How To Make Your Cover Letter Stand Out

Standout resume? Check. References on standby? Check. Interview outfit picked? Check. There’s only one thing missing – your resumes perfect partner, and your ticket to the next stage – a cover letter.

While your resume is a snapshot of your career’s greatest accomplishments – your cover letter is your opportunity to introduce yourself to the hiring manager, and tell them exactly why you’re right for the role.

So, whether you’re starting from scratch – or tailoring an anchor letter written by our team – we’ve put together a few tips to help you write your cover letter.

Do some research

Sit down and spend a little time researching the company – if you can, jot down a few reasons why you want to work there, these will be useful for later. This step is important because you’ll want to find out who will be reading your application, so you can direct it to them if possible. This information might be found in the job description, or somewhere on the company website.

Say hi, and introduce yourself!

This step is no surprise – but it’s still important. After addressing the reader, it’s your time to shine. Introduce yourself with a brief rundown of your professional history and let the reader know why you are applying. Don’t forget to mention which role you are applying for at the company, and why you are interested in working there.

Keep your sentences concise  

You want your cover letter to be highly digestible and easy to read, this means leaving out fancy – but unnecessary – words and keeping your cover letter short, sharp, and shiny.

Once you have finished drafting your cover letter, read it out loud and make any necessary edits – if you can, ask a trusted friend, or a professional service like Clothier Careers, to do this as well.

With that said – keeping it short doesn’t mean leaving out unnecessary information. Despite what is often said, there is no perfect length for a cover letter. The length of your cover letter will depend on a multitude of things including the job description (are there key criteria points to hit?) and your career history.

Don’t repeat your resume

Your resume presents your history in a neat, laid out format for hiring managers to look through – and your cover letter is a chance to expand on this, not repeat it.

If you have listed any accomplishments in your resume this is your chance to dive into how they were achieved.

For example, you could turn the phrase ‘Awarded Amazing Award for my dedication to Big Company’ into ‘My commitment to Big Company has been continuously recognised throughout my career – notably, in 2021 when I was awarded the Amazing Award – bestowed for my part in creating a new employee training program.

Other ways to expand your resume including diving into why your experience will help further the company can your experience bring something new to the role? – and discussing your expertise, soft skills, and academic history.

Use numbers

If you can quantify your accomplishments – do it. If you increased sales in your last role tell hiring managers exactly how you did that (social media, partnership deals, networking) and how much by.  

Turn ‘Increased sales’ into ‘Increased sales by 10% through the use of a social media strategy focused on building a larger email base’.

Tell them how you fit

Your future employer is looking for someone who will be a cultural fit - someone the company’s team will enjoy working with – so show them who you are!

If you jotted down a few reasons why you wanted to work with the company, this is the time to use them. Show the hiring manager that you align with the values and principles of the company, and show some excitement for the job!

Tell them how to reach you

Sign your resume off with a thank you – there’s no need to be fancy, a Kind Regards will do – and let the hiring manager know how to reach you.

Re-read 

Re-read it one more time than you think you need to – and submit!

These are just a few tips you can use when writing a cover letter, we’ll be diving deeper into this subject throughout our blogs, so keep an eye out!

Read our Resume Tips here, or get in contact with our team for a professional consult.