Your cover letter can be seen as your professional workplace story; it demonstrates your qualifications beyond certificates. In other words, your cover letter aligns your experiences, with an employer’s expectation. So how do you go about “writing your cover letter to suit a vacancy”?
Firstly, understand that you don’t just write a cover letter. Cover letters are written to meet/fulfil an expectation.
Secondly, writing your cover letter to suit a vacancy, is a combination of; your career experience, education, volunteer experience, personal growth, interests, and any other thing, that helps you explore the employer’s interest. Therefore, you must ensure that what you write, meets the reader’s expectations.
Step by Step Procedure to Write Your Cover Letter to Suit a Vacancy
Writing your cover letter to suit a vacancy will be difficult, if you don’t understand an employer’s expectations. This section will show you how to outline your cover letter, for a vacancy.
Step 1: Read through the vacancy.
2: List the requirements for the job that you meet, including; qualifications, similar job responsibilities, achievements, strengths, interests etc.
3: Think of times, when you handled similar duties, displayed qualities, or deployed tools, that are relevant to the job.
4: Write down your thoughts, in a sheet of paper or word document.
5: Outline the qualities which you possess, that are core/primary for the vacancy.
6: Decide the qualities that you’ll explore in your cover letter.
7: Compose your Cover letter, starting from the most important points.
8: After writing, read what you’ve written aloud to yourself. By doing this, you’ll catch mistakes that mere reading won’t allow you to notice.
9: Finally, get fresh eyes to look at it for you i.e. friends or an expert.
Writing Your Cover Letter to Suit a Vacancy (Example)
Now that you know the steps for writing a cover letter, that meets the demands of a vacancy; let’s explore an example for better understanding.
This cover letter is for the position of a Quality Control Officer; and the job details were taken from Fasthire job site- the job board for entry-level and mid-level careers.
Job Responsibilities
Cover Letter Outline
A cover letter should follow, but not be restricted to this outline;
- Applicant details and address
- Receivers information (Name of employer or company, position, address etc)
- Opening salutation (Dear Hiring manager, Dear Mr Forcados)
- Cover letter title
- Body of letter
- Closing remark
- Name/Contact
Cover Letter Example
Candidate Address
Company Name & Address
Dear Hiring Manager,
APPLICATION FOR THE ROLE OF A QUALITY CONTROL OFFICER
I am a graduate of Biotechnical Science, from the Rivers State University. The last 6 years, have been the most exciting period of my career; working at Rivers Plastic Industry, as a Quality Control Officer; ensuring quality standards of an over #20 million naira monthly, production line.
Requirements that the first paragraph covers:
- We hope to find an experienced, dedicated Quality Control Officer to join our team.
- In this position, you will maintain quality standards by approving incoming materials, in-process production, finished products, and recording the results.
- 5 years of relevant experience
Leading teams come naturally to me, and I have improved this skill over the years with volunteer roles, and in corporate teams. In my volunteering role; the team I led, won the “Best Coordinated Team” award; during an international convention, where we were in charge of ensuring quality standard, for Transcorp Hotel. One of the things that set my team apart, was the training I organized for them, before the convention. In the training, I taught them how to be detail-oriented, and how to use a prepared checklist, to manage outcomes in the field.
- Excellent communication and leadership skills are a must, as well as a keen attention to detail.
- Supervise daily quality inspections, during order picking.
In my second year as a quality control officer, my main responsibility was; training the quality assurance team on best practices. I led the team, to conduct; daily pre-dispatch quality checks on all product lines, ensure proper housekeeping of the units and factory in general, and issue visas for “release of goods quality check pass-slip”, for products that are tested as fit for dispatch.
- Conduct daily pre-dispatch quality checks on all product lines.
- Conduct incoming shipment/delivery quality inspections, on all product lines.
- Provide accurate and timely Quality reporting.
- To oversee training of warehouse staff, performing quality inspections.
- Oversee and check the setup of the QC area for equipment, calibration of scales, stationery, forms and files.
- To undertake other duties as requested.
- Ensure proper housekeeping of the units and Factory in general.
- Where required; to liaise with the customers on quality issues, complaints and developments.
- Health and Safety requirements: Employees must ensure they do not compromise the safety of themselves or others.
- Manage and update all forms and record-keeping of quality.
- Issue visas for “release of goods quality check pass-slip”, for products that are tested as fit for dispatch.
- Ensure record-keeping and filing is correct and consistent.
- Management of quality manual systems and compliance.
- Minimize loss of materials through poor handling and storage practices, and sign off on all products, dumped due to poor quality.
I have level 1 to 3 HSE certifications, and I’ve always adhered to the health and safety practices, in my previous employment; where I earned the nickname, Mr Safety.
I look forward to joining the Alfina team; to ensure that the quality standards of the plastic products, are top-notched, and cut down on wastages to improve turnaround time.
Yours Faithfully,
Name
Contact details
Conclusion
This post highlights the different sections for a cover letter, and the thought pattern to implement when, writing your cover letter to suit a vacancy. To write a winning cover letter, you will have to take your time, to get a sense of your previous experiences, and how you can write the stories professionally, in your cover letter.
Cheers to your success!
