Friday, October 19, 2012

Cover Letters

25 Comments


cover letter is a type of business letter that's sent to an employer when you're applying for a job. A cover letter explains to the employer why you want a particular job and what makes you qualified for it.

Cover letters explain your experience and qualifications in detail. The ability to write a good cover letter shows employers that you have strong communication skills.

A cover letter should be less than one page long. It's also important for a cover letter to be single-spaced, clearly written, without errors in spelling, grammar, or punctuation.

Click on the image below to see a sample cover letter with helpful guidelines. 


___________________________________________________________________

TIPS:
Here are a few cover letter tips from Quintessential Careers:
  • Whenever possible, address your cover letter to a named individual
  • Grab the reader's attention by writing an appealing first paragraph
  • Highlight your three to four key accomplishments/skills/experiences
  • Focus on the fit between your qualifications and the job requirements
  • Whenever possible, relate yourself to the company
  • Never include any negative information
  • End your letter by requesting an interview
  • Mention that you will follow-up your letter -- and then do so
  • Cover letters should be kept to under one page; electronic versions even shorter
  • Avoid all types of mistakes, including typos, misspellings, and grammatical errors
___________________________________________________________________

OTHER RESOURCES:

Read Write Think always comes up with fun, interactive tools, such as...


...and...

Check out this handy dandy Resume Generator!


Now, when the time comes to apply for a job, you will be set! I look forward to your cover letters. If you create a resume, I'd love to see that too!

25 comments:

Margaret C. November 7, 2012 at 9:27 PM

These are wonderful! The first image is especially helpful, because it explains what to do in the most basic way. Easy to understand and follow!

Anna F November 14, 2012 at 4:10 PM

Very helpful! This blog is the coolest!

Mckensie Bales December 6, 2012 at 10:41 AM

This is great, Thank you!

Cookie December 6, 2012 at 10:44 AM

A resume generator?!? Cool!

Elaine VB December 6, 2012 at 10:48 AM

Thanks for all the helpful information. It is great to have a resource for finding out how to do this without searching the web to find a reliable source.

Angel December 6, 2012 at 11:02 AM

The resume generator is cool because it helps you when you need to write a resume.

Eleanor f December 6, 2012 at 11:06 AM

Thank you for the information on this blog for a cover letter. I have already turned in my cover letter so hopefully it will not have any errors.

KYLE Hoskins December 6, 2012 at 11:06 AM

wow i didn't know there was things like that

Andrew B December 6, 2012 at 11:16 AM

This is very helpful thanks!

KYLE Hoskins December 6, 2012 at 11:17 AM

im gonna try some of those things

Acacia Flynn December 6, 2012 at 1:29 PM

Thank you so much! These are great advice!

Dana Davis December 6, 2012 at 8:01 PM

Very helpful! thank you!

Rachel Collins December 6, 2012 at 9:54 PM

Oh wow! this is awesome! Thanks for sharing!

Connor December 6, 2012 at 10:30 PM

I am definitely going to try some of the things listed above!

Stephen o December 7, 2012 at 8:24 AM

K12 should of used these images for cover letters for Section 2 instead of the ones that they did use.

Mrs. S December 7, 2012 at 8:33 AM

Thanks for your feedback. I'm glad you find this post helpful. More to come!

Brooks Maxwell December 7, 2012 at 9:56 AM

Hello everyone!!

Cheyanne Moisher December 7, 2012 at 10:26 AM

Thanks, this was really helpful.

Hannah-Shey H December 7, 2012 at 10:54 AM

This. This is good for reference. I will note this.

Desiree schlegel December 10, 2012 at 8:35 AM

Super helpful! :)

Kendra December 10, 2012 at 2:53 PM

I'm glad I learned about cover letters because now when I apply for a job I will know how to arrange it. :)

Ian A December 10, 2012 at 3:28 PM

This was interesting- cover letters are sooo important.

Emily January 10, 2013 at 11:27 AM

My cover letter was easy thanks to your class. All though it kind of was putting forth my good side and didn't show any qualities that I could improve.

A.J January 24, 2013 at 9:08 AM

Thanks for teaching us about this,Now When i apply for a job I know how to writ one thanks

MariaA January 24, 2013 at 10:43 PM

Cover letters are really important in business today, if you want a resume to get noticed a strong cover letter is a good start. The generator was fun too.

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