Stand Out With Personalized Cover Letter & Thank You Note After Interview

At a time when hiring managers scan through 1000s of applications for a single job opening, how do you navigate the recruitment black hole and get yourself noticed?

The answer lies in getting personal – and customizing your application to align with the position you are applying for. This is where a personalized cover letter & a thoughtful thank you note after interview, come into the picture. While your resume highlights and summarises your skills, accomplishments and relevant experience, a) 26% of recruiters find cover letters to be crucial in the selection process b) 80% of recruiters find a thank you note after interview to be helpful in reviewing candidates.

Go the extra mile with these personalized emails. In this article, we’ll discuss best practices for writing them in a way that’ll help you stand out, seal the deal, and land your dream job:

What’s a Cover Letter & Why Should It Be Personalized?

An email cover letter, simply put, is a short introduction to who you are, why you’ve applied for a job, and how your expertise makes you the right candidate.

Two important goals of writing an email cover letter is to :

• Help make the job of a Hiring Manager easier, by focusing only on information that will be valuable to them. Hence, customizing your cover letter for the job is absolutely necessary.
  
• Align your mission with the company’s mission, and show why you’re a great fit and a valuable candidate.
  

Whether you’re new to writing cover letters, or an expert using them for years, here are some tried-and-tested best practices that’ll help you easily customize your cover letter and increase your chances of getting hired.

Dos

• Highlight the job position you are applying for, both in the subject line as well as the body of the email. As mentioned earlier, your primary goal is to make the job of a Hiring Manager easier and furnish them with the information that they need.
  
• Address the Hiring Manager by their first name – always address your email to someone specific. It indicates that you’ve done your research.
  
• Make your first paragraph count. Mention the role/position you’re applying for and talk about why you’re excited about this opportunity in particular. Communicate that you know what makes this job and company special for you.
  
• The next two paragraphs are the most important. Align your previous work experience, roles, skills learned, and teams you’ve managed/been a part of, with the current job position you’re applying for.
  
• Leave your email address and phone number with your email signature. This would make it easy for the HM to get in touch with you.

Don’ts

• Repeat exact bulletins from your resume. Your cover letter should complement and expand on your resume, not reiterate it. This is your opportunity to use full sentences (not bulletins) to talk about who you are and why you’re the perfect candidate for the role.
  
• Use something as generic and overused as “To Whom It May Concern” to address the Hiring Manager. do your research and figure out who you need to address the email to. If you are unable to find out, stick to a “Dear Hiring Manager” salutation to avoid seeming impersonal.
  
• Spelling and grammatical errors. Avoid them at all costs as the smallest typos can prove counterproductive towards why you’re writing the email in the first place.
  

A Simple Template For Customizing Any / Every Covering Email

{ Strong Subject line mentioning the job position }

{ Personalised greeting }

{Short first paragraph, communicating your enthusiasm for the job role}

{ Relevant 2nd (+ 3rd) paragraphs, aligning your skills, previous work experience and career goals with the company’s mission }

{Strong closing line reiterating your interest and subtly calling out the action that you’d like the HM to perform}

{ Thank you note }
+
{ Sign off with contact details }

Sample Cover Letter For A Frontend Engineer

Thank You Note: A Small Gesture Goes A Long Way

A thank-you email after an interview may not say much about how good you’re for a role. But it certainly leaves a positive impression with the Hiring Manager. In fact, research states that work ethic is the most important quality looked for when hiring someone new for a company.

A thank-you email helps a Hiring Manager gauge your work ethics and professional courtesy.

Here are some best practices for writing a thank-you email that leaves a lasting impression:

Dos

• Keep your subject line and email, clear and concise (eg: Thank you, <<Hiring Manager’s Name>>. The email should be under 200 words). The Hiring Manager will probably have to go through many applications – respect their time by keeping it short and concise.
  
• Reiterate that you’re interested in the job. Show that you’re genuinely enthusiastic about joining their team.
  
• Refer to a specific conversation you had during the interview. This could be a great way to keep your email personalized and talk about the challenges/opportunities where you’ll prove a useful resource for your potential employer.

Don’ts:

• Send the thank-you email after a few days. Try sending the email within 1 day of the interview, so that the Hiring Manager remembers you.
  
• Not mentioning the Job position in the body of the email. Establishing context and being super specific is key to writing any email to a Hiring Manager.
  
• Not identifying typos and grammatical errors. Not all of us are great at proofreading, so make sure to get help from a friend, or use a free resource like Grammarly that helps correct errors. A simple trick is to read your email aloud to yourself, it helps you identify errors quickly.
  

Sample Thank You Note For A Senior Frontend Developer

Are you actively looking for a new job? Make your resume stand out. Check out our latest blog on industry insights that will help you tailor your resume for Fortune 500 tech jobs. Click here to read more.

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