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Currently, many people are concerned about the question: is it necessary to write a cover letter? In the West, when applying for a job, the question of whether or not to write a cover letter does not even arise. In our country, such an innovation is just beginning to become popular. Domestic recruiting managers are still more inclined to believe that a letter is a manifestation of, at a minimum, knowledge of the rules of etiquette on the part of hired persons.
From all this, we can conclude that a cover letter is a mandatory attachment to a resume for any vacancy offered by an employer. Writing a letter is just as important as writing a resume, so try to take it seriously. It is also necessary to remember that when applying for a position in a domestic or foreign company, this position requires a number of specific rules and requirements on the part of the employer, since having secured this position, you become the assistant and right hand of the manager. Let us describe some points on how to correctly write a cover letter for a secretary’s resume. A cover letter can be written either on a separate form or in in electronic format. The size of your letter should be no more than 1/3 of an A4 sheet; if it is larger, you risk boring the employer with your best qualities. When composing a letter, it is recommended to use a business style of correspondence, and the letter should contain the following information:
- Start your address to the employer with the words: “Hello”, “Dear”, “Good afternoon”;
- be sure to describe your personal and professional qualities, as well as the work experience and skills gained in your previous place;
- and the most important thing is that your letter must contain notes of optimism in order to prove to the employer your desire to work and benefit the enterprise;
- try not to be intrusive and demanding;
- at the end of the letter, write that you hope for long-term cooperation, and also that you can provide any Additional information.
Please note that a cover letter and a resume are two different documents, so try not to repeat yourself or include the same information about yourself.
Example 1
Hello, Anastasia Alexandrovna. My name is Evgeniya Petrova. I read your advertisement in the Rabota newspaper and was interested in the vacancy of a secretary. She worked for five years at Kristall LLC as a secretary-assistant, but due to her move to Krivoy Rog, she was forced to look for work. I described all my professional qualities and acquired experience in my resume, which, I hope, will not go unnoticed by you. I would be grateful for your response and invitation to an interview at a time convenient for you, I will provide any information about myself at the meeting. You can contact me by phone: (101) 123 – 53 -23
The ability to write a resume correctly is of great importance, but equally important is how to correctly write a cover letter for it. Ready-made examples, useful recommendations in terms of compilation - all this can be seen in the article.
No work experience
Accountant
Sales Manager
Lawyer
Secretary
Expert opinion
Chadova Svetlana
Even if you are confident in your own literacy, you should still carefully read the text of the letter at least once. “Clumsy” presentation, spelling, punctuation and other errors are not allowed.
Main purpose
Cover letter for resume performs a number of important functions:
- Prefaces reading the summary and contains all the necessary comments.
- Allows you to stand out from other applicants thanks to the ability to add a few more offers. This is especially true in cases where the resume is compiled in the form of a questionnaire, the form of which is offered by the employer himself. Then it is the cover letter that will carry a touch of individuality.
- It allows you to interest the reader, convinces him of the need to familiarize himself with the resume and ultimately forms a certain impression about the applicant, namely about his ability to self-present and “sell” himself.
- Finally, the letter can briefly mention information that would be out of place in a resume.
Types of cover letters for resumes
Among all the variety of such business documents 2 large groups can be distinguished:
- Short letter performs a purely technical task: it really “accompanies” the resume and sets up the reader to open the main document to get acquainted with the applicant’s candidacy in absentia. As a rule, it consists of 2-3 sentences, for example:
“Hello, Viktor Nikolaevich! My name is Ekaterina Borisovna. I’m interested in the vacancy of an active sales manager, I’ll send you all the necessary information in your resume.”
In such cases, it is obvious that there is no point in duplicating the information of the main document or trying to compose particularly long texts. Before talking about yourself, you should say hello and briefly introduce yourself.
- Detailed cover letter, as a rule, is used when the applicant wants to fill a vacancy as a manager, commercial director and other management positions. These situations also include cases where the applicant applies for “non-standard” creative professions. Obviously, it is necessary, already at the stage of writing a resume, to demonstrate your communication skills and show your individuality in order to form a favorable first impression.
Expert opinion
Chadova Svetlana
Leading HR specialist, lawyer, labor law consultant, website expert
You should not think that the accompanying text is written on a full page or more. In fact, it should consist of 3-4 points (3-4 paragraphs) and can be easily read in literally 30-40 seconds.
