How to write your cover letter
CONTENT
TEMLATE
THE ESSENTIALS
• Personalize your letter: look up the company’s hiring manager or search for the person in charge of the department to which you’re applying.
• Follow-up! Give some precise (date and hour; beware of time difference) time slots when you’re available for a quick telephone/Skype interview.
• Proofread!
• Don’t repeat your resume! Detail your most relevant work experiences.
• Do not only talk about yourself. A cover letter is not about you; it’s about how you can help the company.
• Don’t just write that you’re competent. Prove it with concrete examples.
DEAR "NAME"
• Personalize your letter: look up the company’s hiring manager or search for the person in charge of the department to which you’re applying.
• To find those names and emails, you may use the company’s website, LinkedIn, Google or tools as HUNTER and NORBERT.
• Don’t start your letter with "To Whom It May Concern," / “Dear Hiring Manager” or “Dear Recruiter.”
OPENING LINE
• Remind what position you’re applying for and why you’d like to join this company in particular. Highlight your main skills and accomplishments relevant to the position.
• Don’t start with “My name is…”. The recruiter knows your name already: it’s in your resume, your contact info and the name of the document.
• Don’t beat about the bush: be direct and efficient.
BODY
• Find the company's pain point: why do they need that position in particular? What’s the big picture? Once you’ve figured that out, explain how you can help them grow.
• Choose your 3 more relevant, both hard and soft, skills and show with tangible examples and data how you apply them in your professional life.
• What drew you to this job? Why are you excited about the company?
• What are they looking for? What experiences/accomplishments demonstrate that you have those things?
• What approach did you take to tackle one of the responsibilities you mentioned on your resume?
• What details would you include if you were telling someone a (short!) story about how you accomplished a specific action - mentioned in your resume?
• What about your personality, passion, or work ethic makes you especially good at getting the job done?
• If hired, how would you contribute to the company?
• Don’t just repeat your resume! Detail your most relevant work experiences.
• Do not exclusively talk about yourself. A cover letter is not about you; it’s about how you can help the company.
• Don’t just write that you’re competent. Prove it with concrete examples.
CLOSING LINE
• Follow-up! Give some precise (date and hour; beware of time difference) time slots when you’re available for a quick telephone/Skype interview → for instance: “I am available to speak via phone or Skype on Wednesdays and Fridays after 1 p.m. and welcome the opportunity to discuss my application.”
PROOFREAD
• To proofread your text, you may use a plug-in such as GRAMMARLY,
• Beware of the results you may find on LINGUEE: some come from websites written by non-native English speakers. They can make mistakes too!
• If you have a doubt on a specific expression, try Google: you’ll see how common it is and if people use those words to mean what you want to say.
• You may read similar job offers to aggregate more vocabulary.
• Make sure you always use American English and not British English!
• Make also sure you write dates in the appropriate format: mm/dd/yy.
• If you chose a specific graphic identity for your resume, use the same for your cover letter.
• Save your letter as a PDF format and give it a proper name: YourName-YourLastName-Cover-Letter.
DON'T FORGET
• To find a job, you won’t merely need a resume and a (personalized) cover letter. You’ll need two other documents:
- An email template to introduce yourself and your application
- A follow-up email template to make sure people have read your application and ask again for an interview.
Prepare those emails in advance. That way, you won’t forget them (especially the follow-up email, which is of considerable importance) and you won’t have to write them in a rush.
TEXT STRUCTURE
No more than 1 page,
If you chose a specific graphic identity for your resume, reuse it for your cover letter.
Your full name
Your phone number (with the French area code, +33)
Your email address
Full name of the recruiter/contact
Job title
Company
Mailing Address
Date
Dear <<NAME>>,
Paragraph 1 = opening line
Paragraph 2 = skill 1 + example
Paragraph 3 = skill 2 + example
(Paragraph 4 = skill 3 → facultative)
Paragraphe 5 = closing line
I will contact you to confirm that you received my application and to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you, in advance, for your consideration.
• Best regards,
• Best wishes,
• Best,
• My best,
• Regards,
• Respectfully,
• Respectfully yours,
• Sincerely,
• Sincerely yours,
Signature

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