“Working together works better”: CV Writers on covering letters

Too often CV Writers see information in covering letters simply cut and pasted verbatim from the CV. With a job seeker churning out lots of applications perhaps this is understandable. Until that job seeker stops to think about why they are not getting any interviews. Cutting and pasting the same paragraph into both a CV and covering letter is a little demeaning to recruiters. I mean, is it seriously expected that having read a letter and then a CV just a few seconds later that the recruiter will not realise they are reading the same thing?

CV Writers believe it’s important to think of a CV and covering letter as one unit.

Call it ‘a job application’ if you like (I nearly put an apostrophe here but thankfully re-considered).  The two need to work together. To be precise, one should lead to the other. The covering letter should point towards the CV.

Advertisers talk about the importance of a ‘call to action’. The call to action in a covering letter is to ‘read my CV’. It’s easy to think about how to construct the perfect covering letter by breaking it down like this:

1. Confirm the role you’re applying for.

2. Provide a compelling reason for applying (that isn’t in your CV).

3. Convince the recruiter to read your CV (the call to action).

It really is that simple. Don’t get bogged down writing reams of information in the covering letter. Keep it succinct and snappy. Don’t repeat information. Have a clear call to action.

Follow CV Writers guidelines and you can be confident any recruiter will be pouring over your CV and giving your application serious consideration.