Structure of accompanying text for a resume
A cover letter for a resume has a clear structure: it must be written taking into account all the necessary points:
- Greetings.
- Main part.
- Parting.
Greetings
Anyone can be greeted in a convenient way: “Hello” or “Good afternoon.” It is important to take into account several features:
- If you know in advance who exactly you will be contacting, you should mention this person. It is allowed to call it exactly as you read about it in the corresponding advertisement - by name or patronymic name.
- If you don’t know who exactly you should contact, you can simply write “Hello!” or “Good afternoon!”
- If you have already communicated with this person on the phone, you can briefly mention this fact - this will make it much easier for the employee to remember you. For example:
“Good afternoon, Maria! As a continuation of our telephone conversation today, I am sending you my resume.”
Main part
This is the body of the accompanying text. Your thoughts should be presented concisely, specifically and logically. It is not allowed to move from one point to another, to violate the logic of the story. The following sequence of presentation can be taken as a basis:
- First, they traditionally talk about what position they are applying for. She should be called exactly the same as she was mentioned in the department, for example: “active sales manager of the sales department.”
- Then you need to talk in an interesting, non-clichéd way about why this particular vacancy attracted your attention. It is best to be sincere and avoid categorical formulations, for example: “Since childhood I have dreamed of...”, “I really love...”, “I am irreplaceable...”, “My unique qualification allows...”, etc. This may be true - i.e. a person really can have a calling. But it’s better to put yourself in the reader’s place: no one can completely believe a person in absentia, just because he wrote a well-written letter presenting his talents.
- Next, you need to describe your own professional experience. Moreover, it is important to keep in mind that you are not describing experience in general, but precisely that which can be useful in a given position. If you have no experience at all, you can write about it like this:
“I am a graduate….so this job may be my first.” That is, you shouldn’t write categorically, “I don’t have any experience, but I’ll learn everything.”
At the end of the main part, just before saying goodbye, you can once again mention why you are so interested in this vacancy. Of course, this needs to be done in other words - so that the reader finds it interesting.
Parting
You need to write politely and moderately original. There are 2 options:
- You can follow the standard path: “Sincerely” and your contact information.
- You can hint that you are expecting an answer, i.e. create a certain image of the future, but again without categoricalness, for example:
“I will be glad to hear your response to the letter and hope for fruitful cooperation.”
“I am waiting for a response to the letter, I will be glad to see your offer.”
On the other hand, you should not demonstrate any extreme feelings, for example:
“I’m really looking forward to your answer, you are my last hope”
“I’ll be looking forward to hearing from you, hopefully soon.”
Writing a cover letter for your resume: TOP 5 useful tips
And finally, the 5 most important advice, which can also be considered the most common mistakes made by applicants. The ability to write a cover letter for a resume is important both at the stage of absentee consideration of a candidate and during the interview. Essentially, this is an opportunity to make a first impression. Therefore, it is better to know in advance what mistakes should not be made when drawing up this document.
1. Brevity is the sister of talent
A succinct, specific presentation is one of the most important requirements. The evaluation criterion is very simple: it should take no more than a minute to read the entire text. At the same time, you need to read thoughtfully, and not slip between the lines.
2. To the point and to the point
The style of presentation is exclusively formal and businesslike. The content of the document is filled exclusively with facts: what vacancy you are interested in, where you found out about it, what exactly you were interested in, what is your experience in similar activities.
3. Create an atmosphere of trust
The purpose of the letter is to “sell” the first meeting. And without establishing a trusting environment, this will be difficult to do. You can create such an atmosphere with unconventional wording. Surely the phrases “I am interested in mutually beneficial cooperation”, “I have a sufficient level of competence”, I treat any business with the utmost seriousness and responsibility” can “scare off”. The reason is their stereotyped nature and a touch of categoricalness. The same clichés can be replaced with phrases containing objective, specific facts.
The concept of “cover letter” has recently entered into daily life in connection with the development of Internet technologies. These are usually short letters that accompany the main document and contain additional information for the recipient. Under the guidance of an experienced HR manager, we figured out what rules exist for such letters in the business environment.
