by David B Hitchcock

Created on: June 15, 2009

How to write a flawless and professional cover letter

To write the perfect cover letter you have to keep a couple things in mind: this is a professional looking business letter, you are making the hiring manager's job as easy as possible, and you are showing off your most relevant skills and experience. With that in mind, let's get into the details.

A cover letter is a professional business letter.

This means it not a casual email, or a letter to grandma. It's also not a rambling retelling of your professional life story. A business letter has everything in its place, and is a short letter. Your name and address at the top left, then the date at the right, and then the name and address of who you are writing to again on the left. And you end the letter with a professional and short salutation, your proper name, and your contact information. With all that out of the way you can concentrate on the body of your letter. Above all remember to be polite and spell check before you send it out.

Make the hiring manager's job as easy as possible

To make the hiring manager's job as easy as possible, you want to include all the information they will be looking for, and make it easy to find that information. In the first couple lines introduce yourself and state what position you are applying for, including a reference number and where you saw the job posting. The next paragraph focuses only on matching your skills and experience to the job posting. Keep it short, and to the point. This is a summary of your resume that will grab the attention of the reader and make them want to read your resume for more details. Many people choose to create a table with two columns - one column has the job posting requirement, and the second column has your experience or skills that meet that requirement. This style makes it very easy to ensure you have met all the requirements at a glance.

Also if you have worked with someone in that company before and have cleared this with them, you might want to mention them in passing in your cover letter. If you do this, HR can check out your resume with them to confirm you are the great worker that you present yourself as. Hiring managers love it when you make their job that easy!

Match your skills and experience to the job posting

As stated, you are showing off your skills and experience. Ensure you use the most relevant examples to meet the posted requirements. Keep the descriptions short, but include enough information to get the reader's attention. Do not exaggerate, and above all do not lie on either your cover letters or your resumes! In these desperate times the temptation to lie may be great, but when (not if) you are caught your reputation will be shot and nobody will want to hire you. It's not worth that risk!

You're done!

By now you should be looking at a really good cover letter. It is in the business letter format with all the contact information in the proper places, you have introduced yourself and stated which position you are applying for, you have highlighted your skills and experience that match the requirements for this position, and you end with your name and contact information. Cover letters are not that hard once you have the format in place, and have written a couple for practice. Now you are a master of the cover letter - go get that job!

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