Career Guide Tips

Most of the job applicants never take the time required to draft a good cover letter, instead most job seekers will just get any letter and just make a few changes then send the letter together with their resume. A brilliant cover letter is the ultimate sales letter. It is your marketing tool that you will use to convince potential employers that you are the best candidate for the job. Most job seekers do not understand this fact, and therefore the job application letters they send does not do anything to help them land the job interview.

The cover letter gives you a chance to sell your skills to the employer, a good cover letter that does what it says should sell your skills to the employer and get you short-listed for the job interview. Most job seekers think that the resume is the one thing that will get them the job interview, unless you have an outstanding resume this is highly unlikely. In most cases the resume is not the one that gets you the job interview, it is the cover letter.

Most job seekers even think that if they have a resume that they can just ignore the cover letter and send the resume on its own and it will be enough to get them the job. The fact is that resumes that are not accompanied by job application letters are not even read, this shows you how important the job application letter is to your job search.

A well written cover letter that incorporates some marketing ideas will fill your diary with more interviews than you can attend. A well written job application letter is also easier to write than most of the letters written by most job seekers.

The thing that makes a good cover letter is the focus of the letter. A good job application letter is more focused towards the needs of your employer, it is not about how qualified you are, that is what your resume is for. So, how can a good job application letter show focus towards the employer? By being customized towards the specific job vacancy that has been advertised.

The reference of the letter should refer to the job title that has been advertised, this might seem obvious, but consider most job applicants never say what job they are applying for. The first paragraph should also talk about the job post advertised, where it was advertised for example the daily newspaper, and also the date which the advertisement was published.

The second paragraph should talk about one or two top skills that you have and how these top skills match the responsibilities for the job vacancy that has been advertised. This paragraph should also talk about previous work experience that also matches the job vacancy that you are applying for. Remember the skills and experience that you write here should be those that are a close match to what to what the job advertisement is looking for.

Don’t write skills that are irrelevant to the job you’re applying for. To customize you job application letter further make sure you include words on the job advertisement within your cover letter, that way the employer is likely to pick your job application letter as one that shows your skills would be a close match to the skills required for the vacant job position.

By W. Tonnie