What Can Your Cover Letter Convey That A CV Can’t?

A cover letter is a supporting 1-2 page document that adds value to your application, giving you the opportunity to expand on relevant experiences, present yourself as the ideal candidate, focus your application on a particular position, address extenuating circumstances, and express your desire to work for a certain company.

Although cover letters are viewed as optional, they shouldn’t be overlooked. Cover letters are an excellent tool to show that you are passionate and above all, serious about the job you are applying for. They immediately distinguish you from candidates who omitted one, overall enhancing your chances of landing that next interview.

Cover letters can be time-consuming in nature, as they should ideally be tweaked and tailored to the role and company being applied for. In this post, we’ve listed some key points and objectives to consider when writing your next cover letter, to help you present yourself as the ideal candidate and set yourself apart from the competition.

Use Your Cover Letter to Elaborate on Relevant Experiences

Fundamentally, recruiters want to ensure that you have the skills necessary to be successful in the position you’re applying for. A cover letter gives you the opportunity to go into greater detail about any projects or consulting engagements that you have worked on specifically and that are particularly pertinent to the position for which you are applying.

Make the life of the recruiter or hiring manager easy by not relying on them to connect the dots in your journey.

Make direct connections with recruiters when discussing specific experiences by highlighting their relevancy to your target position and how they will help you to succeed.

This approach will also demonstrate that you didn’t just submit a generic cover letter on a whim, but that you gave your application some serious consideration.

Use Your Cover Letter To Build a Case For Why You Are The Ideal Candidate

Leverage your cover letter to discuss your transferrable skills and career journey, particularly when you are applying for a role that differs from your CV’s employment history.

For instance, a candidate looking to shift from a sales function to a finance role that requires familiarity with financial modelling would think about enrolling in an online course in accounting or in Excel financial modelling to advance their knowledge in the field.

In the cover letter (your stand-out opportunity to directly speak to the recruiter) should comment on the particular models you learned to develop, the breadth of the subjects covered in the course, and how these are directly applicable to the position you are applying for.

By taking this approach, you’ll demonstrate to recruiters that you’ve made preparations for a job change and are indeed, treating it seriously.

Cover Letters Help Tailor Your Application to a Specific Role

Many applicants utilise a single base CV for all of their applications because a CV is a fact-based summary of your experience and accomplishments, and they use the cover letter to customise their submissions for specific roles.

To do this, we advise carefully in going through each job description and emphasising the fundamental abilities hiring managers are seeking to fill. Then, consider your experience and share instances of how you used the learned skills in your profession.

You can further boost your application by providing more examples that are specifically relevant to the position you’re aiming for.

Cover Letters Can Explain Extenuating Circumstances

Red flags including work gaps, non-linear career paths, job hopping, and visa or relocation issues can all be addressed in a cover letter.

Explain any section of your story that could cause concern to a recruiter, or potentially reject your application.

For instance, you don’t have to go into great detail about why you had to take a year out of work. Recruiters’ worries can be allayed with a succinct explanation such as the following:

“I missed 12 months of work last year owing to a family medical situation, which has since been handled. Now that I’m ready to return to the workforce, I’m eager to use my experience as a financial director.”

Employers tend to be much more understanding than you might expect – especially in a post-pandemic work environment.

Even a line about how you spent 6 months travelling the world on your cover letter could turn out to be a great conversation starter during an interview!

Cover Letters Tell Employers Why You Want to Work for Them

One of the most effective things you can do on your cover letter is to provide a compelling explanation of why you are interested in working for a specific organisation:

Is there something about the company’s culture or product offering that draws you in?
Have you a recent news article about the organisation that you found particularly impressive?
If you are interested in building a long-term career in their sector, why?
Did one of your connections at the company suggest that you apply?
So many candidates send out generic cover letters – and many even forget to change the employer’s name!

By demonstrating that you took time to do your research and aren’t just haphazardly sending out your CV to numerous openings, you’ll increase your chances of securing an interview.