The Proper Way to Prepare a Cover Letter
Preparing a proper cover letter is vital to job-hunting success. By creating a professional and well-organized cover letter, you can be confident that the first impression your potential future employer gets is a good one. To ensure your cover letter appropriately reflects your professionalism and skill, craft a letter that follows the proper format conventions and include details explaining why you are the top choice for the position.
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Block Formatting
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Align all parts of your letter to the left to create a block-formatted correspondence. The block business-letter format calls for no indentation, even when starting new paragraphs. While there are other business letter formats, by selecting block formatting you can avoid making alignment mistakes, as everything is aligned left.
Heading
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Begin your letter with an address. Put your address, telephone number and email address at the top of the letter. Skip a line after this address, then add the date on which you are sending the letter in a month, day, year format. Skip a line again and place the recipient's information below. Include the name of the person you are addressing the letter to, her title, the name of the organization and the address where you are sending the letter. Skip a line.
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Letter Body
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Address the letter to a specific individual if possible. Use Mr. or Mrs. in this address, or Ms. if you are unsure of a woman's marital status. Skip a line after this address. Compose a concise opening paragraph. Explain why you are applying for the job. Also include how you learned about the position. Include a sentence or two describing yourself. Focus on making yourself appear very well suited for the position. Skip a line.
Elaborate on the information you introduced in the first paragraph in the next one. Go into more detail regarding your qualifications, being more specific as to why you are the ideal candidate for the job. Skip a line. Write a concluding paragraph in which you state your interest in coming in for an interview. Thank the letter recipient for his time. Skip a line.
Closing
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End your letter with a complimentary close. Select a common, and business-appropriate, option, like "sincerely" or "yours truly." After this close, skip four lines and type your name. Print your letter, then sign your name above your typed name.
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