Cover letters.

There is no right or wrong when it comes to whether to do a cover letter. My opinion is that if you are being represented by a recruiter on a job then the chances are your cover letter won’t get as far as the client…why – because their job is to essentially be your cover letter. They will have that conversation with the hiring manager about your suitability and motivations. But if you are going direct, then you need some way to give them a bit more info about you and your interest than the CV itself will convey. Think of this as an opportunity to add some colour to your CV. A way to put some flesh around the bones of your skills and bring your personality to life a little.

The cover letter should not be an essay with pages and pages of prose that people will not read but instead a well thought through few paragraphs which demonstrate your experience, detail some examples of why you would be a good fit for the role and express a little of your personality and life outside of a skill set which gives confidence to the employer that you will fit in with the rest of the team.

You can start by detailing why you are looking and why you are interested in this role. This is a chance to talk about why the position is interesting you beyond the general skill set they are looking for – maybe talk about the reputation of the organisation, the overall mission of the business and how that strikes a chord, other people have talked about them favourably etc.

Then look at what the role is trying to achieve and detail some examples and experiences in your past which will lend themselves well to it. Structure those examples, there are a number of good ways to do this but I would recommend thinking of PEE - Point, Evidence, Explain. What this means is that firstly you outline what they are looking for with the role, then you go on to detail an example from your experience and finally you tie it in to the role and what they are looking for.

Your final paragraph should focus on your interest in them again, tying together your motive behind the application to the role from the first paragraph, with your suitability from your examples and indicating your enthusiasm to meet with them and find out more.

War and Peace it is not but a chance to put a bit of personality into the potentially dry details on a CV can really make the difference between getting an interview and not.

Good luck