In current world, templates are necessary to survive. They provide the right approach for repetitive work and also helps us a guide to overcomes our lack of memory or knowledge regarding a subject.
Job Hunting is such an activity, which never dies off. It starts when we graduate out of the college and then restarts when we think we need a new job to justify our new acquired skills. The path of searching a new job starts from searching in job portals and then writing to a prospective employer with two important documents; the resume and the cover letter.
Resume creation is also a craft and we have discussed it in detail on BFWR. You can check the following two articles.
The next step is creating a power resume is to create an appealing cover letter that tells your story to the employer. There are many ways you can approach the cover letter building, but having a template can really save your time in the longer run. That’s why we go through the intricacies of building a resume cover letter template.
As, there is no golden rule on what the cover letter template should be, I will try to find a balance between flexibility and adhering to the guidelines of making an awesome Cover Letter template that multiplies your chances of landing the job interview. Many human resource managers have agreed to the fact that they take only 30 secs to find out the worth of the candidate through the Cover letter and the resume.
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They stick to the rule, if you are not able to impress with your words and presentation now through the cover letter template, you will not be able to do any good to the organization later. This is highly debatable, but the sheer number of enrolments they get for one position makes them run through the list without offering more than 30 secs to any applicant.
Any Cover letter template has some pre-defined structure to go with and we will go through those headings and sub-headings to achieve most of template design. Let’s get started.
Include all the necessary business related Information in the Cover letter template
Cover letter offers a chance for the employer to have a glimpse of the business writing skill of the candidate and here lies the chance for you to represent all the necessary information such as name and address, name, title, date and proper greeting. Without the right elements, things can go wrong on the first step. Your cover letter template should cover all the above-mentioned information.
This is the first chance you have to grab the employer attention. Make sure you use a good font with visible font-size. Visibility and typography also have a major role in improving your cover letter. Too-much clustered font can make the employer spend more energy on the cover letter and eventually lead to rejection.
Starting with the right tone and structure
Once you have listed all the important business elements, next step is to Introduce yourself. Do not try to be personal here, be professional and try to summarize about yourself. There are many things that you need to keep in mind in this section. They are listed below:
- Use a reference from the company employee you are applying to.
- Use the same exact Job title you are applying for, do not modify it by any means.
- Tell them from where you have heard about the Job. This can help the employer to track media which are making impact on their recruitment drive.
- If you are already doing a job, tell them the reason why are you making a job change in simple language. Do not exaggerate your pain or suffering(if you are unhappy with your previous job), be professional here.
The Importance of Introductory Hook of the cover letter template
Introductory hooks can make or break your deal of getting an interview with the potential employer. There are chances that you can bring the point of how you can be beneficial to the job by providing the right hook.
An Introductory hook depends on the type of job you are applying for. Changes should be made accordingly and use of past experience(including academics) should be used tactically.
For example, if you are applying for a Technical writer job which require expertise, choose to start with, “A Technical Writer with 5 year Industry Experience”. Academic jobs should also the same tenacity with attention to the most important fact that can help you grab the attention of the employer.
Another great example, trying to apply for a job asking for soft skills should start like this, “I am working as senior media representative for an XYZ firm for the past 5 years and is taking care of all the interaction jobs on behalf of the organization”.
A single powerful sentence can make or break the CV. So try to be careful here.
Preparing for the next two important paragraphs in the cover letter template
Now, comes the most important part where you can achieve maximum attention of the employer and convince him to consider you as a potential employee for the job. But, there is a twist here, do not try to overdo this section as you are only trying to grab the interview and not the job itself. Once you get selected for the interview, you will have enough opportunity to impress the employer with your achievements and skill set.
The two paragraphs should be a mix of logic and emotion, and the right mix of compelling writing can grab you the seat to the interview.
There are many ways you can approach the next two paragraph.
- The first approach is to discuss your experience in one paragraph and academic experience in the second. Try to write as simple as you can, ignoring any jargon or complex word. Also, writing the important points in both the paragraphs can yield maximum results.
- Another approach is to write contrasting stories and build upon each specific skill or expertise and convince the potential employer on how you can fit in different roles and how can you guide teams to success over a period of time.
- Trying to mention hard and soft skills can also help you to increase the notion of divide and conquer approach.
The Last paragraph of the cover letter template
The last paragraph can also be used tactfully to increase your chances of grabbing the job interview. Try, to summarize, all your information including all your expertise, skills, academics and experience in the last paragraph. Use all the information that you have provided in the Cover letter in the last paragraph so that it makes more impact on the human resource manager.
Cover Letter is a powerful medium to grab attention of the employer. It can easily reflect your achievements, business writings, skills, expertise and experience, the cover letter can easily suppress the importance of resume.
Other Important Factors that you should keep in mind beyond clicking the send mail button
1. Re-read and rewrite the whole cover letter using the cover letter template. There should be no grammatical mistake as the cover letter is an important aspect of your cover letter. Also, try to highlight points that are worth the attention of the employer.
2. KISS – Keep it simple silly. This golden rule should always be maintained in the context of writing cover letter. The cover letter template can help you figure out the path.
3. Provide a distinctive argumental statement telling the employer why you are the best person for the job.
4. Keep Calm and wait for the reply. Due to the large number of applicants, HR can take up to a week to reply to you mail.
5. Don’t wait for the reply until the next year hits. There are chances that your application is rejected and the HR don’t have time to reply to your application. Move one and try to send your application to other potential employers. Never get disheartened with the rejection. There are tons of other employers who are seeking excellent employees of your kind.
6. Invest enough time to make the template work for every unique employer out there. Sending the wrong cover letter can easily close the doors for you and can harm you in the longer run.
7. Be Genuine: Don’t try to act smart and write false information just to get into the job interview. Companies are smart enough to figure out if you are lying or not. They also can sue you for wrong information, so be extra careful in this department.
8. Practice until you get it right. There is no golden rule on what works and what doesn’t. You will eventually get hold of how things work when you click few of the right interview and understand the underlying principle behind the interview process.
Cover Letter is the granular of the whole picture, but it holds tremendous power in finding the right job. Also writing about yourself can improve your self-esteem and improve you as both a human being and a high performing candidate.[/sociallocker]
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