Are Short Cover Letters a Good Idea?

Formatting for a Short Cover Letter

When creating a short cover letter, it’s important to stick to a professional cover letter format. Here are the four crucial components of your cover letter.

• Header

  The first section is your header. The header is an important part of any good cover letter. It typically contains your full name and contact information, with your phone number and professional social media links, including your LinkedIn. It’s part of the cover letter design section.

• Opening paragraph

  In your opening paragraph, you first want to get the salutation right. Avoid generic salutations like “To Whom It May Concern,” “Dear Sir or Madam,” or even “Dear Hiring Manager.” If at all possible, you want to use the hiring manager’s name. It indicates that you’ve done the research necessary on the new job to know who’s managing this job opening.

  From there, include a great hook that makes the hiring manager want to keep reading. This may be your biggest accomplishment, a story about why you chose this field, or any unique story that shows your skills, such as your interpersonal skills. By the end of the first paragraph, you should have also mentioned the job opening that you’re applying for.

• Body paragraph

  Next is your body paragraph. You want to show how you’re the perfect fit while also keeping the paragraph concise. Address key skills and requirements from the job description. For example, if the job lists communication skills as a major requirement, discuss those skills and how you’ve used them in previous jobs in your body paragraph.

• Call to action

  The closing paragraph should be your call to action in which you should request a job interview. Take this opportunity to also sum up why you believe you’re the ideal candidate for this job posting.