If you want to get a decent job, you’ll probably need to send an effective cover letter. You see, these cover letters are an important part of any employee selection process. The big boss wants only remarkable employees, so you have to prove yourself valuable and worth their time. After all, wouldn’t you do the same if it was your company?

An awesomely written cover letter helps you create the first good impression. It’s also the factor which helps your recruiter decide whether to call you for an interview or not. Now; if you’re the type of person who wants to do things right, you must improve your future cover letters.

There are no exact rules for writing an impressive cover letter, but there are though some general recommendations and tips to make it better. During today’s article, we have selected five of the most important cover letter writing tips. Pay close attention and try to follow our guidelines whenever you need to write new cover letters:

1. E-mail is Better than Online Application

Most of the times, you have two choices. You can either apply using the company’s website, or you can directly send an e-mail to the recruiter. The second option is better because it makes you look more professionals. Usually, recruiters are dependent on their e-mail inboxes, because that’s their job!

Of course, if the company specifies that the cover letters must be sent through their online platform, you must do what they say.

2. Leave the Resume in the Attachment Box

Here’s a huge mistake that most employees do: they send both the cover letter and the resume in the same e-mail. This is not too smart because there’s quite a big chance that your interviewer will skip the letter. He’s going to get straight to your resume. If it isn’t that impressive, be sure that you’ve lost this battle.

Your cover letter should contain a short presentation of yourself, followed by the body of the text which is the actual cover letter. The middle part of the e-mail you’re sending should contain the most relevant facts and things about yourself.

As mentioned earlier, a cover letter is a key factor when it comes to landing an interview. If they like it, they’ll call. If they don’t, you’ll know soon enough. Last thing; please make sure that you send the resume in both Word and PDF format. Some of your employees may prefer one type of format, while the others may prefer the other one.

3. Keep it Short and Relevant

Keeping a cover letter short and also relevant is more difficult than you might think. Can you imagine how annoying a 7-pages cover letter would be for the recruiter? He has to read, assess, and re-assess dozens of letters. The competition is quite big nowadays. Many people look for jobs, and the unemployment rate doesn’t look that pink.

In order to grab the attention of your employer, you must be very firm. The cover letter that you’ll be sending must be relatively short and extremely on point. They want to know why you’re better than their other applicants. They want to get to know you a bit, feel your mindset and ideas; you must display everything, but do it promptly.

4. Impeccable Text

Here’s another critical factor that influences your cover letter success rate big time: text impeccability. That means a good structure, readable sentences and also perfect grammar and spelling. It’s absolutely obvious that your language and writing skills show how much of a professional you are.

Your recruiters will notice the slightest mistakes and will punish you for it. In fact, they expect perfection when it comes to grammar and spelling. If you’re not a native and you’re applying for companies that expect perfect English, you might need some help.

Whenever I need proofreading and editing help, I take advantage of a particular writing and proofreading service called Best Essays. The collaboration was always great, and I have my personal proofreader which whom I’ve also established a personal relationship.

Oh, one more thing. You need to make your text readable. That means no long sentences, no fancy words, and basically no complexity. Keep the language simple, and the sentences well structured. Also avoid blocks of texts, as this type of mistake scares readers away.

5. Inflict Your Personality into It

Employers are also human, just like you. They also sometimes avoid their professional judgment and allow their emotional thinking to control their behavior and decisions. The best way to win a job is to get to the recruiter’s heart. That’s a hard thing to do, considering the fact that you never ever seen him before.

You can try to win the interviewer empathy by touching different topics that you consider relevant. Think about it…what things from your life could really impress an interviewer? If you don’t find one, I’d suggest not to lie. You can exaggerate just a little bit, but don’t create a lie.

Don’t get too personal, but let them know what type of person you are. A risky yet very effective strategy would be to make a joke or two. Of course, failing to be funny might cause the exact opposite outcomes.

Oh, one more thing: do not forget to indirectly characterize yourself and your qualities. A story which reflects more special traits of yours is quite effective.

Conclusion

Crafting a badass cover letter is your surest way of hitting that interview and getting that job! You should understand that first impression counts. Your cover letter is usually what gives the first impression, so you must be very careful and professional.