Making sure that your resume is polished and looks good before you apply for a job is crucial, but in case you don’t know this, your cover letter should be treated as though it’s just as important. A cover letter introduces an applicant to the company and shows that they’ve put in extra effort to make the application more personal.

As an IT recruitment company based in Milton Keynes, we see a lot of candidates come through our doors, so we can attest to how important a professionally written cover letter can be for finding your next job.

Cover letters also give you the opportunity to highlight job-specific experience that you may want the employer to know about. That being said, cover letters need to be taken as seriously as your resume, and below are some tips that can help you make sure that yours is ready to be read and considered.

You should always include an explanation of why you’re ready to move onto another job. You could say that you’re looking for more opportunities, you are personally interested in what their company does, or you’re ready for a change.

While you’re doing this, never criticise or use negative words against a former employer. It isn’t professional. And you don’t have to give a long explanation as to why you’re sending them a resume; one or two sentences is enough in most cases.

Nothing is more embarrassing than to discover you sent a cover letter meant for one job to another company. Personalise each cover letter so it looks as if that company is the only one who’s going to receive it.

Mention the company by name if you can so they’ll realise that you did some research into what they do. Don’t just use the same cover letter for multiple jobs; instead, make sure that you read the letter thoroughly before sending out your next resume so that the cover letter is appropriate for that particular company.

People are busy these days, and this includes the people who will be reviewing your resume and cover letter once you send them out. If they want to contact you, they should have more than one way to do so.

This means that you need to include several ways for them to contact you: email address, mobile phone number, home phone number, and website if you have one. If they try to call you and don’t receive a response, this makes it easier to go to the next contact detail and it increases the likelihood that they’ll get in touch with you quickly.

Most candidates will be “hardworking” and “qualified,” but your prospective employer should also know what makes you different from all of the other candidates.

In your cover letter, make sure that you mention your experience that is related to the job they need done, as well as any skills that are specifically related to what they need. The more specific you get, the better it will sound, and the more confidence they’ll gain about hiring you for that particular position.

An experienced employer or recruiter can testify that when a prospective employee mentions their company by name, it is impressive to see and will help your case even if this seems like a small detail. 

Show them that you’ve done your homework and know a little about their company by mentioning something about them in your cover letter.

This will show them that you like their products or services and that you’re not just applying to every single job out there. If there’s something particular about the company that you’re impressed with, let them know it in your cover letter. They are certain to notice it.

Before you devise your cover letter, do some research and find out who the information is going to. While addressing the letter “to whom it may concern” is acceptable, it sounds much better if you address it to someone by name.

Not only will the letter sound more personal, but it ensures that it will get to the right person once it arrives at the company. Mention the job title you’re applying to and anything that was referenced in the job announcement so that it goes to the right department once it gets there.

Before you send out your application, thoroughly review the cover letter to make sure that it looks good, sounds professional, and has no typos or grammatical errors in it. You should also make sure that the cover letter isn’t too long.

While you do want to include certain information in the letter, keeping it brief will be more professional and less time-consuming for the person reading it. Brief and succinct is always better than having a cover letter that is too long and drawn out, and your prospective employer will appreciate the efforts.

If the advertisement asks for certain skills, make sure that you list those skills in your cover letter but don’t include every one of them.

You don’t want an employer to think you’re just copying and pasting, so to speak. Just take the most important skills and concentrate on them instead.

The important point here is to make sure that you tailor each and every cover letter to the job you’re applying for so the employers know that you’re paying attention and giving them the details they are actually looking for, instead of “fluff.”

Naturally, you’ll want to be on your best manners throughout the entire letter. In the end, keep that politeness and mention that you’re ready to meet with them in person to further discuss your career goals.

Always let them know that they can contact you should they have any additional questions about your qualifications and end it on a positive note, as if your meeting with them in person is definitely going to happen.

Never sound overly anxious, of course, because you don’t want to sound desperate, but make sure that they realise that you’re ready to meet with them as soon as it’s a good time for them.

If your letter is a hard copy, make sure you sign it at the bottom, using your full name and not nicknames. Don’t put flowers or smiley faces on the signature; make it professional and appropriate. If you’re sending a digital cover letter, type your whole name at the bottom, again, using your full legal name and nothing else.

Your signature can be the glue that holds the cover letter together and brings a bit more professionalism to the entire thing. Plus, you don’t want prospective employers to think that you forgot to sign your cover letter!

As any company that regularly hires employees can tell you, cover letters are considered almost as important as your resume because it gives them valuable information that isn’t always included in the resume. It certainly gives your resume the “edge” it needs to look even better to a prospective employer, which is good because anything you do that sets you apart from the other candidates is a good thing.

Today’s jobs are very competitive and employers sometimes get hundreds of resumes for one open position, so you’ll need to do whatever is necessary to bring your qualifications to the forefront so that you’re more likely to get the company’s attention.

Written by Lucid Support