How to write a great cover letter

by Caroline Parisy, Human Resource Manager, iCrossing

A CV will be not read if it isn’t accompanied by a cover letter. A great cover letter is not about showing yourself as the most experienced and qualified candidate but about your very own personal attributes and qualities in only few short paragraphs. Your CV will do the rest.

What perception of yourself would you like to give? An icon for your fellow experts, a model to the industry, hard-worker, fast-learner, or simply the most enthusiastic applicant, maybe a little pedantic, in other words, your cover letter should be a shrine to yourself. However, remain honest, there’s a limit to the level of exaggeration you may put on your qualities, employers will always question “your greatness” at the interview stage.

Passion, integrity, commitment and commercial awareness are some of the most common competencies looked for by employers in a candidate. A great cover letter should therefore demonstrate your career interests and motivation, as well as highlighting your most relevant strengths and experiences.

Your letter must remain professional and no longer than a side of A4, even if copied in an email body. If posted, a printed letter is more easily readable unless the employer specifically requests it handwritten as some of them still pretend to be graphologists. Obviously, check the spelling (the British one), punctuation and make sure you’ve addressed it to the right organisation.

Use an appropriate tone and language, professional, carefully worded with relevant technical terms and keywords, avoiding linguistic redundancies without obviously taking it all from a thesaurus.

Now, taken over with enthusiasm for that special job, you will want to use your cover letter to tell the employer all of the hundred ways in which you are the best candidate for the job, but while your enthusiasm is desired an unwieldy cover letter is not.

Firstly, draft your cover letter to include the basics:

• A brief personal introduction and position for which you are applying
• Where and when you saw the advert or heard about the position
• Why you are applying, including your educational qualifications, professional and personal experience relevant to the position
• Your personal attributes, preferred working, communication and management styles
• Why you are interested in working for this particular organisation or industry (you may want to show evidences of research into such aspects as their successes, involvements, values or clients)
• Take the opportunity, if necessary, to explain any anomalies in your experiences such as a gap or career changes
• Thank the employer for reading you and indicate availability for interview

Then be creative! But do not feel like you have to be witty or possess a very peculiar sense of humour when writing a creative cover letter. In employment terms, creativity is about intriguing the reader’s attention on your personal behaviors, making it unforgettable but not the biggest joke in job seeking history. A little extravagance (or shall I say arrogance and originality - show off!) could definitely make you stand up from the crowd of applicants in the arts and media industry. Think design. You may present your letter under the form of a press release if applying for a copywriter job, a web page if applying for a web designer job or even a Google search results page if applying for an online marketing role.

Many more advices could be taken when experiencing the stressful time of seeking employment. Just experiment, don’t be shy, encourage and act on feedbacks and results. You will get it right one day.

Further information:

Winning Cover Letters (by Robin Ryan)