The Purpose of a Cover Letter

The main purpose of a cover letter is to get the reader, whether it is a recruiter or hiring manager, to read your resume. Showing how your background fits with their needs is the most basic way to catch their eye and keep their attention – get them interested in your background.

Don’t let them wonder what it would be like working with you. Make sure you’ve delivered a taste of your brand and have stayed true to your own language and writing/speaking style.

You should highlight the overall areas you’ve worked in and results of what you’ve done, but don’t give too much away (you provide details in the resumes). Also, don’t go on and on about how you believe “you can sing like the next American Idol”
 Note: A dose of humility is always helpful. Not really about you, about what you’ve done for others.

Keep in mind, when someone looks at your cover letter, they only have about 4-10 seconds to form their opinion. With time constraints like these, they’re going to be looking for key information in expected places, and want to understand what you do immediately. Make their read-through as easy as possible when showing how well you fit the position.

For formatting, make sure it matches your resume in font and font size. It will be easier to read if you use bullet points and chart formatting when possible.

Need help crafting your cover letter? Email us at [email protected] to learn more about our team of expert resume/cover letter writers and how we can optimize your job search.