If you can show an organization that you're deeply interested in working for them, it will likely increase your chances of being interviewed.Ī good litmus test for this is to ask yourself, "if I changed the company's name and the name of the job, could I send this cover letter to a different company?" Companies would prefer to invest that time and effort into people who are truly interested in working for their organization (and are therefore likely to accept an offer that is made), not any generic company. Interviewing and hiring people is extremely expensive and time-consuming for an organization. However you found out about them, make sure to include it in your letter. Did you read a company blog about interesting research they're doing? Did you see that they deeply value philanthropy and encourage all employees to get involved in a range of volunteer efforts? Give them a specific reason that you're interested in working for them at the start.Īlso, let them know how you found them. Tell the Company Why You Want to Work for Themĭo you like the company culture and values? Do you think the work they're doing is interesting? Stick to the basics such as "I'm interested in X" or "I'm writing about Y position".
You also don't need to struggle for creativity for an opening line. Don't worry about hunting down a specific person to address your letter to, unless you already know it. Instead, treat it like an email, and start the letter simply with "Dear Hiring Manager". You can skip listing your address or your employers at the top. It can also be a helpful exercise for you – it gives you the chance to think about and articulate why you're interested in working for this company – so when you're asked in an interview, "Why this organization?" you have an answer readily available. This is more important to some organizations than others (FAANG typically doesn't care), but a great cover letter will never hurt your chances of being hired. You should write a personalized cover letter for jobs you care about.Ĭover letters are a way that you can stand out from your competition and show the organization why you're interested in working for them. My Top 10 Tips for Improving your cover letterĪs someone who has reviewed a lot of cover letters (good and bad), here's a few of the most important things to keep in mind. What you really need someone who has a lot of experience hiring or recruiting in your specific field in order to receive accurate advice. It's often hard for reviewers to provide constructive criticism for fear of hurting someone's feelings. Second, most people don't know how to write a good cover letter, and therefore they can't help identify the problems with yours. There are a couple of problems with this.įirst, you want your cover letter to be better than okay – in order to stand out in an extremely competitive job market, it needs to be stellar. They'll often say something like, "But I've had tons of people review it and they all say it's okay!"
People rarely think that their cover letter is the problem, even if they've been struggling to get interviews. In this article I'll go over some common reasons why your cover letter probably isn't that great, along with my top 10 ways to improve your cover letter and stand out from the crowd. On top of this, it's difficult to sort through all the advice on the internet and figure out what's actually worth following. It involves selling yourself and your skills, which is something most people struggle with. This makes sense – you probably only write a cover letter or résumé every few years.