How to Properly Edit Your Job Cover Letter

A cover letter often serves as your first introduction to potential employers and can reveal much about your professionalism. To make a good impression, you must properly edit your letter for brevity, formatting and errors. Follow these steps.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Cover letter
• Pen

Gather Your Resources

1. Check for content first. Make sure the cover letter is complete. You must include contact information, a reference to the position in which you're interested, and a brief summary of why you think you're right for the job. It should be no longer than a page on top-quality stock, preferably with your letterhead.
2. Verify the contact information for your potential employer. This includes the address, name of the company, phone number, fax number and the correct spelling of your contact's name. It is of the utmost importance to make sure these appear correctly on your cover letter.
3. Call the company to check the information in Step 2 and then make sure you have the proper position listed for the addressee.

Edit Your Cover Letter

4. Read your cover letter at least three times. As you go, make corrections to punctuation, grammar and sentence structure. Make sure that sentences begin with capital letters and end with the proper punctuation. Your sentences should be concise and should never express more than one idea at a time. Use your word processing program's spell-check function to correct spelling errors.
5. Recruit a friend or co-worker to give you a second opinion on your cover letter's contents. Ask this person to read your letter for clarity and tone. Does it convey enthusiasm for the company and the position? Also ask if the letter sells your skills as a qualified applicant.
6. Look for key formatting mistakes. These include unnecessary spaces, template remnants that need to be deleted, extra carriage returns and incorrect indentations.
7. Eliminate wordy passages. Your cover letter should clearly state your qualifications (in brief) and the best way to contact you. Leave out extraneous information.

Double-Check Your Work

8. Ask yourself key questions in the final editing stage. Is my cover letter only one page? Is my contact information correct? Have I clearly and concisely conveyed an interest in this job?
9. Review your cover letter one last time for mistakes. This time, read it backwards so you don't get caught in the flow of the narrative. It's an excellent way to spot typos and other glitches. When you're finished, save and print a fresh copy.

Tips & Warnings

• Take advantage of online job-search sites that will evaluate your cover letter for mistakes, run-on sentences, grammar and punctuation. Be aware, thought, that many spell checkers will not catch homonyms that have been misused or missing punctuation.
• The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 prevents employers from discriminating against job candidates and employees over the age of 40.

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