While you may moan and groan at the thought of writing a unique cover letter for every single application, it can make sense to just do it.
However, if you are going to make the effort of creating this masterpiece, you might as well make sure you’re doing it right.
Here are the most fatal mistakes that will kill your cover letter – and therefore your whole application. So take a read and learn what to avoid.
Your salutation isn’t specific
It’s practically criminal to address your cover letter: ‘To Sir/Madam’ or ‘To whom it may concern’. In fact, it’s one of the worst cover letter mistakes you can make!
Firstly, it shows you haven’t done your research on the company or the position. Second, it suggests you’re using a generic template – and not very well at that. FYI, templates are great; just make sure you rework them to fit each unique application.
You need to make sure you address your cover letter to the person dealing with your application. This might be the hiring manager at the organisation, the recruiter from the agency, or even the head of a department at the company.
More often than not, there will be a contact name on the job description. So address your cover letter to that person. If no contact name is given, visit the website of the company you want to apply to and search for the name of their hiring manager.
If you’re still struggling to find the correct person to address your letter to, or you aren’t 100% sure you’ve found the right person, give the company’s customer service team a call. Or drop them an email.
As a last resort (and we mean after at least 20 Google searches, several cups of coffee and an unhealthy amount of teeth clenching), you might consider using ‘To Sir/ Madam’ as your salutation. Please, please don’t ever put ‘Dear Recruiter’.
You’ve re-written your CV
Often when people look for a job, their main focus is perfecting their CV to ensure the application is successful. As a result, many forget that a cover letter can be a key component of a job application. Then, upon realising they need one, they simply reword their CV and bulk it with fluff.
We probably don’t need to tell you this is the wrong approach. Or that it’s one of the most horrendous cover letter mistakes you can make.
Your cover letter is a chance for you to expand on and add detail to the skills, abilities and experiences listed in your CV. It needs to prove to the potential employer that you’re better for the job than any other applicants, even those with an equally good CV.
So just re-writing your CV isn’t going to help you sell yourself.
You want to hook them in with why you’d be a valuable asset to the company. Expand on a few key skills, abilities and experiences mentioned in your CV that relate to the job description. Show why you’d fit into their company perfectly. Include your soft skills. And leave the recruiter with a call-to-action regarding an interview.
Your opening line is boring
If you start your cover letter with the line ‘My name is [X] and I’m writing to apply for [Y]’, your application will have a similar fate to CVs that have ‘Curriculum Vitae’ as the header. The bin. Avoid rookie cover letter mistakes like this!
Recruiters trawl through job applications day in and day out looking for ideal matches for job vacancies. The least you can do is try to make them want to read your application.
It’s probably a good idea to mention the role you’re applying for in the opening paragraph. However, there are plenty of creative ways to include a little bit about you and the potential position in a way that will intrigue the recruiter.
You could do that by writing in crayon and adding some unicorn stickers. Better still, try one of these examples:
- ‘My name is Jack, and I’m writing to apply for a Sales Executive position at your company.’
- ‘At my previous company [NAME OF COMPANY], I single-handedly increased our annual sales by [X] percent, and that’s why you need me as your new Sale Executive.’
- ‘When I was growing up I used to sell 30p fizzy drinks for £1 to fisherman along the canal during the sweltering summer months. My ambition and ability to sell have only advanced since then, and that’s why I can make [COMPANY] excel as its new Sales Executive.’
You’ve waffled through your life story
It’s all very well telling the recruiter how you’ve progressed to where you are today. But you don’t need to disclose every little detail. That’s one of the worst cover letter mistakes to make!
Your love of maths may well have been inspired by your fantastic secondary-school maths teacher, leading to your career as a data analyst. But once you’ve hooked the recruiter into actually reading your cover letter, the personal details need to stop.
Simply highlight the parts of your life that are relevant to the job application.
If you’re someone with very little work experience, by all means draw on experiences in your personal life to back up skills and abilities in your cover letter. And again, play up those soft skills like teamwork, communication skills, critical thinking and empathy.
For example, if you cared for a parent, that shows commitment, flexibility and leadership qualities.
You’ve stuck rigidly to a template
No idea what to write in your cover letter or how to structure it? No problem – that’s where a template comes in handy. But you shouldn’t take a template too literally; it’s nothing more than a guide to help you craft your letter.
If you’ve just subbed name, company, role, etc. in the square brackets, stuck rigidly to the suggested sentence structure, and haven’t given it any of your own pizzazz, you’re making some major cover letter mistakes.
Not only must you put your spin on your cover letter, but you must make every line sparkle. And every cover letter must be unique to its application.
Sounds like a drag, but it’s easier than you think and it must be done. Recruiters can recognise a lazy template letter a mile off.
You’ve said the job will help develop your skills
Thinking of telling the potential employer how much you’d love this opportunity because it will give you the chance to develop your skills and progress through your career? Bad idea.
Every employer knows that this new role will offer the opportunity to develop skills. That’s what’s supposed to happen in a job! No one expects you to remain static.
