11 Tips to Writing a Memorable Cover Letter
First impressions count in the job search, and that’s why a dynamite cover letter can mean the difference between success and failure in your healthcare job search. But what makes a dazzling healthcare cover letter? Several career experts share their advice.
Get to the Point
State the purpose of your letter in the first paragraph. Small talk is generally a waste of space.
“Most of the cover letters we do for clients are three paragraphs or so and fill less than a page,” says Shel Horowitz, Director of Accurate Writing & More in Hadley, Massachusetts.
Tailor Your Letter to the Reader
Focus on the needs of the specific healthcare organization, not on your own requirements as a job seeker, says Lorna Lindsey, Director of Academic Affairs for CompHealth, a healthcare recruiting and staffing firm based in Salt Lake City. Visit your potential healthcare employer’s Web site or read the company’s annual report to learn more about it, and then use your cover letter to demonstrate how your skills and experience can benefit the organization.
Maintain the Right Tone
A cover letter should be “businesslike, friendly and enthusiastic,” says Bill Frank, founder of CareerLab in Denver and author of 200 Letters for Job Hunters. Healthcare professionals have the “opportunity to reveal their passion “through a cover letter, but the document “shouldn’t become too syrupy, or it loses its objectivity and professionalism.”
Make It Memorable
New healthcare graduates can make their cover letters stand out by personalizing their stories. If you decided to model your career after a healthcare professional that helped a family member, for example, tell that story rather than making the blander claim that you’ve always wanted to help people. “If your story is unique, it’s no longer a cliché,” Frank says.
Stay on Track
The best cover letters are direct and concise. Don’t include a lot of unnecessary personal information.
Highlight Your Biggest Successes
Your healthcare cover letter shouldn’t just summarize your career or repeat the same information from your resume, according to Wendy Enelow, founder of the Career Masters Institute in Fresno, California. “You want it to highlight the successes and achievements of your career that are most related to the types of positions for which you are applying,” she says.
Use Power Phrases
Use strong action words to convey your healthcare experiences and illustrate your healthcare qualifications with phrases like “I have a strong background in” and “I have a talent for. Don’t be shy about selling yourself since that’s the purpose of a cover letter.
Show Your Team Spirit
If you have room for a few extra sentences in your cover letter, emphasize your teamwork and communication skills. In this day and age, teamwork and communication are vitally important in almost every healthcare position, from the lowest to the highest paid individual.
Spice Up Your Writing
Effective cover letters are a little different from all the others but still straightforward, experts say. For example, the boring, traditional way to start a cover letter is: “I am writing in response to your advertisement for a nurse and have enclosed my resume for your review.” A better cover letter beginning could be: “Your ad on Monster for a nurse captured my attention and motivated me to learn more about this healthcare opportunity.” Then describe how your healthcare qualifications match the employer’s needs.
Follow Up
An unforgivable error some job seekers make is failing to follow up after promising to do so in a cover letter. If you write in your cover letter that you’ll call the letter recipient on a certain day or by a specific deadline, do it.
Don’t:
- Provide salary information when it is not requested.
- Address a letter recipient by anything other than his/her name. Avoid “Dear Sirs” at all costs
- Write a canned, generic letter that looks like it was copied from a book.
- Start the first paragraph and too many other sentences with “I.”
- Make spelling errors and typos.
- Hand write a cover letter.
- Use shoddy paper, or paper that’s different from your resume paper.
- Cram too much information into a small space.
- Include irrelevant personal information or job experience.
- Overstate your accomplishments or contradict your resume
– Author: Alan Drage (People Services, Director)