Blog Post: Use the Employer's Language on Your Cover Letter

Before writing a cover letter, print out the job description and read it carefully with a pencil in your hand. Underline everything that tells you what the employer is looking for, such as the requirements regarding education, past experience, skills, and the duties to be performed. These points will become the stepping stones of your letter.

The goal is to “feed” the language of the job description back to the employer in the process of presenting your qualifications. Let me emphasize that using the language from the job description is important. Employers typically put a lot of effort into selecting just the right words to describe exactly what they are looking for. Those words, therefore, carry meaning and power. Reading these words in a letter of an applicant is likely to resonate with the employer.

If the job description states . . .
•    “Initiate projects” - the employer is looking for initiative. Use that word to discuss projects you have initiated before;
•    “Work independently” - the employer wants to make sure he/she can trust you to get the job done on your own. Describe instances where you were successful working independently.
•    “Be trustworthy and responsible” – the employer may have been burned by workers that took more than they gave. Highlight instances where your trustworthiness and responsibility were evident.

In our next blog we will talk about how to format a cover letter.

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Natalie Candela
Basic Learning Systems
http://www.basic-learning.com
info@basic-learning.com
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