Cover Letters By Email
Do's and Don'ts of
Cover Letter Writing

It's all too easy these days to apply for a job. The large growth in job sites means that you can apply at the touch of a button and have your applicatiion on the desk of the recruiter within minutes.

Is this a good thing?

Yes and no.

The speed is super, but with speed comes slackness. Most job applicants write one cover letter to suit all occasions and that's where the problems lie.

A cover letter, if it's to be effective, must be bespoke and written precisely for the job you are applying for.

In my time as a professional recruiter, I saw many people applying for high level IT executive positions and they couldn't even get the name of vacancy or the title of the newspaper correct - because they were using a standard letter!

This tells potential employers that you are applying for lots of different jobs.

Who would you employ - the person who wants your job, or the person who looks as though he's applying for dozens of jobs indiscriminately?

It's an easy choice for an employer.

So, if you see a job advertised on the Internet, via a job board for example, what's the best way to apply?

The first thing you need to know is whether the job is being advertised directly by the employer, or via a recruitment agency.

Recruitment Agency Covering Letter By Email

Recruitment agencies work differently to employers. They use technology more, so when compiling a covering letter, you need to make sure that you use the right keywords in your application.

That's because when your job application is received, it will immediately be saved to a computer file, along with your CV.

Each time a recruiter in the recruitment agency gets a vacancy he or she will conduct an initial search of their candidate database for keywords in the job vacancy, for example:

"Sales executive", "construction industry", "Java programmer" etc - so your job title and any current, applicable technical skills should be included in your cover letter as well as your CV.

Of course, if you are applying for an advertised job using email, rather than putting the covering letter in the body of the email, it's best to attach your covering letter as a file.

The file should be compiled in Word, as all recruitment agencies will use this package. If you don't have Word installed on your PC, then use another word processing package and save the document in rtf (Rich Text Format) format.

Even though you are applying via an agency, you should still compile a bespoke cover letter for the job you have seen advertised.

Your email should be short and to the point, as follows:

From: Your email address To: Recruitment Agency Subject: Vacancy Reference xxxx Sales Engineer, Monster.com Dear Sirs, I would like to apply for the above position as advertised on Monster.com. Though I wasn't actively seeking another position, your advertisement seems a close match to what I currently do. My cover letter and CV is attached in  Word format. I look forward to hearing from you. Regards Your Name

Don't make the mistake of being less formal just because you are applying via email. In this case, your email is what creates the first impression - and you need to impress your recruiter! Keep things as formal as possible and never use "text" language!

If you are applying direct to an employer, then you won't need to include keywords in your cover letter. Simply create the letter based on what the advertisement is asking for, nothing more.

Your email should be sent as above and be very formal in it's approach.

Before sending an emailed job application, double check that you have attached the cover letter and your CV and that the email is addressed to the correct person.

Also, just to be on the safe side, look at your email settings and make sure that you have disabled any amusing email footer that you use when emailing friends. Employers aren't interested in smileys, jokes, football teams, hobbies, interests etc.

©Hollywood Internet Ltd - Do's and don'ts of cover letter writing