Cover Letter Outline: Fill & Download for Free

I have provided a 7 step guide for writing a compelling cover letter based on my own experiences of writing effective cover letters, helping others with their cover letters and assisting my manager with screening applications. I have included examples of how each step is helpful. This approach is particularly helpful to technical specialists e.g. engineers and geologists who may need some quick tips on marketing and effective communication. I have used the same approach of benefits, evidence, features in writing successful bids to clients to tender for projects.I recognise that writing a compelling cover letter takes a lot of time and critical thinking, so if you are restricted with time, pick your top job vacancies to apply for rather than resorting to a bulk mailout of a generic cover letter.Research – get this right and it will provide a strong foundation1. Research your networks. See who in your network knows about the company or hiring manager. See if you can get a hold of company mission statement, values statement etc. The last job I applied for I discovered that a number of people I knew also knew the hiring manager. I dug for as much information about him and his team as I could. I found out that he was technically very competent, an excellent manager, cared about his team members, very personable, keen on building a strong team. I also managed to get a hold of a company values and personnel competencies manual which outlined company values and how it relates to expectations of behavior and competencies for the different levels in the organisation i.e. graduate level, professional level, senior, level, principal level. This was very useful in terms of responding to the selection criteria with an understanding of the expectations of a specific level, in my case it was for a principal role. So I knew exactly what the organisation expected of this role in terms of the various selection criteria. I used some of the keywords in my cover letter.2. Research every agency and job site. If the position is being advertised through an agency, research various job sites and see if the same position is being advertised by various agencies. Contact all agencies and ask for more information about the position and company. The more background information you can get the better. As an example, a friend of mine was interested in a position offered by one agency through one job site. In doing further online research he discovered that the same position was advertised by multiple agencies through various job sites. Yet, each description provided a new piece of information about the position and each conversation with every contact person provided even more information. Be diligent. It pays off.3. Always call the contact person. See if you can get more information about the company and position that was not in the job description or advertisement. If you are lucky enough to get a hold of the hiring manager you may be able to get a glimpse into their personality, what they are focused on, and what their personal KPIs might be. When I called the hiring manager, who was the contact person for the job advertisement, I was able to discover more about the expectations for the vacant position. I later found out, after starting employment, that the hiring manager was restricted with what words and terminology he could use in the job description due to the bureaucratic rules of the organisation and that although he wanted to provide more specific job requirements and expectations he was not able to. Always call the contact person and try to get more information.Analyse and Plan – this is where all the hard thinking happens4. Identify keywords in the job description, conversation with the hiring contact person, company mission and values and anything else you got your hand on. Use these keywords.5. Identify benefits. This is the key above all! This is where technical specialists often get it wrong. But those who are marketing-minded would be more familiar with this approach. It is natural to put the focus on yourself, but actually you need to place the focus on the organisation and show off your understanding of their needs. This is where you get a chance to connect to the organisation and make them feel that you are a perfect fit.Identify how the organisation would benefit from hiring you. This should relate to the key reason for the existence of this specific position in the company. Do not confuse benefits with evidence or features. You know an idea is a benefit because it can be categorised into one of three items: (saves) time, (saves) money (or increase profits), (adds) confidence (emotions).As an example. I was helping a geologist, to apply for a principal geologist position. In a conversation with a contact person from a job agency he discovered that the company was looking for a geologist to assist in due diligence of potential investments in coal tenements. From this conversation he identified that the key concern of the company was in identifying quality coal tenements to invest in and filtering out the poor quality tenements. As an experienced geologist he would be able to identify whether the exploration company that was undertaking the exploration work was providing reliable data to the investing company or whether they were manipulating the interpretation of data to make it seem that a coal tenement was better than it actually was.In writing the cover letter the benefits that had to be highlighted up front was: as an experienced geologist he could provide geological confidence in the quality of the coal tenement which would support investment decisions and he could save money in terms of identifying poor quality tenements.6. Explain the evidence in your ability to provide these benefits. So in the example of this geologist, he gave a succinct summary of his 7 years of experience in coal exploration and specifically in data handling and interpretation as well as quality control of an exploration team of 90 people and 11 drill rigs. He could identify when other geologists were not thorough or precise in the processes, discrepancies in interpretation or if there were any quality control issues.Write your cover letter – build out from the dot points you developed in steps 4, 5 & 6.7. Your cover letter structure should be as follows (I am assuming you already have knowledge of creating a letter format):- Introduce yourself.- Highlight upfront the benefits to the organisation for hiring you.- Explain your evidence for being able to provide these benefits. Remember to refer to your references e.g. “ As my references can attest, I am reliable and communicative.”- Refer to your CV for more detailed information.- Close off e.g. I look forward to hearing from you.- Sign off.Make sure to keep your cover letter to one page.Check and recheck your contact details.All the best!

I would absolutely love it!Someone who is thoughtful, organized, and trying their best to communicate clearly? What’s not to appreciate?If anyone, people in psychology understand that not everyone communicates the same way, and we understand that often people struggle to open up.It’s a fantastic method for anyone, not just those who struggle.I encourage clients to write down things they want to be sure to address or talk about if something comes to mind during the week, so they don’t forget it.So, I’d be thrilled if a client came to me with a specific list of things they want to cover or issues they are facing.It’s a great starting point, and I’d hope they would continue that process throughout the time we work together.

When I was in college I worked at a sign company. One of the old-timers was an expert at gold-leaf lettering.Back in the day he would go to a law office or accountant’s office and expertly paint the outline of the company's name in reverse on the inside of the glass entry door. Then he would dissolve empty gelatin capsules in warm water and paint the mixture to fill in the letter outlines. When it dried it would be sticky, and he would take a sheet of gold leaf and gently apply it to the sticky gelatin on the glass. Once all the letters were covered he would take a soft brush and knock away any gold leaf not stuck to the glass. The result, when looking from the front was a perfectly mirror-like gold lettering with a solid black outline. He would then seal it from behind with a clear varnish.This was pure 24 carat gold leaf. A pack a 50 sheets measuring about 5 1/2 inches square cost about $20, back in 1980. It was so thin that you could barely feel it when you handled it. It was literally only a few atoms thick. The tissue paper separating the gold leaf sheets weighed at least ten times as much.I don't know how much gold NASA uses, but a little goes a looooong way.