UHL2432

ENGLISH FOR PROFESSIONAL

COMMUNICATION
WEEK 4

Cover Letter

What is a Cover Letter?

1. It highlights key points in your resume.
2. Expresses your interest in a position.
3. Shows off your qualifications to a
prospective employer.

The Convincing Cover Letter

Why Cover Letters Get Screened Out
1

Description
You may need a job desperately, but the
more desperate you seem, the faster
opportunity will run from you. Be warm and
don not over explain everything.
No Signature
Sign your name at the close of your cover
letter using black pen. Script fonts on the
computers are lovely, but they are no
substitute for your own hand written
signature.
Career Goals Out Of Sync
Maybe you eventually want to become a
massage therapist but for now you need
work in advertising. Your prospective
employer
Does not need to know that in your cover
letter. In fact, listing unrelated
Career goals is one reason so many cover
letters and resumes are screened out.
Getting Too Personal
Employers do not need to know the details of your
personal life unless they relate to the job at hand.
e.g. youre a parent applying to a childrens aid
organization and want to demonstrate that your
empathy comes from your personal experience.

Not Using First Person

Write your cover letter in first person. That means
Referring to yourself with the pronoun I rather than
she or he. Writing in first person makes you sound
confident and direct.
It is True, Sort Of
While , we all should put our job experience in
the best possible light, never make up
qualifications. At best, you will feel guilty and
undeserving of the job when you do get it; at
worst it could cost you the job and your
reputation if your new employer discovers the
inaccuracy.
Wrong Tone
Your prospective employer will likely form his or her
first
Impression of you from tone of your cover letter.
Have a friend read Your letter to be sure the tone is
positive and pleasant.
Deadly Typos
Dont misspell the hiring contacts name or title in
the address in the greeting or on the envelope. In
fact, dont misspell anything at all

Types of cover letter

Format of a Cover Letter (hard copy

correspondence)

Format of a Cover Letter

(e-mail correspondence)

The template of a cover letter includes

three main contents or components:-

Pre-Cover Letter Business

A Few Things to Keep in Mind

Begin with

Opening Paragraph

I am interested in the assistant position

advertised in XXX. I am currently employed as
Legislative Director for Assemblywoman XXXX,
Chairperson of the NYS Assembly XXX. I accepted
this position because of the emphasis on the
writing and research skills which are applicable to
your requirements for an authors assistant
(establishes a purpose). My experience in the NYS
Assembly has afforded me the opportunity to
become familiar with the consolidated and
unconsolidated laws of the State of New York. I
also have extensive experience in legal and policy
research (forms details applying for the position)

Body Paragraph(s)

In my position as Legislative Director for Ms. XXX, I am,

heavily involved in the current welfare and medicaid
reform movement (elaborates on skills for position).
Earning the degree of YYY has given me an excellent
grounding for the position in the legislative practices
(qualification highlights education). I believe my
experience in the Legislature, and my research and
writing skills qualify me for consideration (qualification
highlights experience). I also prepare her personal
legislation which deals with issues relative to her
position as Senior Member of the NYS Assembly
Standing Committee on XXXX (qualification highlights
training). I will be valuable asset to your company and
use this as an opportunity to grow and further the
development of my skills in the field (explains how you
will be valuable to the company).

Closing Paragraph

To further acquaint you with the specifics of my

background I am enclosing my resume (mentions
resume). I hope you will consider me for this position
as I can be reached at the above address or by phone
at (019) 2710000 (request for interview with specific
contact details). I look forward to meeting with you and
discussing my qualifications in more detail.

Editing Cover Letter

Activity 7

Activity 7

Keywords from the job ad gives you

all the information you need.
You can use your transferable skills to
bring success to your resume.
Key Words To Build Success
Making a list with your job position
objective on one side and your job
history transferable skills on the
other will help you draw from all the
positive job history you have.

Personal Keyword List

Experience

Ability

Success

Responsibilities

Roles

Personal Attributes

Demonstrated skills in

Trained in

Promoted to

In charge of

Analyzed

Committed to

Extensive academic

Competent at

Succeeded in

Supervised

Established

Confident

Experienced in all aspects

of

Expert at

Proven track record

in

Familiar with

Formulated

Enthusiastic user of

Knowledge of

Working knowledge
of

Experience
involved/included

Employed to

Initiated

Thorough

Experienced as

Coordinated

achieved

Assigned to

Managed

Actively sought

Practical background in

Organized

Instrumental in

Project managed

Presented

Motivated

Provided Technical
assistance to

Executed

Delivered

Mediated

Created

Influenced

Communicated

Proficient in

Imagined

Translated

Designed

Persuaded

Do
1. Double and triple check before
sending
2. Check for spelling errors and typos-professionalisms a must
3. Don not go over a page.
4. Be sure to send both resume and
resume cover letter to the prospective
employer.

Fully Blocked Style with Open

Punctuation
This layout reduces typing time as there are no indentations for new
paragraphs or the closing section.

Fully blocked layout simply means that every line is aligned to the left
margin. No paragraphs are indented, no headings are centred
everything starts at the left.
Open punctuation is often used with the fully blocked layout. Again this
reduces typing time because there is no need for any unnecessary full
stops and commas. Open punctuation means missing out all nonessential full stops and commas, for example at the end of each line of
the address, after the salutation and closing section.

Fully Blocked Style with Open

Punctuation
Although fully blocked layout is used
by many organisations, some still
prefer to adopt their own in-house
style for document layout. That is
fine too, as long as you remember
the golden rule of consistency. Be
consistent.

References
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http://www.careeronestop.org/ResumeGuide/Writeafirstdraft.aspx
Allison, D. (n.d). Resume Types: Chronological, Functional, Combination,
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 Body Language in Interviews Online Quiz. Retrieved from:

http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/interviews/nvc.htm
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 Cover Letter Format, Retrieved

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 Resume Guide: Write a First Draft, Retrieved from:

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