Cover letters are read before analyzing the resume itself, so they play a major role in the interpretation and perception of subsequent information. The letter must certainly be composed competently, then it will win over the reader and distract him from critical perception. A bad letter is a reason to throw even a perfect resume into the trash: 36% of HR managers admitted that they rejected candidates because of incorrect cover letters.
The practice of writing cover letters is more common among senior and middle managers. In these positions, writing requires a fundamentally different quality of execution. Let's look at the main features of successful cover letters.
Strict structure
The cover letter contains:
- Greetings(“Dear [name/position]”, “[Name], good afternoon”, “Dear”)
The greeting should either be personalized or addressed to specialists in a specific department if the recipient's name is not known.
- Main part
2.1. tell us what position you are applying for if you send your resume to the employer’s work email. There is no need to do this on the site;
2.2. explain why you were attracted to this vacancy: an interesting product, new features or complex tasks;
2.3. From motivation, smoothly move on to experience and a list of projects that are not described in the resume, but are useful for this vacancy;
2.4. Remind again of your motivation for the position. The further the content of paragraph 2.3 is from the required experience, the more necessary paragraph 2.4. - Parting(“Best regards”, “With respect”) and duplicated contact information
It is important to remember that all points except 2.3 are well-established clichés created by successful candidates over many years of practice. They are standard, obvious, are already etiquette when communicating through cover letters, should not exceed one or two sentences and are written strictly from a new paragraph with an indentation.
Let's give an example from a letter from the head of the sales department of a large Western FMCG company. It is quite long, but for a leadership position it is quite acceptable.
“Irina, good afternoon,
I am writing to you regarding the vacancy “Head of Sales Department of the Modern Trade Channel”.
I find the described responsibilities and objectives of this position extremely interesting. I have always been attracted to complex and ambitious projects.
I would like to immediately note that I have no experience working specifically with household appliances, but unlike most candidates, I have the following strengths:
- more than 5 years of experience working with federal networks at the level of top officials;
- successful launch and online introduction of new products in highly competitive categories (dairy products).
My professional experience also includes:
- managing teams of sales representatives and supervisors of 30 people;
- closing accounts receivable for key clients.
If there is mutual interest, I suggest you call us at any time convenient for you.
Sincerely,
Alexey H,
Tel."
Although in most cases the recipient's name is unknown, it is important to ensure that the message is personalized and thoughtful. Remember that a copied, boilerplate cover letter will likely leave your resume unread. Possible requests to the site could be: “Dear HR department of company X”, “Dear employees of the recruitment department of company X”, “Dear recruiting manager of company X”, “I have carefully studied the position of Head of Sales Department of the Modern Trade Channel, etc. ."
Small but capacious
Remember that a cover letter should be read in 10 seconds. Unfortunately, a common practice in Russian culture is to include in a cover letter absolutely all projects and life experiences that are completely unrelated to the vacancy. Such letters reveal a total misunderstanding of both the position and its role in the company.
Try to write a short but informative and useful letter with only quality information.
Business style
The style of the cover letter should be consistent with the company's industry and corporate culture.
For most engineering, medical, banking, consulting and other employers, the consistent business style described above is suitable. It is a win-win for 95% of vacancies posted on the Internet. It is distinguished by the easiest and most informative form of writing: simple structure, terminology, absence of cumbersome subordinate and complex sentences.
The remaining 5% - the areas of Hi-tech, creative, IT start-up, private and small companies with niche products - allow more free and emotional treatment.
Errors
A common mistake that instantly kills the reader’s interest is template letters. If this application for a position is so typical for you that you copy your letter, then you become just as typical for the recipient.
Do not duplicate your experience in other words in your cover letter.. No one wants to waste extra time reading the same information twice.
Creative writing and humor are appropriate only if the company in question is one of the small percentage of employers for whom originality and humor are part of professional activity and corresponds to the internal corporate culture.
So, what is the secret to successful cover letters? They are structured, small in volume, but extremely comprehensive, stylized according to the company’s culture and do not contain errors. And most importantly, such cover letters focus on the interests of the company, and not on the personal interest of the candidate. Show that you know what the company needs and how to help it.
A cover letter is a short message with useful information about you as a candidate for the employer, which is inappropriate to write as part of a resume. We borrowed sending a cover letter as a mandatory element of applying for a vacancy from European personnel management; in English it sounds like a Cover Letter, explains Head of the Career Development Center Anna Belokhonova:
- If translated literally, “cover” means cover, and “letter” means letter. Remember how often you wanted to look inside a book because of its intriguing, colorful cover?
