What exactly is a cover letter?

Cover letter is nothing but a document sent along with the resume. A good cover letter persuade the officer to read your resume. It will convey why exactly you should be hired to the job and your experiences and skills. The length of the cover letter has to be very short. Make sure you have pointed all the details in a crisp manner. Not more than one paragraph is needed to make an excellent cover letter. Try not to drag it with unnecessary details. You just have to high light your experience and skills and mainly, explain why you are the best for the particular post. Remember your cover letter is read along with thousands of other applicants. So it is important to make yours stand out from the rest. Do not beat around the bush and get straight in to the point. Since you are attaching your detailed resume along with it, you only need to communicate what you think is necessary and important. Before starting to write it, keep in mind that the cover letter should be in such a way that it has to persuade the officer to read your resume.

A cover letter usually contains following elements,

1.Salutation. Use ‘dear’ instead of ‘respected’. The use of respected in salutation is out dated and will not make a good impression. If you know the name of the officer, then it is better to write that in salutation. Other wise you can use ‘sir/ma’am’ or ‘to whoever it may concern’.

2. Self introduction. This is the area where you can share your details to the officer. Make sure all the details written are correct. Mention the information that is relevant to the job. You don’t need to add your family’s occupation and status. Write about yourself in a short manner. Always start the self introduction using terms like “I am writing this in reference to..”, “I would like to apply for the position for…”

3. Experience. In this section, you are supposed to write about your work experiences. Here again, you don’t need to add unnecessary experiences which are not related to the job you are looking for. The past experiences can prove that you know the industry well and you are trained effectively.

4. Goals/Aspirations. In this part you can convey your long term goals and aspirations and how you are going to achieve it. It should be written so well in order to create an impression about you.

5.Ending phrase. Always end with phrases like “yours sincerely” or “with regards”.