BE CREATIVE TO LEARN

COVER LETTER

What is a cover letter?

A cover letter accompanies a CV (and/or completed application form). It's an opportunity to highlight what's in your CV and to provide real examples to support your ability to do the job. Some recruiters place more emphasis on the cover letter than the CV so it pays to take care with it.

What should I write in a cover letter?

Unless you are asked to apply by letter of application only, a cover letter should be brief and drive home the key aspects of why you are a good candidate. It should summarize what's in your CV, by emphasizing your key strengths in relation to the job.

A cover letter should include a heading to make it clear which job you're applying for and, following the introductory paragraph, it can take the form of bullet points or short statements. It should also include your own name, address and contact details.

How do I start and end a cover letter?

Make it clear which job you're referring to by using a heading and an opening line such as, 'In response to your advertisement on the Prospects website for the role of XXXXXX, I write to enclose my CV'. 

If you're given a named person you should address the letter to that person and begin the letter, Dear Ms Jones, and end with: Yours sincerely, Justin Smith.

If you don't know the name of the person, but have a job title, such as the HR manager, you should address the letter to the HR manager, and include Dear Sir or Madam, and end with Yours faithfully, Justin Smith.

A cover letter should always end positively and look ahead to the next stage, for example, 'I would be happy to provide further information at interview' or 'I look forward to hearing from you'.

How do I write a cover letter for a job that's not advertised?

This kind of letter is sometimes referred to as a 'speculative letter'. This means that you're writing to find out if there are likely to be any vacancies in the future. Your speculative letter should be welcoming and enthusiastic.

It's more difficult to write a speculative letter because you're not responding to a specific vacancy but, with some research about the company, you can find out about previous job advertisements and angle your letter accordingly.

If you've undertaken work experience at the company, you can draw on your knowledge of that.

Should I disclose my disability?

You're not legally required to do so but you shouldn't lie and say you don't have a disability if you do, as this would amount to giving false information and could result in you losing a job offer. If you decide to disclose a disability, you need only share information as far as it relates to the performance of the job.

If you need adjustments to be made to help you carry out your job, your employer may receive extra funding to make reasonable adjustments to the job role or the work environment. 

The cover letter is an opportunity to explain your abilities and emphasize your job-relevant skills, experience and knowledge. Some applicants find that their disability has given them opportunities to learn additional skills or insights.

If you choose not to disclose a disability at the application stage, you may do so at a later stage.

As a non-EU student what should I include in my cover letter?

In general, the guidelines for how to write cover letters apply equally if you are a UK-, EU- or non-EU domiciled student. However non-EU students need to declare whether they are eligible to work in the UK or whether they are looking for an employer to sponsor them.

The employment regulations for non-EU domiciled students and graduates are complex and subject to change and you should get up-to-date advice from the international office within your institution about whether any restrictions or special requirements apply to you. Giving false information about your employment status could result in a job offer being withdrawn.

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What is a reference letter and when are they used?

A reference letter is usually written to testify to a person or (occasionally) a company’s skills, character and/or achievements. Sometimes a reference letter is known as a “recommendation letter”. It is a formal document, and should be typed and written in a serious and business-like style.

Reference letters are used in a wide variety of situations; there is no definitive list that covers all possible scenarios. The most common examples are:

• When a candidate applies for a job, they may need a reference to support their application.
• If an interviewee is given a job offer, they may need to supply a reference letter before the contract can be signed.
• A student applying for an academic course often requires a reference letter to support their application.
• A student applying for funding will often need to supply reference letters.
• Companies may use reference letters as testimonies to their trustworthiness and ability to carry out a job well.
• Prospective tenants may need to provide their landlord with a reference letter, testifying to their good financial status. (This could be from a prior landlord or from a current employer.)

Who should write a reference letter?

