There is no denying the overall importance of a resume in your hiring process. A well-formatted and in-depth resume can work wonders for your hiring mechanism. Irrespective of how good a resume is, it should always be submitted with a dedicated application letter to support the same. There are several ways in which a well-composed application letter can benefit your candidate’s resume. They can take expert help as well!
With the help of an application letter, your candidates are able to communicate to the hiring manager how their existing skills and experience are relevant to the job. It allows the prospective employer to know their profile better as an individual while adding value to the background.
A well-composed cover letter or application letter allows the employer to understand the respective interest in the given position. For allowing a job letter to help you in specific ways, you are expected to understand the crucial parts of the job application letter.
Understanding the Components of an Attractive Job Application Letter
The job application that your candidates share with you should be eye-catching. Moreover, it should also be capable of grabbing the instant attention of the employers. In short, it should allow the hiring managers to know why the applicants are fit for the given job. They should customize their application as per the given job profile or position. However, they should always be ready with a proper draft.
An ideal job application letter should contain the following parts:
Addressing the Right Individual
It is crucial for your candidate to make use of a proper name. They can make use of your existing network or browse the internet for knowing who they should be addressing.
They should replace the section ‘To whom it might concern’ with your name. It reflects that the candidate is interested in the given job position. In addition to this, it also implies that he/she is willing to take an extra step to come across the right information.
The Opening or First Paragraph
The candidate should utilize the first paragraph to build his/her profile or brand. It should also be capable of adding value to the given role. As a reader or hiring manager, you should be able to understand in the first paragraph itself that the candidate is genuinely interested in the given job position as well as in the organization.
The Hooking Paragraph
In the subsequent paragraphs that connect or hook the first paragraph of the job application letter to its end, the candidate should include instances of the work that they have done before, accomplished results, previous experiences, and so more.
Check whether the information about accomplished results in the job application letter is directly relevant to the role to which the candidate is applying. The letter should aim at including key competencies for defining the work.
Including Education
In the subsequent pointers in the job application letter, the candidate should enlighten you about his/her education. It could simply be a list or a smaller version. This is because the resume itself serves to be a detailed concept of their educational qualifications. The educational qualifications that the candidate lists or put down in the job application letter will further help in assuring the hiring managers about their overall abilities.
The Concluding Part
The candidates should summarize all that they have in skills and potential to offer to the given job position of the organization. In this given section, they can also ask for a proper answer from the end of the hiring managers. It is highly common to commit some mistakes.
Therefore, when an ideal candidate is sending over the job application letter, he/she makes sure that he/she proofreads the same. This will help you in understanding the behavior of the applicants.
Common Mistakes to Avoid While Writing a Job Application Letter
Here are some common mistakes that most candidates do when writing a job application letter.
Too Much Verbose
As a recruiter or the hiring manager, you have limited time for every job application. Hence, job application letters ought to be as crisp as possible. It should be talking to the point. Understand whether the candidate’s letter speaks about his skills, knowledge, or anything that boosts his job application. The letter should be highly narrative and devoid of personal stories.
Talking Only About Yourself:
Indeed, it is an application letter. However, it should also make you feel that the candidate is fitting into the job role along with that of your organization. Check if your candidate has tried to set up a proper connection between his profile, his skills, and your company or job role.
Using the Same Cover Letter for Every Job Application:
Candidates today usually have a well-prepared job application draft with themselves all the time. However, it is equally important to keep modifying or upgrading the resume and cover letter from time to time – as per the specific requirements of the job position. The experience or skills will almost remain the same in every cover letter. However, the language that your candidates make use of in their respective application letter speaks a lot about them.
Typos and Grammatical Errors:
Grammatical errors and typos serve to be major turn-offs for the potential employer. It would serve as evidence that the candidates did not pay attention while writing their application letters.
As hiring managers, you are on the lookout for a whole personality set, and not merely some skill sets. Therefore, you need to understand if your candidates have used a dedicated job application letter in conjunction with a resume to define themselves -not just their skill sets.
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