Are you tired of applying to various remote jobs and not hearing back from them? Your resume and cover letter could be the reasons for the same. You can enhance the cover letter with this guide. Read on to know more about the best cover letter practices you can use to level up your cover letter.
Before we get to the actual practices of a cover letter, understand the job profile and know why you’re applying for the remote jobs available. It is frustrating to figure out how to highlight the necessary skills and more so when applying for remote jobs.
Here are some cover letter practices that you should and shouldn’t do
Cover Letter practices you should follow
1. Read and Understand the job description
Your job description is a guide to your cover letter and makes sure you go through the job description carefully to understand your work. You should use your job description as an instruction manual and pull out relevant questions. In case you try and write a cover letter without referring to the job description, you’re increasing your chances of getting rejected.
2. Use Keywords
No, we are not talking about blogging for SEO writing here. Keywords help highlight your skills on the cover letter. When you go through the job description not down the specifications asked and try and incorporate them in your cover letter. Use of bullet points to indicate your skill sets will help the cover letter stand out to the employer. This will also increase your chances of getting hired.
It is not important to include all the keywords mentioned in the job description. Job descriptions usually mention the minimum requirements for an ideal candidate, make sure to enlist all those points smartly.
3. Address your employer with their name or designation
Whenever possible try and address your cover letter to a person. Make sure to do a little research before you write the letter. Do not address someone who’s not part of the organization anymore, that’d be extremely unprofessional. Another thing you can also add is to ensure you sign off with your name at the end of the cover letter. It should include first name and last name and your designation of course.
4. Write one page
Usually, the perfect cover letter is of a page with three-four paragraphs. This is neither too short nor too long. In case you think you’ve written less then go back to your skills and elaborate a bit more. Likely, if you’ve written too much then go back through your points and condense them down a little. Keep the relevant information and strike out the unnecessary information.
5. Show that you’re interested
There’s nothing wrong with mentioning your interest in working with them. Make sure you don’t go overboard and come as a very desperate person. A company would like to hire interested employees rather than uninterested employees. Mention subtly your aspirations and interest in working with the company.
Cover Letter practices you shouldn’t do
1. Optimize your cover letter
You must remember you’re writing a cover letter and not a blog post. So, do not use SEO-friendly keywords rather use the keywords mentioned in your job description. Using SEO friendly keywords will come as unprofessional and will lead to the employer rejecting your profile even if you have got the required skill sets.
2. Write single sentences
Some people like to stick to the given instructions and often misunderstand the intent behind the instructions. Let’s say you’re asked to write your cover letter within 150 words but you want to mention more. There’s nothing wrong with writing relevant skills par the word limit. Relevant is the keyword here. If you’re going to squeeze words and mention skills in a single sentence you’re digging your own grave and are never going to hear back from the employer.
3. Writing nothing at all
Previously we mentioned the importance of writing relevant skills without going over the board. Here we’re going to talk about writing less than necessary or not writing anything at all. Some people skip writing a cover letter altogether. Unless the employer has magical powers you’re surely putting yourself in a tough spot. Attaching a blank document as a cover letter and applying just chucks you out from the competition.
4. Writing an essay
In case you want to write an essay then you can consider writing for a blog or any writing firm. A cover letter should be a page long and the employer is not going to read all the text you’ve written. Employers are in search of the best employee to get the job done efficiently. Employers will take one look at the entire text and won’t read a sentence. Instead, use bullet points to highlight your skills and keywords to stand out.
5. Submit without reading it over again
We make mistakes and no one’s perfect. Make sure you check your content before posting the application. If you’re too lazy to crosscheck what you’ve written use apps to check your grammar or ask a friend or family member to help you out. Double-checking yourself will help you identify your mistakes and lower the chances of you looking silly in front of your employer.
Check out this article on preparing yourself for the first day of online high school.
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