Cover Letter Writing Skills

Cover Letter Writing Skills

While writing a cover letter the most important thing keep in mind is the KISS rule: Keep It Simple Stupid. It always works!

A cover letter is meant to give a brief about you and your accomplishments and should make the interviewer want to read your résumé. Here are a few pointers to writing a good cover letter:

1. Keep the letter short
2. Always address the letter properly; make sure your ‘To’ and ‘From’ addresses are correct.
3. Make sure you have the prefixes right. Is the person concerned a ‘Miss’ or ‘Mrs’; for a lady, if confused stick to ‘Ms.’ If you are not sure of the gender, then it is safest to write ‘Mr./Ms.’
4. Begin the body of the letter with a short note on your college and if it has achieved any laurels. E.g., “I am currently in the final year of ABC College. ABC college has been voted among the top 50 engineering colleges in the country and I am part of its XYZ course…”. Even if it hasn’t, mention the name and where it is located.
5. The next note should be about where you heard about the company and why you would like to work for them (again in brief)
6. Finally end with telling then a couple of points as to why you suit the position and mention that résumé will support this
7. Finally end the letter with a thank you and also with a ‘looking forward’ note, E.g., “I look forward to hearing from you soon.” And with “Best Regards/ Sincerely”. Finally sign / type your name.

It is very important that you do not sound verbose in your cover letter. Do not try to give your entire personal or professional data; your résumé is meant to do that. So good luck and start typing!