How to write a cover letter that will get you a job interview

Looking for a job that interests you is relatively easy, writing a resume is doable, but churning out a cover letter that would impress the hiring managers? Now, that's the difficult part.

After all, that's the first thing employers look at before they decide whether to click on the attached CV. Your cover letter can give managers a preview of your personality: Copying-and-pasting everything from the internet suggests laziness, while having errors peppered all over the copy alludes to carelessness.

Writing a cover letter that makes the employers want to hire you is difficult, but it's not impossible. So the next time you have Microsoft Word opened to write one, keep in mind these pointers.

LET THEM KNOW WHY YOU DESERVE THE JOB

"Convey what's in it for them to have you on their team rather than what you will gain from having the job," advises executive consultant and coach Nicole Underwood.

LIST YOUR SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE TO IMMEDIATELY SHOW WHY YOU'RE A SUITABLE CANDIDATE

Pinpoint the competencies that will make you successful in the role and clearly state your motivation-why you want this role, and not every other position advertised.

ALWAYS ASK SOMEONE ELSE TO PROOFREAD YOUR MISTAKES

No matter how many times you read over it, you could still easily miss something crucial. Also, a second pair of eyes never hurt.

ALWAYS SEND IT AS A PDF FILE

Not everyone has a Microsoft Office subscription (.docx is worse because the older Microsoft Office can't open it). They're not going to call you to resend the file just because they can't access it-not when they have hundreds of other applicants.

So don't shoot yourself in the foot before you even get that foot in the door.

CHECK FOR SPELLING MISTAKES

If there are mistakes in your letter, it looks as if you haven't put any effort in, and this raises questions about the quality of your work if they were to hire you.

DON'T RAMBLE

Candidates often overthink things, which leads to lengthy, irrelevant letters that have no significance for the role. Stick to one page, and summarise your key strengths in bullet points.

ALSO READ: 10 reasons why you should change your job, even if you don't want to

CUSTOMISE YOUR COVER LETTERS

Letters that lack specific details about the company and role are an indication of laziness and a lack of genuine interest. Show that you've done your research about the company. Also, take the time to tailor each letter to each role - no cut-and-paste!

DON'T GET THE NAME OF THE COMPANY AND PERSON-IN-CHARGE WRONG

If you want a job in the company, the last thing you should do is get the name of the firm or the boss wrong. In the age of Google and LinkedIn, finding out the name (and even gender) of a person should be a piece of cake. But if you really can't find it on the internet, just pick up the phone and call to enquire.

TAKE NOTE OF YOUR FONTS

Any hiring managers would tell you that they look at a lot of cover letters every time they put out an advertisement for a position. If you use fancy fonts that are hard to read, chances are that they won't even bother trying to decipher what you've written. Stick to legible fonts such as Arial or Calibri.

This article was first published in CLEO Singapore.