Tips for Writing An Effective Cover Letter for Recruitment Agency.

Writing an effective cover letter that you send for a job application is the most important document to sell yourself to the employer to induce him to read your CV and grant you an interview. You may be wasting your chances and facing disappointments from potential employers by writing unbecoming cover letters that you send with your resume for job applications.

I have spent a lot of time to research every aspect of the subject concerning how to write a cover letter for resume for a job application, during my tenure as the head of HR of a big organization. By virtue of my position as HR Head I had the opportunity to interact with several employment agencies and head-hunters that specialize in recruiting personnel for companies in various industries. Out of my professional interest I enquired from many of these staffing agencies about the basis of their choice of candidates for their clients. While there were some exceptions, it was revealed that no matter whatever the position or the type of the company, there were some noticeable unanimity in their replies. The most predominant reason all the recruiters expressed for choosing candidates for their clients was that all the successful applicants knew the art of writing an effective cover letter for job application to the employment agency, which was found to be expressive and concise.

Write a smart cover letter

Your resume may be otherwise attractive, but it is entirely possible that if your cover letter for the job application enclosing the resume is weakly constructed or if it is apparent that you didn't expend much time and effort on it, the trust of the employment agency on you will fall and your resume will never get read. After all the first impression is lasting impression. This article reveals the actual secrets about how to write an effective cover letter for job application to the recruitment agency and guides you very deeply about constructing a smart letter which would help you to get the job of your dream.

8 Tips for writing an effective cover letter

Here are 8 tips for writing an effective cover letter that you send for a job application, to create a significant first impression on your potential employer. I am confident that your resume would get more attention and will be pre-selected among many job applicants provided you simply follow the these tips:

1. The rules for writing cover letter meant for recruiters against advertised job opening and that of writing letter to the employment agents or headhunters are totally different;
2. While the focal point of the cover letter meant for a direct employer should be specific to the advertised job, the same for the recruiting agents need to establish the value your skills and experience for the job would bring to the employers, which the employment recruiters can sell to their clients;
3. While cover letters to the employers against advertised jobs should be short and concise, you need to provide detail information highlighting your marketable skills and experiences over and above what is in your resume to impress the employment agents/head-hunters from the point of view of selling potential of the same to their clients. Try to avoid using over-used words/phrases in your covering letter like 'problem solver', 'proactive team player', 'proven track record', 'dynamic', 'motivator, 'entrepreneurial' etc. These words/phrases may appear empty to the potential clients of the employment agencies for finding them as boring and repetitive.
4. As some of the staffing agencies deal with recruitment for a particular category of industry only, it is advisable to search for recruiters who specialize in your industry. Many search firms post on their websites specific jobs they are conducting searches for. Write to more than one recruitment agency to enhance your chance of finding employment;
5. Effective cover letter to headhunters or recruitment agencies should invariably contain one brief introductory paragraph about yourself stating your details, why you are writing to them, which particular industries or jobs you are interested in, the suggested job titles you are qualified for in your field, how your skills, talents and experience would be a value addition to the recruiters' clients, your present location, time required to attend an interview and the notice period required to join a new job;
6. While writing to employment agents the cover letter should also include a separate paragraph giving details of your salary history and your salary expectations from the prospective employers. When mentioning about your salary requirements the same should be given as a range and not as a consolidated amount. While indicating the desired salary range you need to ensure that the bottom of the range takes into consideration the cost of living in the new job area apart from the cost of relocation. It is advisable to make request in the letter to the recruiters to maintain confidentiality from your present employer about your job application and the salary requirements;
7. Do not forget to submit the links to any of your publications in the web or to enclose print outs of the hard copies of the articles written by you, if any, in your cover letter to the employment agent/head-hunter;
8. Another most important tip about how to write a cover letter for a job application to recruitment agency is that the cover letter should end with a conclusion requesting a meeting for an interview with the recruiting agent. Writing to head-hunter without any such conclusion in the cover letter can give rise to doubts about your sincere desire for the job.

Conclusion.

In a nutshell, a cover letter is not an application for job but it is a short letter that accompanies your curriculum vitae or other documents you send to the employment agency. To be successful in the job market it is vital that you know the art of writing an effective cover letter for job application so that your resume gets critical first impression of the recruitment agency among many applicants. The objectives of your cover letter should be to,

i. Introduce yourself stating your details;

ii. Highlight your skill areas as selling points to the recruiters;

iii. Entice the employment agents/head-hunters to know more about you from your resume;

iv. Request a meeting for interview with the employment agents/head-hunters;