We recently finished a hiring round and received some great covering letters. However, there were also some real shockers. Some applicants clearly made accidental mistakes, some showed inexperience, but many were sluggish. It’s a tough student jobs market right now, and if you want to succeed you cannot afford to be slack. In this article we dish out tough love in a bid to show you how NOT to write a covering letter.

We’ve selected a few snippets from letters that were actually sent in. The examples are anonymous and unrecognisable; the purpose is to illustrate some of the frustrations we encountered, and to get you to avoid some of these common pitfalls.

1. Get the Name Right

Applicants were asked to address the covering letter to a “Tim”. Can you spot the mistake?

Dear Time

Time? Are you for real? The name is Tim! On the particular day we received this cover letter we’d sifted through many poor applications; motivation levels were low and grumpiness high, so imagine how we felt when we read this. Fortunately, we saw the funny side, but the application was not progressed.

2. Adjective Attack

You always have to big yourself up in your applications – that’s kind of the point, but stuff like this is frustrating:

…well-spoken, energetic, confident, and personable. My willingness to learn will give you the versatility to place me in a number of contexts with confidence that the level of excellence you expect will be met

You’re better off simply writing “I am superman”. Employers want evidence in order to assess whether you have the right skill set. Attacking cover letters with adjectives tells an employer nothing. We see this frequently. To stand out, use the statement and evidence technique e.g. “I am hard working as shown by the fact that I attended night school to learn Spanish whilst undertaking my graduate degree”. Do you see the difference?

3. Cut ‘N’ Paste Calamity

We advertised a job for a client for a ‘Marketing and Event Internship’. We received the following:

I am writing to express my interest in the ‘Internship Luxury Tourism Public Relations & Marketing’ position

Clearly, the applicant is sending out a generic cover letter. “What’s wrong with that?” I hear you cry. Well, it indicates that you pay no real attention to any job description, as shown in the example! It’s ok to use a template but just don’t forget to adjust it to match each job description.

4. Zzzzz…

A cover letter we received had 8 long paragraphs. No kidding. The applicant was articulate, but by the 5th paragraph I was fast asleep at my desk. The ability to be concise is a skill that’s highly valued in the workplace. Keep to 3-4 paragraphs highlighting your most relevant experience.

5. Futile Formatting

With CVs you can afford to be more creative in the presentation, however, this is not required for cover letters. Cover letters provide a summary that indicate to an employer whether or not it’s worth reading the rest of your application. So don’t distract employers with pointless formatting. Don’t capitalise entire words, don’t justify the text, don’t underline key points, don’t use anything larger than a size 12 font and don’t bold anything! Keep an employer focused on the words you’ve written.

6. What are you Hiding?

When asked for a cover letter, PROVIDE A COVER LETTER! Not doing so smacks of concealment; do you think the job is beneath you and therefore doesn’t merit your time and energy? Do you not have the required experience and you’re hiding this fact? Are you an alien? You see, not providing a cover letter raises doubts and suspicions.

7. The Autobiography

One of my earliest memories was a scene in primary school…

Some cover letters we received began at an applicant’s childhood, then proceeded to discuss misspent teenage years and finished with a nail-biter – the tough choice of which university to choose. I’m a grown man but some of these life stories had me bawling into Cleanex tissues. By all means show personality but for the most part keep your application relevant by simply outlining your skills, experience and interests.

The cover letter matters. Yes, tailoring can be time consuming, but remember that whilst you’re slacking, there’s a grad or student out there in the wilderness crafting an awesome application.

TAGS: