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Times change, and with them come changing expectations for cover letters.

No longer is a standard, generic “please give me a call” cover letter going to cut it. You need to make sure your cover letter not only jumps off the page with freshness, it also needs to be specifically targeted to each particular employer you are applying to.

If you want to be successful, you need to start thinking about your cover letter as a marketing tool and opportunity to make a great impression on a hiring manager.

Do your research

While you may have already read the job description and checked out the company website, your cover letter will benefit greatly if you do a deeper dive into what the company is all about.

Look up company executives on LinkedIn to see where they are from and where they went to school. Check out what they’ve been posting about. Even if you don’t get too much usable information, your name will appear on the “people who viewed your profile” section, and that will help with name recognition down the road.

Also, look up the company itself on social media to see what it is posting about and the challenges it’s facing. Try to see how your skills, experience and values fit with the company’s mission statement and the type of content it shares online.

Come flying out of the gate

Don’t waste time and space with a bland opening like, “I saw you job posting on Indeed and…”

You need to grab the attention of a hiring manager right away by hooking them with something of value. Explain how your skill set or experience is a perfect fit for the challenge they are facing right now. Mention a personal connection to a company manager. The important thing is to stand out right away, within the first two sentences.

Sound enthusiastic

There are a lot of skilled, qualified workers out there, but these folks may not be passionate about working certain jobs. Companies want to hire someone who’s not only qualified, but who’s also going to work hard and be enthusiastic about their job.

When writing your cover letter, make sure you are feeling enthusiastic about applying for a company, and try to make that enthusiasm appear on the page. The key here is to be authentic. Find something about the job or the company you are truly passionate about. This also means only applying to jobs that you actually want to work.

Make it brief

Hiring manager must sift through many resumes for each open position, so pulling up a multi-page cover letter is going to look unappealing to their fatigued eyes. Make your cover letter brief, and format paragraphs into small digestible chunks.

Essentially, you want your cover letter to be all killer, no filler.

If you’re looking for a job opportunity to get passionate about, feel free to contact Cornerstone Staffing Solutions today, and let our team of staffing experts uncover the opportunities that are right for you.


2 Responses to “Cover Letter Tips to Boost Your Job Search”

  1. Peyton

    Wow, this is such an amazing article. For me, it is extremely useful for me and those who are going to apply for a job. In my opinion, I do agree with the author’s own ideas that the cover letter should be brief and sound enthusiastic. As you know, the more condensed your cover letter is, the more successful your job search will be. Employers receive hundreds of cover letters every day so they shall not be patient enough to read a 3-paged cover letter. Besides, your cover letter should be enthusiastic. It is due to the fact that companies want to hire someone who’s not only qualified but who’s also going to work hard and be enthusiastic about their job.

    Reply

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