How to write a winning cover letter

In today’s highly competitive job market, with over 100 applicants for many roles, applicants usually need to work very hard for their coveted role. It’s why many sensible people search for and choose a professional to write their CVs, cover letters and LinkedIn profiles – to get the very best chance.

If you are in two minds about whether you need or want a CV and cover letter writing service – a professional writer – to work on these items for and with you, if I say nothing else, it’s about choosing the right one, one that will hold an in-depth consultation with you to find out your motivations, capabilities and character traits in order to meet those job requirements head on.

In order to provide you with the best cover letter advice, in this article you should find many recommended cover letter tips for job applications – and if you still find you’re struggling, let Winning CVs take over the chore. We can write one for a specific role (or two), one to cover all similar types of role, or a prospective letter to present oneself to the company when a role has not been advertised.

Please see ‘Winning CVs Cover Letter Example’ for specific wording you can use in your cover letter – or just use it to gain some ideas.

Winning CVs has written countless custom cover letters for job seekers.

For many job advertisements, a cover letter is either required or optional.

Winning CVs’ stance is thus:

• If a job spec gives the option, make sure you write one to stand the best chance.

• If you do write one, shouldn't it be the very best it can be?

• What if it's the first item they read about you?

• Ensure it blows their socks off and gets them to look at the CV.

What Do We Want To Achieve With A Cover Letter? What Can It Do That The CV Cannot?

The CV is a formal, concise document that should be overflowing with what makes you an outstanding candidate – explicitly demonstrating activities/achievements so the reader can visualise you in their role, doing the same thing. What it should not do is go into detail about many aspects of your life, career choices, and hopes and dreams.

Contrarily, whilst the cover letter is of course another formal, concise document, it is the place to be elaborating on what you can bring a role – if writing it for a specific position. It can also delve into some reasons as to why you made certain career decisions, giving context and showcasing the real person behind the CV. It should serve as a complementary item, telling your career story and going into detail as to your core traits and skills that work particularly well for the job at hand.

As mentioned, it's there to get you the job. Further, to get them to look at the CV.

Key Reasons For, And Ways To Exploit, A Cover Letter:

• Setting you apart from other equally qualified candidates from the off.

• Directing the reader to the CV (as long as the CV is a document to be proud of – if it is not, please get Winning CVs onto the case).

• Outlining what you feel you can bring to a specific role, ideally by both showing that you did this activity previously and explicitly saying as much.

• Addressing key career challenges / choices – but think very carefully about this – these documents should be maximising the positives and not/barely mentioning anything that could be perceived as negative.

• Showcasing your intelligence, articulation, relevant skills and personality.

• Giving your reasons for applying and demonstrating interest in the role.

Key Cover Letter Writing Tips:

• Have the job spec, in particular its applicant requirements, open on a browser – or even better, copy over key points onto the letter before writing it, aiming to write about these one by one.

• Research the company and attempt to incorporate its values and vision into the letter accordingly.

• Think about the key points you want to get across – a balance of achievements / outcomes / value brought, vs later on your relevant and positive character traits.

• Start by ensuring the reader knows your value, and direct them to your CV at least once.

• Strike a good balance between confidence and humility.

• Spend time and effort ensuring that key requirements are ticked off in the letter, almost one by one, in order of importance.

• Although we want to avoid too much direct repetition from the CV, if they read it before the CV, we should ideally do a bullet-pointed list of achievements.

• Avoid making it too long. If they ask for no more than a specific number of words, aim for around 25% less. Winning CVs writes three-quarters of a page as a rule. If writing personal statements or some applications, these can and should be longer; be guided by the stipulations.

• Grammar and formatting errors can make you appear unprofessional so do everything you can to avoid these – use a writer or proofreading tools.

Why Enlist a Professional Writer? Well, it’s more ‘why not?’!

• They know what they are doing – they can promote you using the right tone, the right words and the right level of sophistication for the role.

• Objectivity – if they’ve held an in-depth consultation with you, they will know the value you bring and can articulate it. You may over- or undersell yourself – potentially equally as damaging.

• A good one will ensure to create a solid list of achievements, just in case they read the letter before the CV - and we want them to know, right?

• Avoid stress and save time, especially for those applying for multiple roles. You can concentrate on family life or work and hand the complexity over to the expert!

Finally:

A cover letter is not just a formality, it’s a chance to tell your story and stand out. The professional touch can transf

orm a generic letter into a compelling one. Invest in your career today by seeking expert support.

For a dedicated, highly qualified writer to maximise your applications with a winning cover letter, contact Becky on 07928 525882 or at becky@cambridgewritingservices.com about our CV cover letter service.