How to write a Cover letter

The Cover letter (CL) or motivation letter or letter of introduction is the document that accompanies your CV when you are applying for a job. The CL is brief, short (200-250 words), with a quite rigid structure and has the layout of a letter. Its goal is, firstly, to express your interest in the position advertised and to introduce yourself, secondly, to convince the employer that you are the right person for the job, and thirdly, to introduce your CV (to bring to attention aspects of your activity that can help your application and are not listed or not presented in the proper light in the CV). No matter how good it is, the reader will not waste more than a few minutes on it. As a Curriculum Vitae is so impersonal and formal, a cover letter can provide that small touch of personalization. This letter is your chance to express your enthusiasm for a particular position. Your cover letter must answer the following questions:

•  Why do you want this job?
•  Why should the employer consider you as an applicant?
•  What can you provide the company with?

Layout. The layout is that of a formal business letter: your address and contact details come under your name, in the upper right corner of the page. Underneath, aligned left, write the name, function, organization and address of the person you are writing to. It is best to know the name of the person who is going to read your letter. In the case you do not know the name, an email, a little digging in the Internet or a phone call should help you get that name, in case it is not mentioned in the official announcement. Under the receiver's address, but aligned right, write the date of the day when you are writing the letter. You can put in front of the date the location Ex: Timisoara, 2nd December 2000.

•  Start with Dear Mr. (Mister), Ms (Miss), Mrs. (Mistress), Dr (Doctor)... You should end the letter with the salutation Yours sincerely. If you do not know the name (but you should), start with Dear Sirs, or Dear Sir or Madam and close with Yours faithfully. In American business correspondence, Yours truly is acceptable in both cases.

•  Structure. Ideally, a cover letter has no more than four paragraphs.
  •  The goal of the first is to specify what you are applying for and how did you find out about that opportunity.
  •  The second paragraph should list your skills and qualifications that make you the right person for the position you are applying for. Read carefully the announcement, identify the requirements and see how your skills match those required. Do not simply state you have them, prove it. Ideally, you should start from your experience and show how you have developed those qualifications by doing what you have been doing/learning. Same as in the case of your CV, the result should portrait you as an independent, creative person that can take initiative and deal with responsibilities, apart from the specific skills needed for the job. In short, the second paragraph should show why you are good for the job / why are you the right person for this program?
  •  The third should point out why you want it. You should outline your interest for the skills you are going to learn if you get the job. The impression left should be that you can make a genuine contribution to the company's operations, while simultaneously deriving satisfaction from your work.
  •  The last one outlines your availability for an interview, suggesting in this way a concrete follow-up for your application. 
  •  After the fourth paragraph leave a blank space, same as you should do in the beginning, after the salutation (Dear). Write the proper closing and your name. Do not forget to sign the letter.

•  Enclosure. It is customary for formal letters to mention whether you have enclosed any documents accompanying the letter. Simply mention enclosure, or write curriculum vitae under the heading enclosure at the end of the letter.

As with any professional letter your spelling and grammar must be perfect!  Write in a clear and logic manner, rather than being subtle. Remember, your CL will be one in a few hundreds read by the recruiter. Don't be afraid of rewriting, you will probably revise it up to 10 times until you can come up with a good CL. One strategy is, let it rest after you have written a new draft for a few days, and read it again, in order to get a more objective view. Be sure to sound confident and energetic!

Print the letter on A4 white paper same as that on which your CV was printed, and put both documents in an A4 envelope of matching color. If you are emailing it request a notification that your documents have been received. Wait at least two-three weeks since the day you sent your application or after the deadline before writing again in the case you did not get any answer.

Cover letter templates: Template 1, Template 2

If you are looking for a job, try one of these websites: Materiale pt unghii cu gel or www.job.ro

Good luck!