Cover letters are an important part of your job application, consider it like your elevator pitch. It’s your minute to differentiate yourself from others and highlight why you’re the best candidate for the role. Cover letters are your personal marketing document so make them count! 

This must follow advice will help you learn how to write a cover letter that earns you more interviews. 

1. Make sure it looks good - An unattractive cover letter won’t get you the attention you deserve. Ensure best results by matching the look of your letter to the look of your resume; use the same font, font size and margins. Universal fonts such as Arial, in a size 12 are your best bet - sticking to simple colouring blacks and greys are our personal favourite.
2. Keep it to a single page - Hiring managers are pressed for time, they won’t read a multi-page cover letter, make sure you’re clear and concise on the single page. Keep it to about 300-500 words in total.
3. Write unique cover letters for each company - There’s not really a one size fits all letter, if you want the best results you really need to demonstrate your understanding of the roles needs and your awareness of how your skills will help them fulfil the job role. Extra attention goes to those that can identify a company’s goals and succinctly express how you can help them reach them.
4. Avoid Using ‘To Whom it May Concern’ or Dear Sir / Madam - We scream BORING! Unless you  want to get lost in a folder of candidates take a few minutes to find out the hiring managers name, often it’s on the the bottom of the job listing or readily available to be found on Linkedin, you could even call the company’s HR team to secure this detail if you can’t find it elsewhere.
5. Be Interesting - Every cover letter starts with ‘I am writing to apply for the position of’  - consider starting with an alternative line that instantly gives you some personality. You could try something like  “I have read about your organisations excellent achievements in (Insert detail here) which is why I am excited to apply for the position of (insert job title here). Instantly you are showing that your cover letter is tailored and you have taken some time to research that the company is about. Don’t forget to show off your personality, this after all is you chance to sell who you are and what you are about
6. Content is Key - Don’t just repeat what’s on your resume, rather look to elaborate in more detail about one or more of your accomplishments, explain how your experience and qualifications are relevant to fulfilling the roles requirements and look to show an example of how you have already solved problems like theirs in the past.
7. Let your accomplishments shine - Your resume and cover letter should show evidence of your accomplishments with hard statistics and figures that demonstrate your results eg. increased sales by 30% or managed X amount of people - choose to show the accomplishments that would be most desired by the company you’re applying for.
8. Choose action verbs when describing your experience - Selecting the right words to describe your experience and achievements can make all the difference. A simple google of  ‘action verbs to include in your resume and cover’ letter can instantly make your overall job application more powerful, consider using words like accelerated, amplified, cultivated,  generated, pioneered, transformed, motivated, advocated, inspired, designed, crafted, enhanced… You get where we’re going!
9. End with a call to action - In your cover letter closing provide your contact details and state that you look forward to an interview. It’s no secret that you want an interview so don’t be shy about being forward and let’s hope it pays off. Don’t forget to sign off your letter, consider adding a real signature - that can be a real stand out!
10. Proof Read - Look over your resume and cover letter to check for any spelling, grammar or punctuation errors. It would be a shame if your application was overlooked because of some silly typos and errors, take the time to make sure it’s right!

We hope these 10 tips help land you an interview and the position!  You can also check out the list of jobs we have going here. Good luck!