{"id":8507,"date":"2019-02-15T12:14:48","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T19:14:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/?p=8507"},"modified":"2019-02-15T12:14:48","modified_gmt":"2019-02-15T19:14:48","slug":"anatomy-of-a-great-cover-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/anatomy-of-a-great-cover-letter\/","title":{"rendered":"Anatomy of a Great Cover Letter"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was originally posted by The Muse under the title “The Best Cover Letter Examples for Every Type of Job Seeker<\/a>“. Check out the full article on themuse.com<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Elements of a Perfect Cover Letter<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s talk about puzzles for a second. They\u2019re made up of bits and pieces that fit together a specific way to complete the whole, right?<\/p>\n

Cover letters are a little like puzzles. When you put each component in its proper place (and remove any parts that don\u2019t fit), you create a complete picture.<\/p>\n

Every great cover letter includes the following:<\/p>\n

An Engaging Opening Line<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Not \u201cI\u2019m applying for [position].\u201d Not \u201cI\u2019m writing to be considered for a role at [Company].\u201d Not \u201cHello! How\u2019s it going? Please hire me!\u201d<\/p>\n

Your opening line is everything.\u00a0How you start a cover letter<\/a>\u00a0influences whether someone keeps reading\u2014and you want them to, right?<\/p>\n

\u201cStarting with something that immediately connects you to the company is essential\u2014something that tells the company that this is not a generic cover letter,\u201d says Godfred. \u201cEven if your second paragraph is something that doesn\u2019t ever change, that first intro is where you have to say something that tells the employer, \u2018I wrote this just for you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

It can be a childhood memory tying you back to the company\u2019s mission. It can be a story about the time you fell in love with the company\u2019s product. It can be an anecdote from another job or experience showing how hard of a worker you are. Whatever you decide to open with,\u00a0make it memorable.<\/em><\/p>\n

A Clear Pitch<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The next few paragraphs, Godfred explains, are where you include one of two things: \u201cIf you\u2019re someone who\u2019s transitioning careers, and you need to explain that transition, you do it there.\u201d But if you\u2019re not a career changer, use this section to \u201chit them with the strongest results you have that are aligned with the opportunity,\u201d she states.<\/p>\n

Ryan Kahn<\/a>\u2014Muse career coach and founder of\u00a0The Hired Group<\/a>\u2014calls this your pitch. In other words, the part where you\u2019re \u201cselling yourself for the position and why you\u2019re qualified for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Godfred emphasizes that this section should have a balance of soft and hard skills. Talk about your experience using Salesforce or doing SEO work (and get those job description keywords in! More on that later), but also highlight your ability to lead teams and communicate effectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompanies are embracing authenticity, they\u2019re embracing humanity, they\u2019re looking for people who are going to fit their culture. So what are your values? What do you stand for?\u201d says Godfred. These values should be as much a part of your cover letter as the nitty-gritty.<\/p>\n

A Great Closing Line<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Kahn explains that your\u00a0closing line<\/a>\u00a0could include your next steps, such as \u201cI welcome the opportunity to speak with you more about how I can contribute to [team]\u201d or \u201cI would love to schedule a time for us to discuss this role and my experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

But more importantly, \u201cyou want to make sure that you\u2019re gracious and thanking them,\u201d he says. While seemingly\u00a0clich\u00e9<\/a>, it never hurts to end on a simple \u201cthank you for your consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can, however, exclude the \u201creferences upon request\u201d line. \u201cIf an employer wants your references, you better believe they\u2019ll ask for them,\u201d says Godfred.<\/p>\n

A Few Other Cover Letter Essentials<\/strong><\/h3>\n

First off\u2014please, I beg you,\u00a0address your cover letter<\/a>\u00a0to a person.<\/em>\u00a0No\u00a0\u201cTo Whom It May Concern\u201d<\/a>\u00a0or \u201cDear Sir or Madam.\u201d People don\u2019t talk that way, so why would they want to read it?<\/p>\n

Secondly, keep the applicant tracking system, or\u00a0ATS<\/a>, in mind. This robot will be sifting through your cover letter much in the way it does with your resume, so you\u2019ll want to scatter relevant keywords from the job description throughout your cover letter where it makes sense.<\/p>\n

Third of all, get your\u00a0contact information<\/a>\u00a0on there, including your name, phone number, and email (most of the time, your address and theirs is irrelevant)\u2014and on every page, if yours goes over one.<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine you come across a cover letter and you print it out with a bunch of applications to review and it doesn\u2019t have the person\u2019s contact information on it,\u201d states Godfred. \u201cYou never want to put yourself in a situation where you\u2019re the right person and they can\u2019t find you.\u201d<\/p>\n

And know that the ATS can\u2019t read crazy formatting, so keep your\u00a0font<\/a>\u00a0and layout simple.<\/p>\n

See more on themuse.com!<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article was originally posted by The Muse under the title “The Best Cover Letter Examples for Every Type of Job Seeker“. Check out the full article on themuse.com! The Elements of a Perfect Cover Letter Let\u2019s talk about puzzles for a second. They\u2019re made up of bits and pieces that fit together a specific…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":977,"featured_media":368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[101,2384,734,145,2385,2386],"class_list":["post-8507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-job-info-advice","tag-advice","tag-anatomy-of-a-great-cover-letter","tag-applying","tag-cover-letters","tag-how-do-i-write-a-good-cover-letter","tag-info"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/files\/2016\/03\/The-Muse-logo.png?fit=203%2C118&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p79l8e-2dd","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/977"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8507"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8508,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8507\/revisions\/8508"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/careercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}