Cover Letters - why are they so hard?

[BlastedPimples]

I am looking to get back into work after a long spell out as a SAHM.

I'm applying for admin jobs in schools and offices.

I'm just stuck with my cover letter. I can't see how to present myself as good for the role without sounding phoney and ott.

Any tips please?

I write them when drunk. Makes me more effusive. I have still not got a job though, so maybe there is a better method.

Instead of trying to write the letter from the start - go through the essential criteria and write a bullet point / couple of sentences as evidence for each criteria (refer to your education / previous employment, including examples). Once you’ve done this, you can group points together and start to form into a letter. Be specific and clear!

Just highlight your past experience and cross reference to the job description and why you are the right candidate for the position - what you can bring to the job and company..
Keep it brief but still summarise yourself..

I’m in exactly the same boat right now - long time SAHM applying for jobs. I use covering letters as a way to pull out the pertinent points from my cv that are relevant to the role and link them to the attributes they are looking for. Something along ‘I have experience of x y and z and believe these skills are a good fit for the requirements of this role.”

I am hopeless at blowing my own trumpet but you just have to get over the cringe factor and do it because everyone else will be! Good luck!!

Chatgpt is good for that sort of thing!

It's excruciating! I've just done one and I kept having to walk away from it. I think it's because you have to write like you are a candidate from The Apprentice. It feels so artificial.

This.

agree with lcb123

Look for the person specification in the job pack. See if you can more or less say something about each part of the person specification. Group things if there are overall themes.

So the letter can go:

Dear xyz,

Application for School Administrator

Enthusiastic sentence about why you want the job (eg, I would love to use my skills to contribute to the efficient running of the school and help all the staff, children and parents to feel supported)

Sentence/paragraph about first aspect of person spec (eg, I am experienced in word, excel and databases from my time at abc job)

Sentence/paragraph about next aspect (eg, I thrive in a fast-moving and multi-tasking situation, and I am good at reacting quickly. Not only did I respond quickly to unexpected situations in Xxx job but looking after my own small children has honed my skills in multi-tasking.)

continue until name checked all/most of person spec- though keep the whole letter to 1 page ideally

Finish with similar enthusiastic sentence to the first one, something genuine and positive, or just say I hope you will consider me for this role,

Yours sincerely,

BlastedPimples

Usually the short-listers are using the person spec to shortlist, eg, they are looking to tick off or comment that you can meet each aspect of the person spec.

So make it really easy for them to spot it!

Do school jobs require cover letters?
I thought they just had standard application forms.
Or do you mean the personal statement bit?

Remember that once you've done one letter/application it will get easier to do others, should you need to, because you can edit and re-tailor it for future roles. It's just getting the pain of creating the first one out of the way. Best of luck.