Hello and Good-bye: How to Write a Cover Letter

Photo by Bench Accounting on Unsplash

“Hello” and “Good-bye” are two of the most common greetings in our daily lives. We typically salute one another with “Hello” when we meet at school, at work, or in the neighborhood, and we usually say farewell with “Good-bye” as we exit those same locations to return to our homes. Interestingly, those same two words provide the basic framework for a standard cover letter.

What is a cover letter? Essentially, a cover letter accompanies your résumé when you send it to an employer to apply for a job. In theory, you could just send your résumé to the employer to express your interest in working there because your résumé should include all of the following: your educational qualifications, your work experiences, your special abilities or talents, information about your references, and your contact information. Thus, if the employer only had one job available and if you were a good fit for that position, that employer could look at your résumé and contact you to set up an interview. In reality, however, the job-application process is a bit more complicated.

Oftentimes, employers are looking for numerous employees in a variety of jobs. Thus, when you apply, you need a cover letter to identify which job piques your interest. Fortunately, the cover letter itself is not complicated and, in fact, may be one of the easiest writing tasks ever…