Make use of your cover letters to stand out from your career competition

Scoring your desired job has always been tough. On top of that, with the ongoing pandemic — which has resulted in staff cuts and struggling industries — it is even harder to land a role. Not only are there fewer openings, but you are also competing against many others who are fighting for those few positions.

Without a doubt, your resume plays a key part during the job searching process. However, cover letters — which are always highly requested by employers — are a good opportunity to further present yourself as a valuable candidate.

Whilst your resume touches on your basic information like working and educational experience, writing a cover letter can share with employers about your personality, research done on the company and how your skillsets can be of value to the team.

Let your personality shine through

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Cover letters are one easy way to let your personality shine. Of course, it also depends on the type and culture of the company you are applying for, which can help determine what tone of voice your cover letter should be written with.

Let’s say that the place of employment is your typical corporate organisation; you can remain formal without using a monotonous writing style. Perhaps you are applying for a media-based role where the setting is more light-hearted and fun; allow yourself to be a bit bolder with expressing yourself.

The bottom line is to remember to maintain a polite and professional attitude, and even as you’re sharing more of your personality, you should avoid pretending to be someone you are not.

Show that you have done your research on the company

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Typically, you only get to engage with your potential employer during the interview stage, and your resume is not really a way you can share how much you know about the company.

You can, however, make use of writing a cover letter to show that you have done your research on your place of application. Doing so can present you as a keen candidate who took the time and effort to learn about the organisation.

Whilst it’s not necessary to spill all the knowledge you’ve acquired because of how wordy that can get, you can highlight a few key points that interest you. Depending on what the company is, you can briefly touch on certain campaigns, advertisements, products or achievements that caught your eye.

According to a Glassdoor article, Facebook’s Vice President of People, Lori Goler, shared that doing your research on the company before your interview is one way to land a role at the tech giant. Whilst this is more geared towards the interview stage, being informed about your potential future workplace is a key attitude to have.

Share how your skillsets can be of value to the team

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Even though your resume should already have your skillsets listed, your cover letter allows you to expand on how they can be of value to your potential employer.

In a Glassdoor article, job recruiter Jenny Foss said: “Spell out very quickly and succinctly what you can walk through that company’s doors and deliver, with the deliverables of the job directly in mind.” The founder of Career Attraction, Kevin Kermes, also advised, “Quantify the outcomes you can produce to solve your recipient’s biggest problems.”

When sharing how your skills and past experiences can be of asset to the company, try aligning them with the job description and also use numbers when describing the potential targets you can achieve as a member of the team.

Cover letters might be time-consuming to craft, but when written strategically and with effort, they are a good way to help you stand out from your competition.

Feature image taken from Unsplash