Writing a covering email
The advent of email means the days of laborious, handwritten covering letters that
used to accompany printed CVs are well behind us. But take care not to make classic
email application mistakes that send your CV to Deleted Items without even being
opened.
Minding your Ps & Qs
- Make the effort: Ensure that the main body of your email states
clearly why you’re making contact. CVs that are emailed as attachments to blank
emails tell the recipient: even though technology makes it easy for me to say why
I’m sending my CV in, I’m not going to bother trying. Remember – you may be only
applying for one job; the recipient may have several vacancies on the go at any
one time – how do they know which one you’re applying for? (On that note, if you’re
asked to quote a reference numbers, make sure you do)
- Don’t add pressure: A bugbear for many recipients of CVs is the
obligation that many jobseekers attempt (often unwittingly) to force on them to
confirm safe receipt of their email and CV; when applications are coming in fast
and thick, it’s virtually impossible to manually respond to every single one (although
vacancy inboxes these days typically generate automated replies). Following up with
a phone call can be equally tiresome to the recipient – unless you have cause to
doubt that your CV has arrived safely (and not being immediately invited for an
interview doesn’t represent am acceptable reason), leave well alone and trust in
the system. Take care not to turn the heat up at the end of your email – while few
people object strongly to applications that finish with ‘I look forward to hearing
from you’, others may regard it as irksome; it’s often best to sign off with something
less assertive, such as a confident but polite ‘If you have any questions or would
like to know when I might be available, I’d be delighted to hear from you’.
Sell, sell, sell
- Know your goal: Your CV may be the marketing tool that gets you
an interview – but it’s your covering email that gets your CV opened in the first
place. If you’re replying to a job you’ve just seen advertised, the chances are
the recipient of your email will be facing a bombardment of applications. Make sure
yours stands out (and for the might reasons)
- Grab attention: Put yourself in the shoes of the employer – what
would a stand-out CV look like? Answer two key questions:
- Why you’re right for the job (briefly mapping to their desired skills and competencies)
- Why the job appeals to you (although go easy on heaping praise on the organisation,
which can carry overtones of false flattery)
- Check and double-check: Pause before pressing that Send button
– give your email a quality audit, checking for spelling, grammar, relevance and
attention-grabbing potential