4. Cover Letter Foundry

Or How to Write a Cover Letter

Step 1: Why Cover Letters Are So Important

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Merlin explained to Arthur that, for two reasons, cover letters are important:

1. Many people don’t write them.
2. They give you an opportunity to connect personally with an employer.

Many hiring directors anecdotally say that when they do not ask for a cover letter, only 2% of applications actually take the time to write one. And hiring managers say that the 2% that do write a good cover letter are almost always granted an interview. Writing a cover letter is an immediate way to stand out from the crowd.

Another reason employers ask for cover letters is that it allows them to weed out candidates with weak writing skills, grammatical  errors, or who display lack of enthusiasm for a position by not personalizing a cover letter.

Cover letters, therefore, are very important. Write a good cover letter, and the chances of being called in for an interview go up drastically.

Step 2: How to Write a Cover Letter

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1. Put your contact information at the top. Copy and paste the same header that you use in your resume into your cover letter.
2. Insert the employer’s contact information like you would for a business letter.
3. Start with a hook to generate interest—a hook can be an interesting question, or an interesting format like columns.
4. Talk about the company's mission statement.
5. Explain how your skills and knowledge will be able to help contribute to that mission statement and increase the bottom-line.
6. Thank them for their time, and say you look forward to hearing from them.

Now let's see Arthur, try.

Arthur's Cover Letter

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