Career Development Handbook Career-Development-Handbook | Page 21

2. Tips for an impactful Cover Letter
a. Use the cover letter to highlight specific value-add
which you will bring to the potential employer’s team
instead of repeating what an employer can already
read from your resume!
b. Keep it brief, to the point and create a sense of follow up!
c. Addressing the letter to “Dear Sir/Madam” is better than addressing it “To whom it
may concern”. As far as possible, try to find out to whom you should be specifically
writing to.
d. Never begin your Cover Letter with “My name is XXX and I am a student from XXX.”
The potential employer would kn ow your name and education through your resume.
e. Explain clearly in Paragraph 1 of your cover letter why you have reached out to the
employer, stating clearly that you are keen to explore the role within their teams and
how a potential working relationship would be a win-win situation for both the
employer and yourself! For instance, mention/highlight where you and the Employer
both share the same values, same market interest etc.
f.
Elaborate with impact in Paragraph 2 of your cover letter what particular skills,
personality traits and track records which you would bring into the team that will add
value.
g. Propose in Paragraph 3 of your cover letter how you would like to follow up on the
potential opportunity with their team.
h. Please make your cover letter concise, sharp and one-page.
3. Pitfalls
a. Typographical, grammatical and spelling errors
are the worst first impression killers!
b. A resume that is too long, too cluttered, or
uses fonts that are overly small and hard to
read will also be ditched!
c. Using complex sentences instead of simple, straight to the point statements.
d. Providing irrelevant information that does not matter to the potential employer.
e. Too generic or too boring. You need to customise and create impact for your resume!
f.
Over-bragging or being too modest could both back-fire on you.
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