It is difficult to imagine a job seeker without a resume that provides the employer with the background of a potential employee. The cover letter, in turn, is sometimes undeservedly underestimated by candidates, although it is that can tilt the balance to his or her advantage. This document is a great opportunity to prove your compliance with the position and to show additional interest and motivation to work in the selected company. However, only a compelling paper will indeed hit the target. How to achieve it? It is not enough just to find perfect examples and templates. You should also take into account the often cover letter mistakes to prevent them when writing your copy.
Top 5 cover letter mistakes
1. Duplicate your resume.
Rewriting even the most impeccable resume to the cover letter format is unacceptable. First, you will thereby discredit the importance of this document if you have not found a unique message for it. Second, you miss the opportunity to mention additional qualifications, as well as clarify your motivation, interest, and other pieces that are inappropriate for resumes. Third, you mislead the recruiter or employer by offering the same content twice, which will not add you points.
The following points are considered the most common ways to copy a resume:
- To dwell on the experience. Some applicants strive to list all previous jobs, including their responsibilities and achievements. Sure, it is valuable information, but is it worth it to make an employer take stock of it twice? It is much better to mention the hard and soft skills that you perfected during your experience and are ready to offer for the benefit of a new company now.
- Focus on education and theme of degree work. This information can be relevant only if you are applying for an internship. Otherwise, it just clutters the text but does not characterize you as a professional, because the theoretical background will never overpower the practical one.
2. Turn cover letter into long read.
In pursuit of successful employment, many applicants try to incorporate as many strengths and skills into their document as possible. Other candidates consider it necessary to create their most accurate professional portrait by overusing facts from their biographies that are of no value to the employer. You should remember once and for all: the number of words is not an indicator of quality in this case. Moreover, the excessive length of the text reduces your chances of catching attention. The reason for this rule is simple: the recruiter considers dozens of applications and cannot devote much time to your stream of thoughts. Thus, it is essential to keep your text informative, concise, and to the point.
In addition to excessive attention to experience, as mentioned earlier, the following items are considered inappropriate information in your document:
- reasons for dismissal from a previous employer
- reasons why you chose this industry or position at one time
- your difficulties in performing professional duties or in relationships with colleagues
All of the above can be clarified during your interview if necessary, but such information will not help you get it.
3. Use hackneyed phrases.
The time has come to say why countless examples of cover letters can play a dirty trick on you. All of them go along with overused phrases that catch the eye of experienced recruiters and force them to put your copy into cold storage. Besides, such expressions are often a sign that the applicant tried to copy the text from the template in the public domain and made minimal effort to the content of the document. Such an approach always reduces competitiveness.
Thus, here are a few phrases that have no room in your copy:
- “I feel up to take this position, match your expectations, cope with responsibilities, etc.”
- “I hope to try my hand in the post.”
- “I consider myself an ideal candidate because…”
- “I would be proud to be part of your team.”
All the above sounds either pretentious or unreasonable, which grates on the ears of the recruiter. To avoid irritation, replace pathos with real facts about how you can be useful to the company and what you are ready to bring to the team. Undoubtedly, you can familiarize yourself with the popular cover letter templates for illustrative purposes, but you should not take all of its pieces as a guide to action.
4. To go too far in praising the company.
Undoubtedly, if you are applying to a company, then it is of value to you. It is also apparent that a successful cover letter should reveal the reasons for your choice. Do not confuse respect for the company with its exaltation throughout the text. First, it resembles subservience. Second, it contradicts business correspondence. Third, it may seem that you are masking the lack of necessary qualifications with excessive praise. Besides, replace useful information about your skills, characteristics that make you a suitable candidate. As a result, the company does not receive helpful information other than your admiration. Thus, pay attention to the following and similar phrases and forget about them when writing a cover letter:
- I always dreamed of working in your company.
- I admire your products/services.
- Your company is the best in the market among competitors.
Sure, each of the above phrases can be true, but you should not put them in the center of your text. If the company is really so prestigious, then you must prove your conformity to it all the more and not to waste yourself on vapidities.
5. Ignore rereading the text before sending.
Suppose you managed to avoid all the above mistakes and the contents of your copy turned out to be competent enough to catch the attention of the recruiter. But it does not save you from errors or typos in the grammar and style of the text. The cover letter with errors casts doubt on the responsible approach of the potential employee and his or her attentiveness. Such oversights always negatively affect the opinion of the recruiter and can reduce all your efforts to nothing. From this, we can conclude that neglecting the proofreading of the text can deprive you of an interview. Therefore, double-check your finished copy and make sure that no unfortunate slip will not become an obstacle to the desired position.
So what do we get?
Despite the simplicity and clarity of this document, there are still many pitfalls that should be taken into account so that your copy hits the target. And yet, if you want to reduce the risks regarding your cover letter, then visit website that will simplify your task several times.
Share
Contributors
