5 Tips for Cover Letter Structure

A Cover Letter is a list of reasons why you are the best suited candidate for a job. Thus, the first step to getting that interview is to make a cover letter stand out from the rest of the crowd. The average student won’t spend enough time to perfect it, often resulting in a long, drabby, and unenthusiastic passage of arduous text. While it is largely difficult to summarise your offerings within a one page summary, the following is an article which provides 5 key tips and considerations to assist in writing a cover letter from scratch.

1. Prove Your Knowledge of the Company and Role

You need to know what role you are applying for, and also how that role is important to the rest of the company in general. While you can address particular areas where you can provide value to the organisation, you need to know what that value is sought after by them. Try not to focus on how the Role can benefit you, rather, you should focus on how you can provide value for them, and the tone of the rest of the letter should remain as this.

2. Explain Your Related Skill Sets and Knowledge

1 of the three main attribute of a short-listed applicant is of Skills & Technical Fit.

What are you self-marketable skills that make you who you are? How does this relate to what kind of person they are looking for? Explain your related skill sets to what they are looking for (read their criteria and meet them all) and provide reasons how you’ve become an asset for previous workplaces. If they are seeking someone who can liaise at all levels and present themselves with high communicational skills, listing your most interactive roles would be a wise decision. This can be in the form of retail, help desk service, public speaking, debating, etc.

Unfortunately, there will be underlying cut offs when speaking about comparing applicants by their average university marks. Thus, if you cannot provide extensive examples of work experience, focus on your academic and non-academic achievements that you have received over the years (preferably the former more than the latter). This shows that you are dedicated and motivated to perform a job that is assigned to you.

3. Maintain High Level of Interest Alignment to Work Involved

The second main attribute is the passion or level of interest of the applicant in all areas that are affected by the position they are applying for.

Show them that you have always had a passion. You need to be highly interested in the potential employer’s organisation as a whole - not just their work, but the industry in which they operate. If need be, highlight relevant news items or statistics that apply to the performance and growth of the organisation, as well as news items that affect growth and performance of their related industries.

4. Values and Goal Alignment

The third main attribute of good fit is the cultural fit within the company. You need to demonstrate how you are aligned to their values and goals, with examples of how you reinforce these values. This is extremely important since employers want to know if you are easy to get along with, and whether you can adapt to their work environment. Also, it would be nice to recruit someone that would become good friends with everyone in the team!

5. Resarch and Analysis: Make It Interesting!

Do not reuse an old cover letter for firms of the same industry / work area. Cover letters must be individual, since they can also act as a demonstration of your research and analytical skills. Employers will be assessing how well you have researched them and the position they have offered, and will know when you have simply replaced all company names in the document from a previously used Cover Letter. Things such as growth percentages and what not are easliy found in company annual reports, which can also outline the types of systems and projects that are currently being used, developed, implemented or even reviewed - use this imformation to your advantage and show them your knowledge!

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