How to Make a Resume Cover Letter from Your Resume

A resume cover letter will accompany your resume and act as an introduction to that resume. It’s the middle ground between your potential employer and the facts about your career. With a resume cover letter, you can accentuate the positive of your resume and get a chance to let your personality show through.

A resume cover letter is basically a letter to the potential employer explaining why you are submitting your resume and what is in it for them if they hire you. Hiring managers are getting tons and tons of resumes each day for every position that is open. By writing a good resume cover letter, you can make your resume stand out and increase your chances for getting an interview.

Since your resume cover letter directly relates to your resume, it’s best to start there for inspiration. Take a look at your complete resume and write down the key points from your resume. What is the over all theme? That you’re a team player? That you are a great sales person? That you always take initiative?

Developing a theme for your resume cover letter is a good way to start positioning yourself in the marketplace. In truth, you might be all of those things but you want to brand yourself as something so that the potential employer can get a snapshot of who you are as a worker. Your theme should be directly related to the job listing that prompted you to contact the company. For example, if they are looking for a self-starter, you should position yourself that way in your resume cover letter.

Once you’ve decided how you are going to position yourself, go back through your resume and look for examples of this in your career. Draw specific instances that you can use in your cover letter to point out that you are really what you say. Look for two to three examples to use in your resume cover letter.

After finding your theme and your examples, it’s time to write your resume cover letter. Start out with stating why you are writing the company and where you found the ad. Then launch into a paragraph about your experience and how it directly relates to their job opening. Here is your chance to use the examples that you found in your resume. Build around this one theme for this paragraph. It will help brand you and set yourself apart from the other applicants.

Next, you’ll want to tell them specifically what you’ll do for them. How will having you on board make a difference in their company? You’ve proven that you have a certain set of skills from your previous paragraph. Now show them how those skills translate into the work place. Finally, you’ll need to communicate the next steps. If you’re going to be following up with the company, let them know how and when. If you are going to wait for their call, state this as well.

All of these elements work together to create a great resume cover letter that will get results.

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