Cover Letter Mistakes

During your job search, you’ll probably apply to hundreds of jobs, creating customized resumes and cover letters for each position. Most people spend a considerable amount of time perfecting their resume to best reflect their experience and show off their accomplishments, but throw their cover letter together quickly or worse—don’t write a cover letter at all.
To make sure your cover letter gets noticed, make sure to avoid the following mistakes:

1. Not personalizing your greeting – If possible, address your cover letter to the person doing the hiring (Ex: “Dear Mr. Thompson” or “Dear Ms. Fleming”). However, if the recruiter or hiring manager’s name is unisex, include their full name: “Dear Pat Chang.” If you can’t find the hiring manager or recruiter’s name, avoid addressing the cover letter to “Dear Sir” or “Dear Madam” in the 50/50 chance you guess wrong. Instead, use a gender-neutral phrase such as “Dear Hiring Manager” or “Dear Selection Committee.”
2. Writing a generic cover letter – Although creating a template cover letter can be a time-saver during your job search, you should customize each one to each employer and job to show how you fit the requirements. Not to mention, accidentally inserting the wrong job title or forgetting to switch out the name of the employer is a sure-fire way to get your application dumped in the trash or deleted.
3. Writing too much or too little – Many recruiters and hiring managers won’t spend a lot of time reading your cover letter, but you need to include enough information to sell yourself. Keep your cover letter to two or three high-impact paragraphs that describe how you fit the role’s requirements and are a perfect candidate for the position.
4. Making it all about you – While it’s important to show off all of your awesome experience, the cover letter should equally be about you and the employer. Through your cover letter, show how you can benefit the company if they hire you and how you fit the employer’s needs.
5. Forgetting to include your contact information – Resumes and cover letters can easily become separated, so make sure to include you contact information on both documents. By doing so, an employer can still know how to contact you by referring to your cover letter.
6. Forgetting to proofread – Many job seekers forget to proofread their cover letter or do it too quickly and miss some of those pesky typos. If your cover letter has too many misspellings, typos, or grammar mistakes, you won’t send a positive message to the employer. Ask some friends or family members to review before sending.
7. Not following directions – If the employer has asked that you address a certain question in your cover letter or send it in a particular format, make sure you follow these directions. Employers often base their decisions on information they ask you to include and sometimes include application instructions—such as including the cover letter in the body of the email—as a way to test how well candidates can follow directions. If you can’t follow their instructions, it’s an easy way to eliminate you from consideration.
8. Not sending a cover letter – Some job seekers don’t even attach a cover letter when they apply for a job or include a quick note such as “My resume is attached.” Take the time to write a clean, professional and direct cover letter that introduces you to the employer and addresses how you fit the specific requirements for the role.

Cover letters are a way to introduce yourself to an employer and show how you are the best candidate, so use it to your advantage! It’s worth it to spend the extra time creating a great cover letter if it helps you land the job!
Do you have other tips for writing cover letters or things to avoid? Share your thoughts in the comments!