Writing Your Covering Letter
Covering letters are part and parcel of the application process as much as CVs and interviews. Covering letters are a chance to make an instant impression on your interviewer. With a little consideration you can make yourself stand out from 
the competition for all the right reasons! The following article contains some important dos and don'ts for sending a covering letter to reply to an advertised job.
What Your Covering Letter Should Do
A covering letter serves as your first point of contact with your prospective employer. Just like a real life meeting you want to give a good impression of your capabilities.
A good covering letter should reveal a little about yourself and your qualities relevant towards the job without giving too much away. When an interviewer reads your covering letter they want a glimpse into your capabilities so that you can show off the full package in the interview.
Think of it as a summary or press release marking you out as a unique applicant with unique traits. You want to make yourself stand out as the perfect candidate whilst being honest and not too showy.
What Your Covering Letter Should Contain
Your covering letter is a brief letter introducing you to your interviewer. It should contain a body of text relevant to the advert you are responding to and your contact details.
For each job you apply for your covering letter should be unique, like your CV. If you are sending out a bulk of applications for different job titles you should at least come up with a covering letter for each role or title which can then be further personalised to meet requirements of the employer.
Your covering letter is an exercise in marketing; promoting yourself and making you stand out above the competition. Therefore you should put a little time into it to make it appeal to your prospective employer. Think of what they would like to see in a candidate and include it in a concise manner. Even if you know who you are addressing on a first name basis you should still refer to them as either Sir or Madam and sign off with yours faithfully. Include all relevant information in brief paragraphs that are easy to read and take in. Like your CV, take particular care to check your spelling and grammar and remember to date and sign the letter.
Even if you are sending your application electronically you should still include a covering letter. Your covering letter will be identical to a paper equivalent except that you won't need to include a property address for return correspondence.