Job Cover Letter
You must have heard about the importance a job cover letter has when you are applying for any job. If you have not, then it is time you learn about it. The job cover letter is that which creates the very first impression in the mind of the recruiter. Depending upon that first impression the recruiter would decide whether or not to proceed reading your CV or not.
This is because the recruiters have very little time to accord to each CV sent to them; particularly when they are flooded with hundreds of them; at that time they would normally allot some 10-15 seconds to each application received; in more leisure instances they would give about 30 seconds to each. For this reason you need to have an impressive job cover letter so you could get our foot in the door from the first chance itself.
What Are The Pre-requisites Of A Job Cover Letter?
There are a few basics that are usually followed here. A great job cover letter would have four basic components:
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Salutation – this is the way you address the recruiter in the opening lines. This would normally be ‘Dear Sir’ or ‘Dear Madam’ though the best would be to use the name of the person who would be reading the application. Try to avoid as much as possible addressing your job cover letter as ‘Dear Sir/ Madam’ as this shows lack of research on your part and hence speaks of a lackadaisical attitude, which is not what an employer would look for in a prospective employee.
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Introduction – the next part of the letter is a brief introduction about yourself. Here you need to mention the position you are applying for and preferably how you learnt about it. The introduction should not exceed three to four lines.
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Body of the job cover letter – this is where you are marketing yourself to the employer. It is very important that you keep this as brief as two paragraphs of six to seven lines so the recruiter can scan read it with ease. This should be a very concise summary of your qualifications, experience and expertise written in such a manner that it would clearly project what value addition you would be to the company – not the other way round. You need to impress here how well your credentials and aptitude matches to the requirements demanded by the job.
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Conclusion – in the closing paragraph you need to highlight one last reason why the employer should call you for an interview. Do not forget to thank him/ her for the time accorded to read your CV and considering you for the job. Be clear about your availability time and keenness to appear for an interview to take the matter forward.
The words used in the job cover letter should be clear and concise to give a crisp impression. Avoid by all means bombastic words as these would slow down the reading and digesting speed when perusing the applications and you risk that you would be rejected on the grounds that there would not time to really read and translate your application (in simple English) in time by the recruiter. The job cover letter should be able impress not distress the recruiter.