How to write a cover letter that gets noticed

Writing a cover letter can feel daunting, especially if it’s been a while.

Where do you begin? What do you say? What do you not say?

Your cover letter should focus on relevance, clarity and a clear understanding of the role and the organisation.

Here are five top tips to get you started and help you write a cover letter that will catch the attention of those reading it (in a good way!).

Five top tips for writing your cover letter

Structure your cover letter in three clear parts.

A good cover letter should have a short introduction, a main body, and a brief conclusion. Keep it to under two pages to ensure concise and sharp points that don’t waste the reader’s time.

Start by listing the criteria from the job description, and jot down a sentence or two for each showing how you meet them. Don’t worry about perfect phrasing at this stage; get your ideas down and ensure you’ve thought through your fit for the role.

Show how your experience is relevant to this organisation.

Once you’ve listed the criteria and how you meet them, ensure your examples speak to your experience.

For example:

• Instead of saying “I have strong stakeholder management skills”, say “I built cross-sector partnerships that led to £250K in new funding.”
• If you’ve managed large budgets in the private sector, explain how that prepares you to take on funding responsibilities in a charity context.

Avoid vague claims and be specific about how you would use your experience in this role, at this organisation.

You need to show the selection panel how your experience applies to this role and their organisation – they can’t do that thinking for you.

Match their language.

Review the organisation’s website, social media and publications. Pay attention to how they describe their work and match their language where appropriate. For instance, if you’re applying for a role based at a grant-making organisation, some of the terms that could be meaningful might include beneficiaries, evaluation, and impact, among others.

This is particularly important if you are looking to move from one sector to another (e.g., moving from the commercial sector to a not for profit organisation or vice versa).

Address your letter to someone.

Do you know who will be chairing the selection panel for the role? If so, address the letter to that person.

Take it a step further and pretend, as you’re writing, that you’re in conversation with this person. How would you approach your letter if you were speaking with them rather than writing down what you have to say?

This strategy can help you overcome feeling blocked when you don’t know how to express what you’d like to say in a written format.

Ask someone else to review your letter before submitting.

The reviewer should be given two primary tasks: first, to let you know how the letter comes across. Ask your reviewer how they feel while reading your letter – are they intrigued? Bored? Engaged?

Second, ask your reviewer to pick up any errors you may have missed. Don’t be the person who says they are good with detail and submits a letter full of typos!

Use a clean layout with a standard font (such as Arial, Calibri or Verdana), 10 or 11pt, with clear paragraph spacing and consistent formatting.

Be sure that the file is named clearly: something like “FirstnameLastname_CoverLetter” works well. Be sure to avoid vague titles like “CoverLetterFinal(2)”.

What not to do in your cover letter

• Don’t copy and paste from your CV.
• Don’t send a generic letter.
• Don’t use jargon that the employer won’t understand.
• Don’t go over two pages.

Don’t forget, your cover letter is your chance to tell your story, not just repeat your CV.