1. Careers & Employability Service
26/09/2014
Creating a Cover Letter
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Careers & Employability Service
@Londonmetcareer

2. Creating a cover letter
By the end of this session, you should have a good understanding of:
how to structure a cover letter
what to include in a cover letter
how to present your letter in a professional way
the support available from Careers & Employability
Careers & Employability Service

3. Careers & Employability Service
What is a Cover Letter?
A cover letter generally accompanies a CV.
It highlights key skills and suitability for the job clearly and concisely and should be no more than 1 side of A4.
It complements and develops the information in the CV, it is important not simply to duplicate.
Whenever you are sending somebody your Cv, you should also send them a covering letter. The only time you wouldn’t, is when you a recruitment agency is sending it to companies on your behalf or when you are attending a careers fair. This is because you do not have details about the company or the role in which to target your cover letter to.
In every other circumstance, you should write a tailored letter to the company, using the opportunity to highlight why you are a strong candidate for the job and to convey your knowledge, skills and enthusiasm.
It should be no longer than 1 A4 side and should emphasise rather than duplicate the information in your CV.
Careers & Employability Service

4. Careers & Employability Service
Structure
Introduce yourself – who you are and why you are writing.
Outline why you are interested in the role/industry: your opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge of both the company and the job area.
What can you offer? Highlight key elements of your skills/experience which relate to the post. Remember to give examples/a context, not just a list of the skills you feel you can offer.
Restate your interest, enthusiasm and motivation and perhaps indicate your availability for interview?
A suggested structure of your cover letter is to start off by introduce who you are and why you are writing - ‘A recent Business Management graduate’ is better than your name,
also make sure you make it clear what job you are applying for.
Your second paragraph should be used to used to convey your interest in the job, their company and sector. Remember to show your knowledge about the role and their company here. Use sector guides available on the careers portal or the ‘about us’ or ‘press’ parts of the company website to gain knowledge.
The next paragraphs should highlight your experience and relevant skills to the job. Why you would be the best person to do the job. Be positive and sell yourself without being too over-zealous.
Your letter should close with a paragraph re-affirming your interest and perhaps mentioning your availability for being interviewed.
Careers & Employability Service

5. Careers & Employability Service
Layout
The layout will depend on whether you choose to send the information in the body of an , or if you intend to send it as an attachment. In either case, make sure the job title is in the subject line.
If the content of the letter is in the body of an , format in the usual way with clear paragraphs, remembering to keep your greetings formal (eg Dear Ms Smith).
If you choose to send as an attachment, then you would use a layout appropriate for a formal letter as shown in the next slide.
As you are probably going to be ing your application, you need to decide whether to attach your cover letter, as you would do your Cv OR cut and paste your covering letter to be your actual .
Either way, make sure that it is clear which job youa re applying for and keep both style and format in a formal style
Careers & Employability Service

6. Careers & Employability Service
Your address in the top right: Holloway Road
N7 8BD
28th January 2017
The employer details below – include the name of the staff member and the address if you know it
Ms Smith
The Marketing Company
123 Upper Street
London N1 1TA
Dear Mr Smith
I am writing in response to your recent advertisement for a
And to end...
Yours sincerely
Joe Bloggs
(If you use “Dear Sir/madam” at the beginning, the letter should conclude “Yours faithfully”).
A formal letter should look something like this with your address in the top right corner.
The company address or address should be placed underneath but justified to the left hand side. Do try to get the name of the person you are writing to, perhaps telephone the company if in doubt.
If you can’t get a name, then do use ‘Dear Sir/Madam’ and end your letter with ‘Yours faithfully’ If you have a named contact, you should end your letter with ‘yours sincerely’
Careers & Employability Service

7. Additional resources in your folder:
In the Cover Letter folder you will find:
an example of a cover letter
guidance notes for legal CVs and cover letters
To get more advice about writing an effective application, we host variety of workshops and events that are all advertised on our eventbrite page.
Through the ‘student zone’ part of the London Met website you will also be able to log into the Careers Portal, where you can find a plethora of information and advice about CV, covering letters and other careers related information.
We highly recommend that you get a second opinion on both your CV and covering letter. To do this, you can attend a 20 minute quick query session with a Careers Consultant, which are available each day at different locations on campus. We also offer longer bookable appointments for more detailed 1:1 help. Please see our website for up to date information about the times and locations of these services.
Careers & Employability Service

8. Additional resources, Careers and Employability:
Careers related workshops and events.
“Your career portal” where you will find CV support, cover letter advice, application help, interview practice tools, and much more.
1-1 support through our “Quick Query” service: appointments available for individual feedback on CVs, cover letters or application forms for example.
Guidance appointments which can be booked in advance for more in-depth enquiries.
See our web pages for full details of services available and how to access them:
To get more advice about writing an effective application, we host variety of workshops and events that are all advertised on our eventbrite page.
Through the ‘student zone’ part of the London Met website you will also be able to log into the Careers Portal, where you can find a plethora of information and advice about CV, covering letters and other careers related information.
We highly recommend that you get a second opinion on both your CV and covering letter. To do this, you can attend a 20 minute quick query session with a Careers Consultant, which are available each day at different locations on campus. We also offer longer bookable appointments for more detailed 1:1 help. Please see our website for up to date information about the times and locations of these services.
Careers & Employability Service

9. Careers & Employability Service
External Resources
Other sources of information on cover letters:
Target Jobs and Prospects both provide some cover letter templates, including some which are sector specific
You can find more information about writing effective CV and cover letters on websites such as target jobs, prospects and career player.
Careers & Employability Service

10. Careers & Employability Service
University Job Shop
Met Temps Recruitment Agency. Paid work in the university and volunteering opportunities with not for profit organisations:
Jobs Online. Jobs board where you can browse work placements, graduate and external part time vacancies:
If you are looking for an employment opportunity we have a university Job shop here to assist you:
For opportunities working at the university and for volunteering opportunities with local charities register with Met Temps using this link
For all other opportunities including graduate roles, internships and part time paid work register with Jobs online
Careers & Employability Service

11. Careers & Employability Service
Contact us
Tel: or
Web:
Facebook.com/londonmetcareer
Twitter.com/londonmetcareer
To contact Careers call or send us an at
more information can be found on our web page or by following us on facebook and twitter.
Careers & Employability Service