapt each of your cover letters to the position you are applying for. Don't try to transpose the same cover letter example to all your applications; you risk losing relevance and authenticity.

Prepare your cover letter
Don't write a cover letter until you've thoroughly researched the job offer. You need to clearly understand the expectations and needs of the company you're applying to in order to best present your skills and abilities. Analyze the job offer, look for information about the company, and select your most relevant experiences for the targeted job.
In the case of a spontaneous application, when writing a cover letter, think about what seems essential in the desired position (professional qualities, nature of professional experiences that could lead to it, etc.) and select your experiences best suited to your conception of the position.

Explain the reasons for your application
To best explain your motivation, be specific about the reasons for your application. Don't hesitate to present your professional project in your cover letter: recruiters will thus more clearly understand your will, ambition, and capacity for growth.

Create an argument
When writing a cover letter, candidates often tend to want to answer the criteria of a job offer point by point. Alas, paraphrasing is boring for recruiters and above all useless. It is in your interest to write an argument, focusing on two or three of your professional qualities, in line with the needs of the job offer. To write a good cover letter, select the experiences, training, and professional qualities that you feel meet the needs of the recruiters.

Sign, date, and indicate your contact information
Writing a good cover letter is above all writing a letter, and you must therefore give it the form of one: remember to date and sign it. Although your contact details are already present on your CV, indicate them again on your cover letter.

Care for your writing
Although applications are increasingly done by email, sending by post is still common, and in this case, writing a handwritten cover letter is often necessary. Take the time to write it carefully to ensure its readability.

Combine conciseness and clarity
To facilitate understanding and clarity, use mainly short and concise sentences when writing your cover letter. Long-windedness tends to lose the interest of recruiters. To write a good cover letter, focus on simplicity and conciseness to keep your readers' attention!

Support your statements with proven facts
There is no point in stating your qualities and skills in your cover letter if you don't explain how you put them into practice. Remember to support each element with a fact or experience proving its relevance. By justifying your statements in this way, you will more clearly show recruiters the potential you can represent for their company.

Highlight your human qualities
Writing a cover letter is the ideal way to highlight your human qualities. Present them by relating them to specific elements of your career so that this presentation is not perceived as subjective. Also be careful not to be boastful!

Refine the introduction
As with reading a novel, the reader's interest is created in the first lines when you write a cover letter. Give yourself the best chance by avoiding overly administrative wording and favoring clear and relevant sentences. Use strategy by placing the important elements of your profile in these first lines.



2. Writing a Cover Letter: What Not to Do

Repeat the content of your CV in your cover letter
A good cover letter should introduce you, of course, but it's not necessary to reiterate point by point the elements already present in your CV. The cover letter should provide a different perspective on your professional background. Writing a cover letter will also allow you to express your deep motivations for obtaining this position, your understanding of the position you are applying for, or what you think you can bring to the company.

Use impersonal phrases in your cover letter
You may be tempted to begin or end your cover letter with a formulaic phrase. This practice is quite impersonal and inappropriate... impersonal phrases are therefore very likely to distract recruiters. Prefer a wording of your own or a more natural one!

Present a visually cluttered structure for your cover letter
The presentation of a cover letter is an essential element. A successful cover letter should not appear too cluttered. Adopt a paragraph structure. Optimize your space: your cover letter example should fit on a single page; the cover letter remains a presentation of the key elements of your professional background and should create a desire to meet you... without revealing too much.

Use passive or negative phrases in your cover letter
You are applying for a job and must therefore highlight your skills and motivation. To write a good cover letter, avoid passive or negative phrases like "I couldn't," "I was encouraged to," etc. Speak in the first person and affirmatively!

Don't take care of the physical presentation of your handwritten cover letter
Blotting, cross-outs, use of white corrector are all small details that will negatively mark your recruiter. Therefore, be professional and submit a perfect copy!

Write your cover letter on lined or grid paper
For clarity and good taste, it is customary to use white paper to write cover letters.

Use inappropriate colors to write your cover letter
It's in bad taste to want to add a bit of cheer to your cover letter by using purple, turquoise, or red ink. Keep it simple and use black!

Make spelling mistakes in your cover letter
Correctly writing a cover letter is not only proof of professionalism but also of attention. Perfect spelling will indicate to your recruiter that you took care in writing your cover letter. Don't hesitate to ask for help if needed.

Photocopying your cover letter
Hoping to save time by photocopying your cover letters? Bad idea! You will lose all the interest of writing a handwritten cover letter. As for photocopies of typed documents, the quality is generally inferior to a good print.
Furthermore, keep in mind that a good cover letter must be personalized and address the recruiter directly... It should never be "industrialized."

Using parentheses in your cover letter
The cover letter is the integrally written part of your application. Avoid adding "small details" in parentheses. To write a successful cover letter, use short sentences to explain all your statements and arguments. Moreover, parentheses generally give an impression of digression and distract recruiters.

Avoid repeating yourself in your cover letter
Candidates often tend to repeat themselves in their cover letters, especially in sentence introductions. When writing your cover letter, therefore, avoid overusing "moreover," "what's more," "on the other hand," etc.

Don't sign your cover letter
Writing a cover letter takes the form of a letter by which you present your wish to obtain a position. As with any document of this kind, you must affix your signature.

Using sentences that are too long in your cover letter
A good cover letter must retain the recruiters' attention. Long sentences are not recommended because they are often difficult to understand. Use short and concise sentences to write a successful cover letter.

Not clearly providing your contact information in your cover letter
An unforgivable mistake is to provide incorrect contact details or not to indicate this information. Make sure to indicate your contact details on your cover letter; they clearly identify the candidate and link the cover letter to the corresponding CV.

Not addressing the right recipient
It is essential to find out who you should address your cover letter to, especially for spontaneous applications. Don't hesitate to search on the company's website or even contact the secretarial department to obtain the contact details of the person in charge of recruitment. If you cannot obtain this information, simply indicate "To the attention of the recruitment manager."



100CV.com

Posted October 19, 2012.