EXPLORE CAREERS
10 Key Points to remember when writing Cover Letters
Busy people don’t want to read long letters from people they don’t know. The cover letter should be one page long, and in standard business format. This means you may indent your paragraphs or not – but not indenting gives you a bit more room. Leave wide margins (minimum one inch) and use a clean, simple font like Arial. Don’t be tempted to use a tiny font just to fit everything on one page; 12-point type is best. Write clearly and avoid hyphenated words at the end of the line.
10 key points to remember when writing cover letters:
- Your address should appear in the top right hand side of the letter
- The name and address of the person you are writing to should appear on the left-hand side
- The date should be written in full
- If the name of the person you are writing to is known, then the letter should begin with Dear MISS/MR/MRS and end with Yours sincerely. If the name of the person you are writing to is not known, then begin the letter with Dear Sir or Madam or Dear Sirs and end with Yours faithfully
- Keep the letter short and don’t contain any unnecessary information
- Make reference to your enclosed CV; don’t expect the employer to automatically read it
- Leave enough space at the end of the letter to sign your name
- Print your name under the signature
- If you enclose documents with the letter, add Enc, under your name
- Keep a copy of the finished letter
Before the letter is sent check:
- Spelling and grammar
- All the required information is included
- You are positively selling yourself!
