First and foremost, you should know all cover letters follow a standard business letter format. You will always include these five sections: heading, greeting, introduction, body paragraph and closing statement. You’ll also need to correctly apply five formatting principles to strengthen your cover letter’s organization and aesthetics to create your most effective cover letter yet.
Although business letters follow a strict, standard format, you can customize your cover letter’s heading and body paragraphs using the following design tools. These customizable sections allow you to showcase your personal touch.
If you wish to create a more eye-catching cover letter, you can edit the heading based on your personal design style. As long as you include your name, address, the recipient’s information and the relevant contact information, you can format it creatively.
Some design choices you can add are:
Check out an example below!
Always be mindful of the industry to which you’re applying, as this will determine the amount of flourish you should include on your cover letter.
In the body paragraph of your cover letter, you should present your professional accomplishments and quantifiable achievements. You can write it as either a traditional paragraph, or present the information in bullet points or numbered lists.
Lists allow you to separate each accomplishment individually to bring equal attention to all of them. They are also easier to read, so if you already have a text-heavy introduction and closing, a bulleted list is an excellent formatting choice.
This is how a bulleted body paragraph can look for an administrative assistant:
Throughout my career as an administrative assistant in the real estate industry I have achieved many goals for my employers such as:
Now that you understand how to format a cover letter, you can choose a template that fits your style and profession. Hloom has a wide range of cover letter templates, from traditional and serious styles to more contemporary and bold designs.
If you want to make sure you correctly apply the five fundamental principles to your cover letter, you can use our templates that already come pre-formatted to follow these guidelines.
Check them out and choose the one that suits you best!
These no-fuss black-and-white templates are fantastic for anyone from recent graduates to senior executives.
Crisp and straightforward designs with a pop of color make our Clean templates traditional yet attractive.
Our Modern templates offer brightly colored margins and eye-catching designs perfect for job seekers in fashion, tech and other creative industries.
The one- or two-column layouts in our Contemporary category give you plenty of space for your job pitch or any gap years you wish to explain.
Our Creative templates will stand out from the cover letter pile, ideal for professionals in social media, content creation or graphic design.
A lack of formal experience shouldn’t discourage you from writing a compelling cover letter. You can also impress hiring managers with your cover letter by highlighting the following:
After hiring managers learn about your work history and skills in your resume, your cover letter needs to quantify your accomplishments. This is where research of the company or employer gains relevance.
Don’t just write a long letter that’s all about what you have done in the past and leave it at that. Instead, create an engaging letter that frames your accomplishments as potential solutions to the needs of the hiring company.
For example, let’s say that you’re applying for an administrative assistant position at a real estate firm. You can state that by “creating a more streamlined filing system” at a previous job, you can “optimize the organization of client and employee contracts.” Stay one step ahead and show your employer how you’re ready to bring positive change to the workplace.
Although including a cover letter in your job application is the right choice, some mistakes could hurt your chances of impressing employers and hiring managers.
Three things you should not do on your cover letter are:
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