Top 5 Cover Letter Tips
1. Tailored Responses
Ensure that you tailor your cover letter against the background job information provided in the advertisement. Is it a project role? Is it an operational role? Are other organizational functions relevant? For example, is it appropriate to mention Change Management, Documentation, Service Delivery, Architecture, Service Level Agreements and so on. The job advertisement often contains details about the positions' duties and you can use these clues to tailor your response in order to give yourself the best chance to hit the right notes with the reader.
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2. Relevant Background and Quality Responses
Carefully select your relevant background. Ask yourself, why is it that I think I can do this job? Dissect your response and improve on it, once you have achieved that
improve on it again! Here is an example of how a good response can be fleshed out to an outstanding response.
- A good applicant may tell you that power requirement should be considered when installing a server.
- A very good applicant may tell you that power requirements should be considered as well as UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supplies)
- An excellent applicant may mention power considerations, a UPS and the importance of monitoring the status of the UPS.
- While an outstanding applicant may mention all those factors as well as adding side notes about the impact of service loss on business continuity and disaster recovery plans to the response.
3. Relate the Impact of Your Work to Other Teams
Demonstrate an understanding of how your department impacts service delivery and how that service delivery affects the core business. Applicants who understand business impact set themselves apart from the rest because they come accross well rounded - not just tech heads. Fleshing out organizational functions is a process that requires knowledge and clarity of understanding. This is where your education, training and experience come to the forefront. In the process, you will also score well on communication skills.
4. Mounting Evidence Helps the Reader Come to his Own Conclusions
After you have identified the key duties in the role, provide evidence to the reader about your skills from as many sources as possible. For example, if a key requirement is HTML skills. You should include your HTML training such as university subjects (if applicable), certifications, projects, support experience, examples of your work and any other sources that will help the reader to be well and truly convinced of your HTML ability. This is what we call 'mounting evidence' and it is a powerful tool that can be used to make a convincing point.
5. A 'can do' attitude to Reduce the Employers Burden
Keep your responses positive and ensure that you respond in a manner that tells the reader that you will get the job done. This includes demonstrating competence using techniques mentioned above as well as demonstrating enthusiasm and energy.
