The Cover Letter: Telling Your Story
A CV is a summary of your experiences and your achievements the cover letter is your opportunity to tell the recruiter a story.
You are telling the recruiter why you are their best candidate for the job and why they want you as part of the team. This is also where you highlight your skills and achievements in more detail if your an avid blogger or you have worked different projects reference them but do not over empathise it. Your selling a story to them you want to get brought in for your interview to pitch it.
Now thinking about how to structure it, you want to introduce yourself setting the scene of why you have applied for the job. Make it stand out say “I’m a passionate student interested in your conservation role and I am excited to work on projects such as the new development in sustainable timber farming”. Think about how you establish the tone of your cover letter you want to come off excited about the opportunity but they need to be excited about you too. Tell them when your ready to get started and why the role is for you.
Now move onto why you suit the role what skills and experiences do you bring to your role. Source this from the job description what do they require of you if there are elements which you do not have think about transferable skills. If you have not worked in a customer facing role for example think about how you have encouraged your colleagues or diffused tension this should be areas that you bring in your personal hobbies to strengthen your points if needed. Also think about why you want to work for the company as a whole what do they do and why do you want to work there. Any job you apply for will have strengths for why you should work with them. Think about how they will make you grow what skills do you want to learn. How do these skills fit into your growth and the companies values then tell them that narrative. Even if its a temporary post you still need to show your enthusiasm as they can lead to other things.
Next talk about your journey how your career to date is relevant to the job you are applying for each of the points of the job specification. Try to also make it more personal is there something the company promotes that you want to get involved in like charity work, promoting a cause however avoid the financial side of this outside of sales. Also remember the role is yours to grow into tell them about your strengths or areas you are proud of overcoming it is your chance to get the personal buy in of the recruiter but leaving them wanting to know more.
The final paragraph is a summary of your earlier points highlighting areas you want them to remember. We are likely to recall reiterated points so your headline about you should have been referred to throughout if this is a particular skill or experience tweak it throughout the cover letter. Finish with a call to action if you are confident enough to call them advise you are going to do it and let them know your availability for interviews. If you are going to call use it as an opportunity to ask informed questions which go into more detail them what you know of the company already although it will be associated with an interview remember it is separate do not over sell yourself in a call.
If you want help making your Cover Letter or CV stand out I draw on my academic and professional experiences to help you stand out. Take a look at some of the services in the Build Your Career section that I offer. Help me help you make tomorrow better.
A useful point of reference:
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/hbr.org/amp/2014/02/how-to-write-a-cover-letter
