How to Write a Cover Letter for a Defense Job
A cover later is a grand invitation to peruse your resume and it's as important as the resume itself. Without a good cover letter, especially in industries like defense, your resume may not see the light of day.
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Instructions
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Understand the components of an effective cover letter. You need to indicate that you know something about the employing organization. Your cover letter should invite the reader to look at your resume. You should explain why you would be a good candidate for this defense industry job and why you are sending the resume.
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Write specifically how you learned about the position or the organization. Describe whether you heard about the position from a friend, an advertisement in the paper or on the web. Employers want to know how effective their recruiting is so make sure you mention the website or newspaper by name.
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Convince the reader to look at your resume. The cover letter should be in a format that is easy to read, and not cluttered with fancy fonts or be too wordy. Your sentences should be clear and to the point. Make sure that the cover letter is directly targeted to that defense job.
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Call attention to the most important points in your background including your education, experience and any leadership positions you held that are relevant to a position you are seeking. If you currently hold a security clearance, that should also be mentioned.
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Reflect your attitude, personality, motivation, enthusiasm and communication skills in your cover letter. Be as specific as possible; use examples if you have them.
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Provide any information that you believe to be important that may not be in your resume.
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Make sure that you include any information about security clearances and veterans status you may have. Defense contractors are veteran friendly.
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If this defense contractor is working on a project that you have information about, state why you want to work on this project and how you can be an important member of the team.
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Tips & Warnings
Use the name of the Human Resources person that does the hiring, if you can. A phone call to the defense contractor or agency can usually accomplish this for you.
Proofread your cover letter and resume. Defense jobs are attention to detail jobs and a careless mistake such as a typo could result in your resume being discarded.