If you are approached and asked to write a reference letter for a job candidate, a student or a company, consider whether you can legitimately do so. A reference letter is a formal document, and it is crucial that you do not lie or fudge the truth in it, or there could be legal repercussions. If someone wants a reference letter from you:

• The candidate should be someone you know reasonably well. For example, you cannot provide any authoritative comment on the academic ability of a student who’s only been attending your lectures for a week.
• You should know the candidate in a capacity which gives you the ability to write a meaningful reference. For example, if you have worked with the person, it would be appropriate for you to write a reference letter to a prospective employer for them.
• You should be able to provide an honest and positive reference. If you truly feel that the candidate has no good qualities for you to emphasis, or if you have had a personality clash with them in the past, you should tell them to seek a reference letter from someone else.

What goes into a reference letter?

The exact structure of a reference letter will differ slightly depending on the type of reference it is, but this is a good basic outline:

1. Start using the: put the recipient’s name and address, if known, and address them as “Dear [name]”. If the recipient is currently unknown (this would be likely on an academic application, for instance), then use “Dear Sir/Madam” or “To whom it may concern”.
2. It is often helpful to introduce yourself in the first couple of lines of your letter. The recipient will not need your life history: just give a brief sentence or two explaining your position and your relationship to the candidate.
3. Your next paragraph should confirm any facts which you know the candidate will be supplying along with your letter. For example, if you are writing a reference for a job applicant, some or all of these details may be appropriate:
   • The person’s job title, and role within the company.
   • The person’s leaving salary when they were last employed by you (or your organization).
   • The dates which the person was employed from and until.

If you are writing a reference letter for an academic course, you will need to confirm the person’s academic grades.

1. In your third paragraph, you should provide your judgement upon the candidate’s skills and qualities. It is often appropriate to state that you would gladly re-employ them, or that their contributions to your college class were highly valued. Single out any exceptional qualities that the candidate has – perhaps their drive and enthusiasm, their attention to detail, or their ability to lead.
2. Where possible, use your fourth paragraph to give a couple of concrete examples of times when the candidate excelled. (You may want to ask the candidate to tell you about any extra-curricular projects they’ve been involved in, or invite them to highlight anything they’d particularly like you to include in the reference letter.)
3. Close your letter on a positive note, and if you are willing to receive further correspondence about the candidate’s application, make this clear. Include your contact details too.
4. As with any business letter, you should end appropriately; “Yours sincerely” when you are writing to a named recipient, and “Yours faithfully” when you do not know who will be receiving the letter.

Things to avoid

Make sure that you avoid:

• Mentioning any weaknesses the candidate has.
• Saying anything that could be construed as libel.
• Writing in an informal manner: keep the letter business-like. Jokes, slang and casual language are not appropriate and may harm the candidate’s chances.
• Including personal information not relevant to the application. Mentioning the candidate’s race, political stance, religion, nationality, marital status, age or health is usually inappropriate.
• Spelling mistakes, sloppy writing or typos: this letter is hugely important to the candidate, and you should take care to make it look professional.

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Writing the perfect CV

An effective CV will showcase your most relevant skills and experiences, whilst telling a prospective employer why you are right for the job.

Follow the simple steps laid out in this guide and you’ll be well on your way to achieving the perfect CV.

Put yourself in the employer’s shoes

Before you apply for any role you need to gain an understanding of the type of person the prospective employer is looking for. Whether it’s from a job advert, person specification or conversation with the company itself, use this information as a blue-print for your CV. The more effectively you show a clear match between the skills required and those you possess, the more likely you are to secure an interview. 

Be honest and factual

Your CV will typically be used to structure the interview and could be the foundation on which the job is built, so providing inaccurate information will only lead to problems further down the line. Give yourself the edge by using your CV to accentuate your real skills and abilities, and to promote achievements and successes.  

Make yourself easy to contact

It seems obvious but not everybody does it. Include all of your contact details on all of your pages as you never know if your CV will get split up. Always include your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address and, if you have a website that you think will add value to your application, include that too. 

Proofread, proofread and proofread again

It’s critical that each area of your CV is easy to read and allows the key points to stand out. Use a universal font such as Arial, Times New Roman, Palatino or Courier, rather than one that may not be available on the recipient’s computer.

