More Cover Letter Tips
Just as a picture is worth a thousand words, a cover letter if composed properly, can convey your personality to the reader – in this case a Human Resources person. A bland, boring writing style suggests a bland, boring person – even if this is not true! Well, what to do? If you want to come across as an energetic and assertive person, try to develop a writing style that shows just that!
Here are some tips:
Cut out clutter – instead of writing"…at this point in time…", write "now". Instead of writing"…due to the fact that…", write "because."
Avoid Which, Who, That Clauses – Instead of saying, "The resume which is attached will indicate who I am." say, "I have attached my resume."
Do Not Transform Verbs into Nouns - Do you find yourself writing in this style? Example: "…perform an analysis of…" Instead, try using "analyze". Instead of saying, "…create a reduction in…", say "reduce."
Use Active Verbs – An active verb means that the subject does the action, while a passive verb means that the subject receives the action i.e. it is acted upon.
Which sentence do you think sounds more assertive?
"I ran the employment booth at the job fair." OR "The employment booth at the job fair was run by me."
Make Important Ideas Stand Out –
- Place keywords in strategic positions. The most emphatic parts of a sentence are the beginning and end. Before: "This contract will be a money-maker, despite our early concerns." After: "This contract, despite our early concerns, will be a money-maker."
- Apply text highlighting; but, do so sparingly. Use underlining, italicizing or boldfacing, even headings and bullets.
- Use contrast: Highlight your point through contrast. It adds style and pizzazz. Compare these two sentences: "I won'this freelance contract through hard work." and "I won'this freelance contract, not through luck, but through hard work."
- Vary sentence length: Long sentences are more reflective, as they wind their way toward the conclusion. Short sentences, by contrast, are emphatic.
Oh, one more thing. Beware of the Spell Checker Trap! Do not depend on the spell checker on your computer. The problem with them is that they do not find all the problems, since spell checkers cannot understand words in context. See if you can spot the mistakes!
"I have a spell checker that came with my PC. It plainly marks four my review mistakes I cannot sea. I've run this poem threw it, I'm sure your pleased too no. Its letter perfect in it's weigh, my checker tolled me sew."
Good luck with your cover letter!
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