What a Covering Letter Should Consist

Knowing what a covering letter should consist gives you an advantage when applying for a job. The content of a covering letter (or cover letter) is vital to the success of your job application, landing an interview and getting a job offer. Knowing and learning what a covering letter should consist is an easy step of applying for a job. Reserve your efforts and strengths for other aspects of job interviews. In this section, we discuss what a covering letter should consist and what a covering letter should not consist.

What a covering letter should not consist

In the past, people got away with just writing "Enclosed is a copy of my resume" and that somehow landed them an interview or even a job. However, nowadays, competition is so fierce in the job market, especially for recent graduates without solid and relevant experience in the field. Employers nowadays look for every reasons to reject an applicant, rather than every reason to hire an applicant like it used to be in the past. There are more and more qualified applicants in the pool to choose from and the applicants who know what a covering letter should consist may just catch the eyes of the interview screener.

What a covering letter should consist

A covering letter is not something you whipped together in a second. No matter how good you are or how great your resume is, if you have a bad covering letter, you are denying yourself a good chance of getting an interview and a job. Below is a basic structure of what a covering letter should consist. Bear in mind that there are a few versions of what a covering letter should consist but the structure of the covering letter below is a proven popular structure among major employers.

How you found the position

The first three parts of a covering letter explains how you found out about the position. Employers advertise through many media sources such as online, in magazines, at colleges' career services, and at career fairs. Most employers want to know how you found 'their ads' and how your resume ends up in the pile they are looking at. To do this, all you need to say in your covering letter is simply:

"I wish to apply for the (position) with (company name) as advertised in (source)."

If you are applying for a vacation position, you should include your degree subject and year of study as well as year of completion.

The next part of what a covering letter should consist is harder to write and this is where many candidates struggle to convince the employers.

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