The art of writing a cover letter

Back in the day, when recruitment was a formal affair a resume was always, always prefaced by a cover letter. Of course, that was before social media introduced an egalitarian spirit to the way we communicate and forever changed the order of things. Now, no one seems sure of the cover letter. Some say it's gone the way of analogue TV and so is quaintly redundant. Others say there is still a place for it, wherever an introduction and some context are needed to complement your resume, but be careful. According to Dean Davidson, executive general manager of the recruitment company, Hudson, less is more. "There is a temptation to over-engineer cover letters," he said. "If you find yourself over-explaining – stop. "The 'I deserve this job because ...' kind of cover letter will not engender interest in your resume. Nor will the tendency to summarise your resume, however briefly. This can give the impression that what follows is really not worth reading.

One thing is certain though, some genuine enthusiasm is required, therefore when you formulate a cover letter the following should be considered:

• Don't apply for positions if you are ambivalent about them. You need to sound like you really want the job and because this is difficult to fake (and can come across as a clumsy sales pitch if you attempt it), it is always best to actually really want the job.
• Research the companies that have job openings, so you can get a feel for the culture of the place. The more you know, the more likely it is that genuine enthusiasm will be naturally infused into the tone of your cover letter. So will those likable aspects of your personality. When you think about it, just about everybody, including you and your prospective employer, can recognise a generic form letter as the piece of low-interest marketing that it is.

An enthusiastic and genuine cover letter, combined with a carefully tailored resume will set you in the right direction when you’re in the job market.

See Issue 1 of Real Business (2012) for tips to writing the perfect resume.