Page 1 of 1 [ 3 posts ] 

kingtut3
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 18 Aug 2009
Gender: Male
Posts: 354

19 Dec 2009, 12:11 pm

I have to write a cover letter. I can't seem to come up with enough material for it. How do I come up with enough material for a cover letter?



KaliMa
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 8 Feb 2007
Age: 62
Gender: Female
Posts: 960
Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA

19 Dec 2009, 2:46 pm

When I've had to write a cover letter I looked at each qualification the job called for and wrote a paragraph for one or two of them each. I'd keep it to 2-3 paragraphs. To save myself having to do it from scratch every time I saved the paragraphs in a word document, like the paragraph about my typing speed, etc, so I could just copy and paste from the master document to make a new cover letter for each qualification for any job I was applying for. Don't make one generic cover letter, they LOOK generic. It makes a better impression if it seems like you bothered to make a cover letter specifically for this position by addressing each qualification in turn, which actually takes just a couple of minutes once you've made that master word doc I mentioned. I dealt with qualifications I didn't really have by mentioning a similar qualification I DID have, and adding that since I have always learned new things quickly I was confident that it would not be any problem.

My first paragraph would be: I am writing in regard to the X job I saw posted at X place on X date. I am very interested in this position.

Then I would go through my qualifications in basically the same order they were in on the ad.

The last paragraph would be: I hope to meet with you soon to discuss my interest in and qualifications for this job. You can contact me at X phone number or X email address to schedule an interview. I look forward to hearing from you.

And then, after you're finished, read the letter slowly to make sure you haven't used the wrong form of a word like to/too, and see that when you changed something you didn't screw up and leave part of the original sentence in the letter. If you can get somebody else to do your proofreading for you that's even better. Of course you'll be using spell checker, it just won't catch that kind of mistake.

Since I've become disabled I think I got rid of the master word document with all my paragraphs on it, but I'll get upstairs when I feel up to it and see if still have it on one of my jump/flash/thumb drives. If I find it I'll send it to you privately, since I'm sure nobody else is interested :wink:

Good luck!


_________________
"I yam what I yam." - Popeye the Sailor

Avatar from www.freesmileys.org


Oisin
Pileated woodpecker
Pileated woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 23 Nov 2009
Gender: Female
Posts: 177

21 Dec 2009, 1:50 pm

Perhaps this will help you:[url=http:///bizcovering.com/employment/how-to-write-the-perfect-cv/]how to write a perfect cv[/url]