Give me your top tips for job app cover letter please

[PomBearWithAnOFRS]

How can I spin being a SAHM of 5 for twenty years into skills for a job?
It's a care work situation, but not the usual ones.
What else can I say to make myself sound like the person they want?

I think you treat being a SAHM as a CEO position and break out down into the different parts: organisation, diary management, team leadership etc.
What skills does the job description mention?

I’m following this OP as in a similar situation. I have been out of work since having my 1st DD 12 years ago....

It’s daunting isn’t it!!

The “selling” of yourself on a covering letter needs to be succinct and related to the role criteria

As many recruiters and HR professionals will confess, a covering letter needs to convey the message that you can do the job that requires a,b,c skill is because you have a,b,c skill.

The easiest covering letters have the criteria bullet pointed and a brief description why the applicant is suitable.

As a SAHP you have many many skills:

• organisation
• planning
• finance budgeting
• creative flare
• communication
• influencing and negotiating

I could go on.

You can use these skills and examples of each one to highlight your best skills.

As others have said, relate your skills to the role - use it as an opportunity to show you've really thought about what the role needs. "I believe I could bring patience, calm and gentleness to the role of caring for others. I have developed these attributes through the sole care of my five children, which has also given me good organisation skills" etc etc

Mention the (correct) company name and a line or two that shows you know who they are and what they do. You would not believe the number of cover letters I see from candidates declaring their passion for fashion/charity work/whatever...which is definitely not our sector so gets them ruled out straight away.

If you are applying online via Indeed, you would do well NOT to paste your cover letter into their default section as the formatting gets horribly garbled for the recruiter. Attach it as a separate doc alongside your CV instead, so your letter will look as good as you intended.

Good luck!

I work in a job center (abroad so slightly different setup). I go through the job advert and underline what the employer wants, one colour per criteria. Then I go over to the CV and then the application to underline the corresponding points. You dont need to get every colour, but you need to have enough to spark their interest. A good way to do this is with a personal profile at the top of your cv. It should tell them who you are, what you can offer them, and where you want to go. This is quite easy to edit and target each application. They tend to look at your cv first so if it isnt targetted they might never make it to your application letter.

Think like a journalist - the most important stuff goes at the top, that is true for their job advert and your application should reflect that. So the stuff that they think is the most important should be near the top of your cv and application.

Use the same font and colours in your letter as you do your cv.