As an administrative or a clerical job applicant, your cover letter comes with some extra pressure. A common job duty of many admin positions is crafting correspondence. A mistake in your cover letter isn't going to inspire confidence in a potential employer. When applying for jobs, consider testing your letter on your friends.
You could be the best wordsmith in the admin business but draw a blank when it comes to drafting your own cover letter. Don't feel bad—you're not alone if you struggle talking about your accomplishments in an appropriate manner. At times like this, getting a few ideas from sample sites can help you put finger to keyboard and begin writing. There's one problem with this tip: You could mimic the tone and style of the samples without realizing it. Here's where your friends come in. Ask people familiar with your writing style to read your letter. Does the letter sound like you? Did you use words that they've never heard you use? Is everything you included pertinent to you and not just a copy and paste job from the sample?
Confidence is an important quality in any cover letter, but you should know where to draw the line when applying for jobs. There's a fine line between confidence and bragging, and it's hard to tell when you've crossed it. A trusted friend with some understanding of hiring or human-resource practices can help you out. Ask your friend to read your letter and highlight areas that seem exaggerated or sound like bragging. It can also be tempting to stretch your qualifications during the application process, so ask a friend or former coworker familiar with your clerical experience to vet all your claims. After reading your cover letter, friends should ask specific questions about any claims you made that they haven't experienced. If you can't convince your friend the claim is true, you'll have a hard time in an interview.
Poor wording, grammatical mistakes, and misspellings can toll the death knell on your clerical application¾especially if potential employers expect you to head up communications for an executive or a department. Proofread your letter several times, and then have a few friends with good grammar and English skills do the same. There's a Murphy-type law specific to writing—as soon as you send your letter on, you'll notice a mistake. Better to notice that mistake when you send the cover letter to a friend than when you send it to a potential employer. Your friend may also catch mistakes and odd wording you'd never notice.
Searching for a job can seem like a lonely task, but inviting your friends along for the ride allows you to leverage a support system throughout the entire process. Vetting your cover letter is just one way friends can support you during a job hunt.
(Photo courtesy of digitalart / freedigitalphotos.net)
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