Always check your CV for spelling and grammar errors, as a mistake could cost you the job. If in doubt, ask someone else to double-check it for you. And always include a covering letter! 

Making your CV stand out Focus on value

Remember, the reader is asking themselves two basic questions: can you do the job and will you fit their organization?

• Introduce yourself with a strong positioning statement that sums up your personal and professional attributes, taking into account the role blue-print. This should act as a focused summary of what you have to offer, so keep it simple and snappy.
• Concentrate on how your involvement with projects showed return on investment. It’s no good saying: “I ran a team of three people”. Instead, think about what your management did for that team:
  • Did it improve productivity?
  • Was the team responsible for rolling out a new programme?
  • Did your management result in cost-efficiency savings?
• Every statement that you make should focus on your achievements and successes. Try to support each statement with numerical evidence, such as: “reduced downtime by 15%”.
• Your CV should be a living document. To make the most of it you’ll probably need to adapt it to specific roles or blue-prints. Employers don’t have time to read between the lines, so the more you do to promote your suitability, the greater your chance of success. Make it easy for them by:
  • Moulding your CV to their requirements
  • Highlighting where your skills match their needs
  • Pointing out the value that you could bring to their organization

Mind your language

• Keep copy concise and jargon-free
• Use short sentences and bullet-points - you can expand on these at the interview
• Don’t refer to yourself as ‘I’ or by name
• Make sentences more direct by using verbs and nouns on their own (e.g. ‘Increased sales by £50k’ or ‘Major achievements include’)
• Use the past tense to describe your career (‘Led a team of…’) but the present tense for your transferable skills and competencies (‘Offers experience in…’)
• Quantify outcomes in numbers, not words (‘Retained 100% of staff…’) as it’s quicker to read or scan

Layout

• Use an uncluttered layout with plenty of white space and wide margins
• Choose a single, common typeface such as Times New Roman, Arial, Palatino, or Courier
• Follow best practice: 10-12 point body text, 16 point maximum for headings, no capitals (especially on internet CV-s where capitals are seen as SHOUTING), and embolden headings
• Don’t reduce the font size or margins to fit more in. If you need another page, use one
• Print on one side of the paper only, and number the pages if there are two or more

Structure Personal information

• Name, address and contact details are a must. You might want to add these details to the header or footer of your CV in case pages go missing

Work experience

Employers are usually interested in your most recent jobs, so concentrate on your last two positions – although you might occasionally want to highlight earlier roles if they are relevant to the role you’re applying for.

• Start with your most recent position and work backwards
• Provide a job title, start and finish dates, the name of the company and a brief description of what they do. Treat a promotion like a separate position and add content accordingly
• List relevant responsibilities, achievements, duties and skills
• Describe the scope of your job and level of responsibility, rather than listing a job description
• If you’ve had a lot of jobs or a long career, you might want to summarize under such headings as ‘Previous employers’ or ‘Earlier Career’
• Make sure you explain any significant gaps in your career as, even if you’re not working you may have gained valuable transferable skills and experience from other pursuits

Qualifications, education, training and development

• Usually these come near the end, but if particular qualifications are essential for the job and make you more marketable, put them on the first page after your profile or key skills
• Include relevant professional qualifications and academic ones, but don’t include ‘bought’ memberships
• List degrees and any executive programe that you may have attended; giving the subject, awarding body and year. Be honest as it may be checked
• Mention relevant skills such as languages, technology, vocational or on the job training
• Include relevant training or skills acquired while unemployed, on sabbatical, or doing part-time or voluntary work

Reference and client endorsements

• You may want to include the names and contact details of your references on your CV, but there is no obligation. Whether you include them or not, it’s wise to have your referees ready and willing to represent you
• Include client endorsements and recommendations in the achievements section of your CV, for example: ‘Given a special award by ABC for contribution to ABC project’

Future proofing

Remember to keep your CV up to date, even when you’re no longer looking. You’ll be thankful when the time comes and it’ll prevent you from forgetting important dates, details, projects or successes. If you follow these simple rules and put all of our tips into practice, you’re more likely to impress on the strength of your CV. Good luck!

 

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