Happy Week 4! This week’s workshop was on the subject of Cover Letters. I defined what a cover letter is, what should be included in one, what should NOT be included in one, along with some example cover letters.
What is a cover letter?
- A brief, single-page letter written to the person who is offering you a position, or to the company you are applying to
- It should briefly introduce
- YOU!
- Your education, experience
- Achievements, skills, talents, traits
- It should encourage the reader to review your resume…and hopefully hiring you!
- YES. It is always a good idea to include one. Why?
- Talk a bit more about yourself beyond your resume
- Provides insight into your personality, your “voice” or “tone”, how you interact or present information
- Highlight aspects that may or may not be in your resume
- When to send them
- Applying to professional jobs
- Whenever given the option
- There may be an Upload Resume and/or Upload Cover Letter option (online)
- When sending an email with application materials
- Hard to send a cover letter through an online application that doesn’t offer an option to, so this may be a situation where you do not have to!
- Basics
- Your name, email/contact information, date
- Information about the job
- Hiring manager name, location of position
- Opening and Introduction
- Opener (Dear _____, To Whom It May Concern, etc.), reason for writing, who you are, interest in the position
- In the body of the cover letter
- Where you go/went to school
- Experience!
- The most important part
- Preferably things relevant to the job you are applying to
- Talents, achievements
- What YOU can bring and contribute to the job
- Closing
- Thank the reader
- Re-state contact information
- Too much information about your education
- What is most important is experience
- Work, volunteer, leadership, research, internships
- On the other hand, every single experience you have had is not necessary
- Try to tailor the cover letter to fit the application
- If there is not related experience or you do not have much, add what you can to try to fit it with the job description/requirements
- Include things to showcase skills
- Relate any experience with the job
- DO NOT mention that you have no work experience!
- Don’t know who to address
- Look up the recruiting manager on LinkedIn/online
- Makes it more personal when you add
- a person you are addressing
- location of the job, job description
- Suggest meeting in person
- to discuss more (basically an interview!)
- pushes the idea of meeting
- Make an outline ahead of time
- When it is time to apply for a job and send a cover letter, pull up your pre-made template and fill in/add as needed
- DO NOT copy the exact cover letter you wrote for a previous application
- Customize a cover letter for the specific job, add in strong phrases/sentences from the template
- Saves time!
- Format/What to include
- Cover Letter Do’s and Don'ts
- Sample Cover Letters (from professionals who got the job!)
That’s all for now, folks! I hope you all have a wonderful Week 4, as we head into Week 5. Remember to take care of yourselves. Eat, rest, and give yourselves a break when needed. You all are doing a great job, keep up the good work. See ya next week :)