5 Things To Include In Your Cover Letter

5 Things To Include In Your Cover Letter Picture the scene; youve found a great-sounding vacancy, youve tailored your CV to the role, youve written up a pretty succinct cover email  and youre just about to send your application off when you spot something at the bottom of the job advert which stops you in your tracks the employer has requested a cover letter. You start to panic. A cover letter?! Is that really necessary?! And what do you even put in a cover letter?! Before you start having palpitations its time to take a deep breath and relax. A cover letter is a common part of job applications because it can help the employer to learn a bit more about who you are as a candidate and why youre applying for the job and Ill let you in on a secret; theyre not that difficult to write! Now, weve covered cover letters quite extensively on this blog before (for example, here, here, here and here!) but weve never covered the basics, so I thought Id change that today. Without further ado; here are the five things you need to include in every cover letter. Contact Details: With a cover letter, the clues in the name its a letter so you need to format it as such. This means including your address in the top right and your name and additional contact details (eg. email address, phone number and even links to your social media profiles) at the bottom. OK, so some people might disagree that you need to put your address on there but I think you should for two reasons. 1. A lot of employers are old-school they want to see that you know how to (and can!) write a simple letter. And 2. The employers probably going to Google you anyway (other search engines are available!) so its probably best to be upfront about your location from the start (dont forget if you are planning on relocating you can mention that in the cover letter itself). Still not convinced you need your address on there? Thats fine but you still need to follow the proper formatting protocol for your letter. The Name Of The Role Company Youre Applying To: At the start of your cover letter its always a good idea to mention what job it is youre applying for and who with. Why? Because sometimes hiring managers can be recruiting for multiple jobs and even multiple companies at the same time so Your Passion For The Industry: Another thing you need to include is your passion for the industry youre applying to work in, particularly if its a really competitive industry and youre right at the start of your career. This is important because employers want to take on new members of staff who are enthusiastic and have a genuine interest and passion in the industry they work with. Why? Because these are the employees that work hard because they actually want to be there. If you dont express this passion, you risk being overlooked and being outshone Why Youre A Good Fit For The Role: Weve said it before and Im sure well say it again your cover letter is there to bridge the gap between your CV and the job advert so you need to make sure it does just that! In your cover letter you need to try and explain why youre the best candidate for the role and why the employer should give you a shot. OK, so Im not suggesting you write an essay but I am saying that you should address some of the key skills and experience mentioned in the job description and explain how and why you tick the boxes. If you can make it perfectly clear in your cover letter why youre a good candidate for the role, itll be extremely difficult for the employer not to look at your CV! Why You Want To Work For That Company: In addition to expressing your passion for the industry and explaining why youre a good fit for the role, its also a good idea to explain why you want to work for that company in particular. Now, there are two reasons for this. Firstly; it demonstrates that youve done your research and that youre not just applying for this job randomly. And secondly;  it shows that you have a good understanding of who they are as a company and how youd fit in something which is really important when it comes to smaller agencies and brands. Oh, and also sweet talking the company in question is never going to hurt when youre applying for a job ;). Anything Else They Ask For:   OK, so I know I promised just five things but I didnt want to miss this one out! A lot of the time, if youre applying for a job with a direct employer, theyll probably ask for a cover letter and mention a few things they want you to include, such as salary expectations and notice period. If this is the case, you need to be sure to include everything theyve asked for in your cover letter. If you dont, you risk annoying the employer from the offset and it might also suggest to the employer that youre incapable of following simple instructions