What you need to include in a Cover Letter?

Attaching a cover letter, in either physical or electronic format, is a general rule for almost all CV’s. Most job applicants fail to either follow simple basic rules governing the text of a cover letter or omit the cover letter altogether. In both the cases, one thing is certain – REJECTION!

Writing a cover letter is not such a big ask and requires just simple rules to follow. But most applicants are at a loss when they are quizzed about what to include in a cover letter. Here are some pointers that’ll help you in finding out what you should be including in the next cover letter you send along with your CV:

1. The salutation should be personal. If possible, try to find out the name of the personal that will be reading the cover letter. If not, then the designation of that person should suffice, like Director of Operations
2. The first paragraph simply states you are applying for position X advertised in newspaper/website Y (include Reference No. if required in the original advertisement)
3. The next paragraph should ooze confidence in your application and must pronounce that you are the ideal candidate for the job on offer. Back the confidence with requisite skills, education, experience, and achievements. Never use the word ‘because’ as it reflects un-professionalism and naiveté on your part. Your skill, qualifications, work experience, and achievements should be sufficient to generate ample interest in the prospective employer to shortlist your candidature
4. A personality trait, like ‘persuasive’ in marketing and sales job, should also be thrown in since it’s not just your qualifications and experience that matters. The personal characteristics required for the job are equally important. So, only mention relevant personality trait(s) instead of proceeding on a self-eulogizing trip
5. Finally, the third paragraph emphasizes that you desire an interview call based on the aforementioned skills and qualification. Also mention the hours when you are available to receive the call from the employer
6. Include date of writing the cover letter and employer’s address at the top, and your name, address, and contact details at the end of the cover letter. And don’t forget to personalize the cover letter by signing it just above your name at the end
7. The entire length of the cover letter should be no more than 10-15 sentences spanning 3/4th of A4 size plain white paper (for both online and offline applications)
8. The cover letter should be free of any typos, grammatical errors, or factual mistakes. Common spelling mistakes, like ‘there’ or ‘their’, ‘its’ or ‘it’s’, etc., should be avoided. These mistakes even mean rejection of your application even before having a look at your CV