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Career and Job Search Guide
  

Cover Letters

A cover letter is as vital as your resume. You can personalize your resume with a cover letter as well as emphasize your skills. Include the following sections in your cover letter:
  • Heading and greeting - Include the date, your name, and contact information. If possible, address your letter to a specific person.
  • Opening and introduction - Identify yourself and your purpose for writing the cover letter and include how you found out about the position.
  • Body - Promote yourself. Identify why you are an ideal candidate for the position you are applying for, and why you selected the potential employer.
  • Assertive closing - Respectively initiate further contact with the potential employer. Do not prepare a vague, form-like cover letter. Utilize the following tips to write an innovative and informative cover letter:

Be confident, positive, and focused
  • Target a specific audience in your letter
  • Be optimistic about your current employment situation and your future career prospects
  • Emphasize why the company would benefit from hiring you
  • Detail your career goals
  • Do not make false or unverifiable claims about your abilities
Be concise, accurate, and polite
  • Use short sentences
  • Keep the letter to one page
  • Thoroughly review your letter for grammar or spelling errors
  • Thank the reader for taking time to read the letter
  • Sign your cover letter � use blue ink if you want to prove the letter is an original
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