The coverletter is your first opportunity to be noticed by the employer. It makes a lot of sense therefore, to take time to customise your cover letter adequately to enable the highest chance of success. Following is a step by step instruction on how to customise your cover letter to ensure it is one that stands out!

Firstly, The Introduction

Keep it simple, clear and well mannered to state your intention for the letter and how you found out about the job. Its very similar to your objective statement statement.

By including how you found out about the position, the employer gets a feel for your intention, and can also see what method of advertising is working. This is a good chance add any details of a referral – if someone encouraged you to apply then use that to your advantage and mention it. Especially if they are someone of good standing from the firm then you can add this information.

An example of a first paragraph could be:
I would like to apply for the role of [add the position] within [add the department or company] as listed above. This position caught my interest whilst I was searching on seek.com.

or

“I would like to apply for the role of [add the position] within [add the department or company] as listed above. I became aware of this position when a family friend (John Doe – Personal Assistant to CEO) encouraged me to apply and provided a recommendation.”

Your Interests

Next paragraph should be 1-2 sentences explaining what interests you about the position in particular. This is a good opportunity to show enthusiasm, motivation and of course explain what it is about the job, hours, location, company or field of work that caused you to notice this vacancy?
For example:

“This position is of specific interest to me because I have developed a passion for customer interaction and providing customer service. You could say I am a people person and enjoy the opportunity to make a lasting impression.”

Your Transferable Skills

The following paragraph is extremely important to share your skills and experience that will be of benefit to the position. Look through the job description to see what skills they require, and jot down the skills you have that match and if anything your skills will enable the company to achieve its goals.
An example of this paragraph would be:

“In short my last role that has major relevance was adult educator at a high school for 3 years where I taught during evenings for adult life skills much like the description of this position. My diverse background includes vocational teaching and communication oriented positions that are oriented towards personal support for people as that is an area I am very much passionate about. “

Intention to follow up stated

The final part includes a statement for your next step to follow up. This can be the icing on the cake for a good first impression. State a sentence like:

“Thank you for taking the time to consider my suitability to this position. I would like to get in touch over the next five days confirm if you require any additional information regarding my experience. “

One comment from a melbourne resume based business regarding this step is: The vital note here is to do what you state you will do. – Ensure you do actually follow up in five days with email or a call and ask if they require any further information at this point such as a list of references or a writing sample etc. This enables a perfect chance to establish rapport and be noticed. What this does is show the company that you have integrity in doing what you said you would do.
So good luck with your cover letter, and I would love to hear back from you once you have applied this format to your job applications.

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