In today’s competitive job market, having a good cover letter can make it easier for you to send in an application that stands out from the rest. With more and more companies now accepting online job applications and using automated applicant tracking, a cover letter that is well-written and demonstrates that you are the best person for the job due to your knowledge, skills, and experience can help you be in with a chance of the hiring managers wanting to take a closer look at your CV. You can use your cover letter to demonstrate any research that you have done into the company and tailor your application to specific jobs, which can be helpful if you are applying for several different positions.

Applying for Jobs? How to Write a Cover Letter UK

Before you get started, it’s a good idea to get clear on exactly what a cover letter is. A cover letter is a brief letter that is used as an introduction for your job application or CV. It provides applicants with a further opportunity to express their interest in a position or the organisation as a whole and gives you the chance to go into more detail about your qualifications, experience, and why you believe that you are the best candidate for the position.

How to Write a Cover Letter that Stands Out

If you want to write a cover letter that stands out and gets you noticed as an applicant, the first thing to know is that your cover letter should serve as representation for your personability and show just how enthusiastic you are about this position and working for this company in particular, which can be difficult to do with just your CV. A good cover letter that grabs attention tells a story explaining the applicant’s experience and demonstrates to hiring managers just why this person might be the best fit for the job. When your cover letter does these things, it might be able to help persuade recruiters to take a closer look at your application and get to know you better by inviting you in for an interview.

How to Write a Good Cover Letter

To write a good cover letter, consider the following:

  1. Grab attention: The whole point of your cover letter is to get the attention of the recruiters on you and spark their interest in what you have to offer, so the first paragraph of your cover letter should be attention-grabbing. You will want recruiters to continue reading, so spend some time on a good opening. You could include some relevant accomplishments or talk about your passion for your work.
  2. Be Enthusiastic: One of the main things that recruiters want to see when they are reading cover letters is enthusiasm and passion for the position and the organisation. Demonstrating genuine enthusiasm for the role in your cover letter will help to increase your chances of being invited for an interview and getting the job.
  3. Show Your Personality: An increasing number of companies are now using online applicant tracking systems to automate the process of screening resumes and applicants. These often operate best with a simple resume format, which can sadly limit how much of your personality ends up shining through. Your cover letter is your chance to demonstrate who you are as a person and how well you are going to fit in with the company culture, so make sure that it is well-communicated.
  4. Highlight Your Best Achievements: It’s a good idea to choose a couple of the most relevant bullet points from your CV and use these in your cover letter with more detail, to explain how you will be beneficial to the company. While talking about your qualifications and experience, you can use this to demonstrate how you’ve contributed to employers in the past, and how your previous experience will help you support the mission and values of the company.
  5. Talk About Your Career Goals: You can use your cover letter to explain how the position that you are applying for supports your career goals overall. The cover letter is an ideal way to show how you are going to value your experience while working in this position and that you are dedicated to working in a career in this field. It also demonstrates to the employer that you may be an applicant who is interested in growth within this organisation.
  6. Include a Call to Action: It’s wise to thank your reader for their consideration and time when you close your cover letter; however, it’s also worth thinking about it as a form of marketing yourself, in which case, a call to action is a good closing element to include. Essentially, your cover letter is a persuasive essay to convince hiring managers and recruiters that you’re the ideal candidate for the job.
  7. Tailor the Letter: It is important to make sure that each cover letter you write is targeted for the company that you are applying to and the position that you want. When you write a tailored cover letter for each position, this will give you the chance to highlight your experience, qualifications, and values in a way that makes sure that the ones that are most relevant to that company and position are front and centre.

How Long Should a Cover Letter Be?

A cover letter should be fairly brief, so keep it to around three to four paragraphs at most. If your cover letter is too short, you may be unable to effectively communicate what you want to communicate to your reader, while on the other hand, recruiters and hiring managers may be less willing to spend time reading a cover letter that is too long.

How to Start a Cover Letter

Deciding how to start your cover letter can be an intimidating process. The good news is that there is a simple formula to get it right. Conveying enthusiasm and authenticity is an important part of starting your cover letter. Spend some time considering your opening since the main factor here is to spark the interest of hiring managers and recruiters who will read your letter and encourage them to want to continue reading the rest of it.

How to End a Cover Letter

When ending your cover letter, wrapping it all up in a concise way that encourages recruiters to pick up the phone or fire an email over inviting you in for an interview can often be just as difficult as getting your cover letter off to the right start. It’s a wise idea to thank your reader for their time and consideration of you as an applicant, but also consider adding a call to action that will encourage the reader even further to take the next steps.  

How to Address a Cover Letter

If you know who the hiring manager or recruiter that will be reading your letter is by name, then it’s a good idea to address them by name when starting your cover letter. You can often find out the name of the recruitment manager by taking some time to examine the job description, since many job descriptions will include a point of contact for the recruitment manager for applicants who want to get in touch for further information. If this is not the case, or you are responding to an ad that has been posted by a recruitment company rather than the organisation directly, you can research the company to find out if this will help you get the name of the recruitment manager. If you cannot find their name, then a generic, professional greeting will be fine. ‘Dear Recruitment Manager’ will always work; however, you can also be more specific if you like, such as addressing the specific department that you are applying for a position within.

What to Avoid in Your Cover Letter

Bear in mind that hiring managers and recruiters will read thousands of CVs and cover letters, so there are a few things to avoid that are mostly overused and have probably been seen hundreds of times before.

Overused Phrases: Most of the time, recruiters read very generic cover letters with phrases that are only going to annoy a hiring manager or recruiter, like ‘to whom it may concern’, ‘please feel free’, ‘thank you for taking the time to look at my CV’, etc. Some words to avoid including in your cover letter due to their overuse include ‘self-starter’, ‘dynamic’, and ‘significant’.

Irrelevant Information: You should always avoid adding irrelevant information to your cover letter. While it might make sense at the time to include that story, it’s worth reading it back before you submit to make sure that everything you’ve included is relevant to your application and yourself as a professional. If it is not, it will only confuse the reader and risk them missing important points in the rest of the letter.

A good cover letter can make all the difference when it comes to whether you are invited for an interview or even if you get the job.