Cover letters - how long?

[DarkShade]

Sorry mumsnetters, I've been in mum-mode so long that this forum is my go to for any question... I am applying for jobs and I want to know, if you hire people or have a recruitment role, how long should a cover letter be? I have been writing these two page essays and I think it's doing me no favours! What is the maximum lenght before you think sod this, and what would you look for? I'm changing field (or trying to...) so feel like I need to really sell the link.

For me it isn't so much length as it is have you addressed how you meet the requirements of the role.

1 side of A4, well written, is plenty!

Avoid turning the covering letter into your CV or an essay they have to wade through to find the key information they need to progress to the CV.
The cover letter should be an intro, not a repetition. Personally I place no value on the covering letter, the CV shoukd say it all, and that should be brief and to the point as well. Any waffle should be avoided at all costs.

Dear Recruiter

I notice your job vacancy for a Project Manager with interest because [describe how you meet the essential criteria, including duration of experience]

Please find attached my CV which gives full information of all my relevant qualifications and experience.

I look forward to hearing from you as I believe I would be an asset to your organisation."

It depends on the job and hoe detailed thd job description is. As a minimum the cover letter should lay out explicity how the skills, experience and qualifications listed in the cv meet the needs of the most important requirements of the job description. If the job description runs to 2 pages you might need that long to reflect on how you meet it but it's ok to just cover the main aspects and leave the rest for them to ask about in interview, so long as you refer in the letter that you are equally confident thar you can meet those other requirements. However this approach doesn't work when the person writing the job description doesn't really know what they want. Which is why the "for an informal chat about the position..." thing is really important to do.

It's really really hard to score and shortlist for roles when you are looking at a stack of applicants. Cover letter should be less than a page and do 2 jobs-

Connect the specifics of the role to the experience of the applicant to help the interviewer legitimately shortlist you. It feels cheesy but literally write things like "I have enjoyed my role as sales manager of widgets for 2 years, particularly being in charge of collating feedback from customers about the widgets, which fits me well for moving into this widget customer insight role".

Show them you're pleasant and communicate well - which means perfect SPAG, not rambling on for pages, and being nice and enthusiastic without sounding like a narcissist or weirdo (None of the "I will prove myself in your role every single minute!" OTT stuff).

The letter isn't an interview, it's a tool.

3 paragraphs

P1- clearly identify the role you are interested in example "thank you for reading my email today. I am interested in regional retail manager south east job ref 37542"

P2- max three ways you meet the role criteria. Example " I was a bank manager for 3 years managing a team of 5 so I have experience managing teams" then 2 more examples. Try to keep to 1 sentence each. But 2nd sentence could be "this experience demonstrates my ability to be flexible"

P3- closing "thank you for this opportunity. Jennifer grey, cell 07xyz 123 123, email jgrey. At xyz.com"

I'm not a recruiter but went on 2 unemployment courses on how to get hired. They were brill courses by the way, I thought.

All the best

We ask for people to send a covering letter explaining how they would be a great fit for the job. I don't want them to replicate their cv - I want to hear about who they are, why they have chosen this role, in this industry with our company. I expect them to tailor this letter to the job, if it's generic like daisychain01's above I will discard it immediately - they would not have answered the brief and if you can't read and follow instructions, you fail a basic test.

We don't need you to blow smoke up our ass but we want you to care where you work, interested in your own career and how it aligns with our objectives. So know something about us - read our website, refer to one of our case studies or something current/relevant that's happening in our industry, and show you've done a bit of homework. We offer very high salaries - we need to feel that's not the only thing that attracted you to the role.

And if you have enough to say that's relevant 2 pages is fine. And finally, all companies are different and have their own recruitment strategies (for example - I don't read hobbies or schools, I place no importance on them - the debate on whether hobbies and interests are an important addition, rages on but unless you are demonstrating a skill - I don't care whether you ski or volunteer - so there is no definitive do this and don't do that on the detail, it's an imperfect process - decide what you feel comfortable with and run with that. Good luck.