\nRemember to use a professional email address, not something you randomly thought of during the early part of your college or university life. There are a couple of strange examples that spring to mind but something similar to,\u00a0ladiesman1978@hotmail.com<\/span>\u00a0should be avoided at all costs.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\nOnce you are happy with the email and have thoroughly checked it for spelling mistakes and typos, insert the recipients address. Make sure the recipients address is right otherwise when you send the email it will bounce back. To avoid this, cut and paste the email address from the job advert.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\nFinally, before you click the send button, get a friend or a family member to check it. If you can\u2019t find anyone to check it for you, do one\u00a0FINAL<\/strong>\u00a0check yourself. You can never be too careful.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nSpeculative covering letters<\/strong><\/p>\nThere are a number of reasons why you would probably write a speculative covering letter. For example, your letter may be purely speculative or submitted on the basis of information received from someone who works for the company\u00a0(e.g. \u201cI am writing to enquire whether you have any vacancies within your care home for a person with my skills and experience either now or in the future\u201d).<\/span><\/p>\nIn some cases, it might be in response to something you read in a local newspaper or a magazine where a company has won a major contract or is expecting to expand\u00a0(e.g. \u201cI read a recent article in the local newspaper that you won a large contract with job center plus to get single parents back into work\u2026\u2026I would like to be considered for any positions available\u201d).<\/span> Whatever the reason, make sure you highlight your main skills in terms of what you think the employer is looking for. Try to get your speculative covering letter to a named person with the company. You may have to telephone the company to find out the name of the person who is responsible for recruitment. Although, this might be a long drawn process it\u2019s worthwhile in the long term because the employer will appreciate the effort you have put into your application.<\/p>\nStructure of a speculative covering letter<\/strong><\/p>\nSpeculative covering letters are usually three to four paragraphs in length; consider the structure of a speculative covering letter below.<\/p>\n
First Paragraph<\/span><\/p>\n\n- My name is \u2026\u2026 and I am currently seeking employment as\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span><\/li>\n
- I read in my local paper that you recently secured a large contract with\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span><\/li>\n
- An employee of yours recently suggested to me that you might have an opening in your HR department for a\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Highlight skills & experience<\/span><\/p>\n\n- I understand that you do employ people with my background, which includes 5 years\u2019 experience with XYZ and so thought that you might be interested in my application\u2026\u2026<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Closing statement<\/span><\/p>\n\n- I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you in person and look forward to your positive response.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A\u00a0covering letter is a vital tool during the application process because employers often read the cover letter before the CV. If this is the case then your covering letter needs to be equally as impressive as your CV. A covering letter is a letter of introduction that highlights your main skills and your suitability for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-29","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.myfirstcv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.myfirstcv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.myfirstcv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.myfirstcv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.myfirstcv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.myfirstcv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":545,"href":"http:\/\/www.myfirstcv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29\/revisions\/545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.myfirstcv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"What](\"http:\/\/www.myfirstcv.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/What-is-a-Covering-Letter-213x300.jpg\")
A\u00a0covering letter is a vital tool during the application process because employers often read the cover letter before the CV. If this is the case then your covering letter needs to be equally as impressive as your CV. A covering letter is a letter of introduction that highlights your main skills and your suitability for the role that you are applying for. From personal experience I can tell you that few employers will seriously consider a CV that is not accompanied by a covering letter.<\/p>\n