Chapter 2: Revitalize Your Job Search Documents

Cover Letter

Think of the cover letter like beautifully crafted icing on top of a delicious and important cake. The cake is an essential component, but neither the cake nor the icing are nearly as good when they are eaten on their own. In comparison, your cover letter should always accompany your resume, and emphasize, expand, and complement several key points related to the employer’s needs. Just like a good cake, it has to be professional, well-crafted, interesting, and impressive! It should encourage the employer to want to read through your resume and persuade them to meet with you to further explore your qualifications.

It’s common to question why a cover letter is needed and whether or not recruiters or employers even read it. There are definitely some companies that are too busy to read cover letters, but there are many managers at small and medium sized companies that do take the time to skim through them. Truthfully, we cannot know for sure what each and every employer or recruiter reads or relies on when deciding on whom to interview. However, if your resume has been shortlisted, your cover letter could set you apart from other candidates. By submitting both a tailored resume and cover letter, you will increase your chances of being screened in. Preparing a well thought-out, personalized, customized, and compelling cover letter is an effective job search strategy that can give you an advantage over other applicants.

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Be the Boss of Your Career: A Complete Guide for Students & Grads Copyright © 2021 by Lindsay Bortot and Employment Support Centre, Algonquin College is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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