How To Write The Perfect Cover Letter

So you're sending somebody a proposal, a curriculum vitae, a report, a document of some importance to you and you've got to write a cover letter. Don't think this cover letter is not important; it can be very important, it can make all the difference. The document, you've done your best with it, "I hope it's well signposted, I hope it speaks for itself," but the cover letter does something different.

The cover letter makes a personal connection; it's addressed to an individual. Make sure you're sending it to the right person, make sure you're sending it to the decision maker and then address that person. Now, if you know them, that's great, that's a big help.

You can talk about the things that matter most to them, "Dear so-and-so, when we met, you expressed an interest in. when we met you said 'this is what matters'." So, if you know them, it's great, you've got something to work on. Think about the things they cared about and address those.

If you don't know them, try to find out a bit about them. If it's a senior person in the company or you've met somebody else in the company, ask the person you've met about the person you're having to write to. Ask something to get a feel for what they're interested in and then do your best to connect.

If you can't connect in that way because you just don't know much about them, but at least you know they're the representative of this firm, you know their position in the organization, then refer to something in your proposal, in your curriculum vitae, that you think will particularly appeal to them. If they're a law firm, mention your experience in another law firm, it will be relevant. So, I said it's personal but it's also got a specific function, this cover letter, and the specific function is to make that person read the document, the curriculum vitae, whatever it is.

So you've got to be pointing them to something. You could write a cover letter that just says, "Please find enclosed," then the document. That wouldn't be very helpful, that would miss the opportunity to make a personal connection and to point them to something that would be of particular interest to them.

So whatever it is, whether you can refer it to the person because they've expressed an interest or whether you can refer them to something in particular in this document that you're sure will interest them, do that; you're pointing them towards the document and making them want to read it. Don't miss that opportunity and keep your cover letter short, but it's personal, it's addressed to them, get to the point and they'll want to read the document. .