However, according to Olga Nikitina, head of the recruitment department of the Biplan company, in Russia cover letters are not as popular and in demand as abroad: about 31% of applicants use them. Many perceive such actions as a waste of time, arguing that all necessary information already on your resume. It's a delusion. If you write a cover letter correctly, it will definitely be studied in detail and will definitely find a response from HR:
- When compiling it, you must take into account what position you are applying for and what tasks you set for yourself. If we are talking about, then there is an opportunity for deviations and some creativity. The main thing is not to overdo it! In other cases, a business-like form of communication is appropriate, implying a clear and respectful presentation of the material.
Who needs to write a letter to the employer? The experts are unanimous - everyone! But especially those who have nothing special to boast about in their resume, and candidates applying for a serious position in a large international company. (most likely, the letter will have to be written in English).
5 “golden” rules of self-selling
Managing partner of the online sales agency 5 o’click Eva Katz believes that . The applicant wants to sell himself at a higher price, and the same marketing rules apply here as elsewhere.
1. You need to quickly grab attention: put the most important thing in the title or first sentence. Write how you will be useful to the employer. If you have a clear advantage, say it right away. For example, you get a job at international company and speak several languages or have worked as an organizer of grandiose events, such as the Olympics in Sochi.
2. In business you need to talk not about how good you are, but about what you are good for the employer. This is called "speaking into the client's world." Follow the same principle - write about the benefits you will bring to the company.
3. Show concern - people who are interested in working in a particular company are more attractive to employers than other applicants. , write what you like about it and why you want to work in it. But don’t forget - the employer will be more pleased to hear that you are also delighted with your approach to work or projects, and not just with the social “goodies” in the form of benefits and insurance.
4. Save time. No need to write a billion letters. Write the letter briefly and to the point; you will discuss all the details later.
5. Remember that accuracy in writing is the first thing that will create an impression of you. Format the text, make sure there are no extra spaces or errors.
According to general director PR Partner Inna Alekseeva, her agency receives up to 300 resumes for a vacancy, and the cover letter plays a decisive role:
- Based on these two or three sentences, we can draw a conclusion about the applicant’s abilities. You can understand how competently a person writes, how well he knows how to express thoughts, whether he is familiar with the rules of business etiquette, whether he is inclined to think outside the box, and whether he knows how to attract attention. The main points that should be reflected in the cover letter for your resume are why you are interested in the vacancy and why the employer should pay attention to your candidacy.
Inna Alekseeva gives a successful, in her opinion, cover letter example:
“Hello, Inna! My name is Vasily Vasiliev. Your vacancy for PR manager presented on the website (link) is very interesting to me, I would like to become part of the PR Partner team.
I have 5 years of experience in PR in the IT field, including abroad. I love and know how to solve problems to increase the citation index of various companies, I love communication, I like achieving results, I’m sure I can be useful to you. My portfolio can be viewed at the link. With respect and hope for cooperation, Vasily.”
Another example of a proper cover letter is offered by Olga Svetlysheva, leading teacher of the Specialist Central Educational Center at Moscow State Technical University. N.E. Bauman:
"Good afternoon!
Please consider my resume for the vacancy “Head of Development Department”. My education (higher technical + additional in management), 5 years of experience working with clients, experience in managing a team (7 subordinates), knowledge of English and German, as well as life experience and personal qualities give reason to hope that my candidacy meets the requirements your vacancy.
More detailed information is provided in the resume (in the attached file).
I am ready to answer your questions during a personal meeting.
Sincerely, Igor Ivanov."
Olga does not recommend using templates on job sites; it is better to do without a cover letter than to copy the text that every second candidate sends. And again - brevity, which, as you know, is the sister of talent:
- In my practice, there was only one case when I read a 4-page cover letter to the end. The candidate was applying for the position of copywriter and the cover letter partly served as a portfolio. It was written lively and captivatingly in literary Russian.
So remember that it is bad form not to write a cover letter at all. But it’s even worse to send mass mailings to several email addresses at once. Less stereotypes, more literacy, correctness and politeness. And good luck on your way to winning the heart of a potential employer!
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