The Covering Letter, part 1 – notes from the career coach | Unhappy in your job and know there must be something better?

The Covering Letter, part 1 – notes from the career coach

The covering letter is as important as your CV and you need to take the time to create a letter that’s effective. So many people miss out on the chance to reinforce why they are right for the job. Their covering letter is either very brief ‘Please find enclosed my CV. I look forward to hearing from you’ or too vague and full of stuff that’s irrelevant.

I’ve been sent two covering letters to review this past week. The first one was handwritten and over two sides of A5. Perhaps this person doesn’t have a home computer but as she was applying for a job as an administrator, it does give an impression of being uncomfortable with new technology. The second one was typed and I’m sure the person who wrote it had thought it was likely to be effective but the problem was that it wasn’t focused on the actual job. When we spoke she admitted that she has a general letter she uses for each job she applies for so it isn’t properly targeted.

I wrote a chapter on covering letters in my book – how to get a job in a recession, and here’s some tips from the book.

The best way to start writing your covering letter is to look at the job ad and person spec and pick out what is key. For example:

The Job Ad

As a Supervisor, you will report directly to a Sales Manager and will be responsible for the day to day running of a multi million pound turnover department and its Sales team within the store which could include: Cosmetics, Accessories, Childrens wear, Menswear, Womens wear and Home. You will drive the highest levels of customer service at all times and ensure excellent product presentation and availability.

Skills

You will be a positive, confident and proactive individual who has a passion for selling and retail. Strong commercial skills are preferable with the ability to make effective decisions. You will have excellent communication, delegation and time management skills as well as being a proven leader who can motivate and coach people to achieve. Numeracy and computer literacy skills are essential.

So a great covering letter would address these points. Following on from an initial introduction you then address the points that have been highlighted such as:

Key aspects of my background include:

· Customer service: Demonstrated within my ability to put the customer first, no matter what the current work priority might be. I offered to drop off products at local elderly residents houses if they were unable to visit the store and provided a community atmosphere where customers were actively invited for their input into product selection.

· Product presentation: A naturally keen eye for presentation, ensured products and faced-up stock were replenished. Identified counter lines & products relating to current media attention in an easily accessible and identifiable presentation making full use of professional POS Material.

· Passion for selling and retail: with seven years of retail experience, I love to serve customers and to offer great value and exceptional service, thus making a profit.

I’ll be writing more on CVs tomorrow. In the meantime you may like to look at the help I can offer via my website: http://www.amazingpeople.co.uk/cvs.htm

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 3:06 pm and is filed under CVs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.