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Despite putting hours of effort into preparing their
cover letter,
it's not at all unknown for professionals to completely
undermine their efforts through one or more sloppy
mistakes. Here are the six of the most common
cover letter
mistakes:
- Not addressing your cover letter correctly:
It's bad form to use a generic greeting such as "To whom it may concern" or
"To the human resources manager". It's even worse to misspell the person's
or company's name incorrectly. Addressing your cover letter
to a specific person, and double check the spelling of both their name and the company name.
- Typos and spelling mistakes: While errors in the addressee or company name are the worst
of these, you should be on the look-out for any spelling, grammatical or typographic errors in your
cover letter. Such errors look terrible and give the impression
that you are sloppy and inattentive to detail. You should use the spell checker in your word processor,
but remember such tools can miss some errors - so double check everything yourself, and ask a friend
or family member to re-check everything for you too.
- Talking about what the company can do for you: Getting the job in question may be great
for your career, your self-esteem, or just your pocket, but the company doesn't want to know that.
Employers are generally interested in what you can do for them, and not nearly so much as what they can
do for you. Concentrate on telling them what you can bring to the table: the qualifications that make
you the perfect candidate, and what you will be able to do for them after they you employ you.
- Re-iterating your cover letter: You presumably
included your resume with your
cover letter, so there's no need to restate it all.
Instead focus on explaining things that are not in your resume,
especially why you are the ideal candidate for this particular position. You can illustrate your points
by referencing and highlighting particular qualifications or experiences on your resume.
- Beginning every sentence with "I": While your cover letter
is about you, it's also about what you can do for the company. Beginning every sentence with "I",
not only reads badly and gives a poor impression of your communication skills, it also suggests too much
emphasis on yourself and not enough on what the company is going to get out of employing you.
- Closing poorly: One of the worst possible endings for a
cover letter is to ask the employer to call you at their
convenience - yet that is the way that many end. This type of generic ending shows none of your enthusiasm for the opportunity
(except maybe that you haven't got any). It's much better to say that you yourself will follow-up, and indicate how
you will do so. This shows that you are genuinely excited at the opportunity, and that you have a
take-charge attitude - provided of course you do follow-up in the way that you promised!
Related Links:
- Amazing Cover Letters
Amazing Cover Letter Creator! Just Click A Button, Fill In The Blanks And Voila... Out Pops A Brilliantly Worded And Perfectly Crafted Cover Letter 100% Customized For You!
- CareerAssist
We offer affordable, easy-to-use cover letter and resume builder software and resume and cover letter critique services
- Resume and Cover Letter Secrets Revealed
"This do-it-yourself manual makes writing your own resume and cover letter a breeze... even for someone who's never written them before!"
- Sample Resumes
Resume and Cover Letter Samples Package.
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