Introduction
It’s no secret that cover letters can help you land a job interview.
However, job seekers make common cover letter mistakes that ruin their chances of getting called in for an interview.
Mistakes such as typos, lengthy cover letters and oversharing of irrelevant information are some of the tiniest mistakes people make.
But even small mistakes such as these can be the difference between landing an interview or getting your job application thrown into the no pile.
Within this blog post, we’re going to teach you 13 cover letter mistakes to avoid so that you can create a cover letter that stands out from the competition. Let’s get started!
The 13 Cover Letter Mistakes To Avoid
Plenty of cover letter mistakes could have made this list.
But the most common cover letter mistakes that people make when writing a cover letter are as follows:
- Using a generic cover letter for every job
- Sharing irrelevant information about yourself
- Length exceeds 1 page
- Making it about you instead of the employer
- Stating why you left your last job
- Not highlighting any relevant skills
- Stating that you have no skills or experience
- Putting everything that was on your resume on your cover letter
- Using the wrong cover letter formatting
- Not using a call to action in your closing paragraph
- Not checking your cover letter for spelling, grammar or punctuation errors
- Not following application instructions
- Talking about salary
And the unfortunate thing about these mistakes is if you make only one of them, it could lead your application to be tossed as these turn off employers from hiring you.
You want to think of each mistake as a fatal detractor. And if you can avoid these mistakes, you’ll be further ahead than those who don’t consider these mistakes at all.
This leaves a massive opportunity for you to separate yourself from other job hunters.
Let’s break down each of these cover letter mistakes so we can avoid the potential pitfalls that can doom our job hunt.
Mistake #1: Using a generic cover letter
The first mistake job hunters make when writing their cover letters is using a generic cover letter.
The reason why job hunters make this mistake boils down to 1 of 2 reasons which are:
- They’re too lazy to customize the cover letter for the job they want
- They don’t know how to customize a cover letter for the job they want
Hopefully, you’re in the latter category of people. If not, stop being a lazy bum and start researching the companies you’re applying to.
The cover letter can make a huge difference for you during the job hunt.
How to customize a cover letter
If you fall into the category of people who don’t know how to customize a cover letter, here’s what you need to do:
- Find the hiring manager or department for the role that you’re applying to and address the letter to them
- Scan the Job Description (JD) and see what relevant skills are needed and make a list of those
- Figure out why you want to work for the company you’re applying to (Exciting industry, great role, great leaders, etc.)
- Within your cover letter, take a look at your achievements and quantifiable results and match those up with the skills from the JD
- Write out why you want the job in the first paragraph from your research earlier and state the specific reason why you want the job
- In the second paragraph, tell the employer about your skills and relevant results that make you a fit for the role, and optimize your cover letter with the keywords and skills that were in the JD
- Lastly, close your cover letter with your contact info and a call to action
Follow these 7 steps to create a highly relevant cover letter for each job you apply to.
Otherwise, if you don’t follow those steps and use a generic cover letter, employers will know that you’re sending your cover letter to anyone who’ll take it.
And employers will know this as the skills and results won’t match up with the JD that the employer has posted.
Avoid making a generic cover letter and customize, customize, customize!
Mistake #2: Sharing irrelevant information about yourself
Another common mistake job seekers make is sharing irrelevant information about themselves.
Job seekers share why they want the role and some relevant experiences, but then they add in experiences that don’t match what the position is looking for.
Or even worse, they go off on some tangent about how great they are as a worker, but they don’t back it up.
Instead, they take space on the cover letter to boast about themselves using vague terms like Team Player, Energetic, or whatever buzzword they can come up with.
There are better strategies than this, as you want to make your cover letter is a highly relevant introduction that sells you as an employee.
The main reason why cover letters are important, is that they get the employer to understand who you are and why they should read your resume.
When you share relevant experiences and skills about yourself, you should be able to convince the employer to read your resume.
Not run away from it.
Curate your cover letter to meet the needs of what the employer is looking for, and don’t share any irrelevant info that takes away from your application.
Mistake #3: Length exceeds 1 page
If you’re like me and love to talk, you may have made this mistake more than a few times.
Cover letters are great tools to start the conversation with those employers you want to work with. But they can also be a detriment to you if you’re a talker like myself.
Job hunters make this mistake because they love sharing their experiences, skills and everything else about themselves.
This causes your cover letter to be 2-3 pages long instead of 1. And if you have a cover letter that’s more than 1 page, you’ll most likely bore the employer reading it.
And that’s the last thing we want to do as we want the employers excited to read more about us.
Not filled with dread because they have to read your biography.
Make it 1 page long and max 500 words.
Mistake #4: Making it all about you instead of the employer
As people, we’re very selfish. We like to speak about ourselves, our accomplishments, and other things that we’ve done with our lives.
But let’s stop for a second and think, do other people like when we speak about ourselves for the whole time?
The answer is: no, they do not.
Employers hate it when you talk about yourself and nothing else because they’re hiring for a role that they need done. Employers have needs, wants, issues, that they need fulfilled.
And what good does it do us if we share everything about ourselves and don’t value what the employer wants?
I challenge you when you’re writing your cover letter; try to make it a 50/50 conversation.
50% about you, your skills, experiences, results, and what you want.
Then the other 50% write about how you can help improve the employer’s life, what problems you can solve, and the skills/experiences to back up those claims.
This approach covers everything the employer needs while stating what you want and how you can help.
Make sure you Include the employer in the conversation, make it about them and worry about yourself second.
Mistake #5: Stating why you left your last job
This mistake is a big no-no as you don’t want to be stuck in the past.
Employers will ask you about why you’re leaving your previous job in the interview.
But you should never include it in the cover letter as it’s an introduction, not your life story.
Employers like to see how you can add to the team and the positive qualities you bring. Not someone who leaves on a whim because their last job wasn’t good enough for them.
You need to be present, not stuck in the past, toiling over your past experiences with your previous employer.
Being stuck in the past makes you look bitter, which is an obvious red flag for employers.
Furthermore, when looking into the past, employers may have doubts about you as your reasons may not seem entirely true.
So when you’re creating a cover letter stick to this format:
- Tell them who you are
- What job you want
- Why you’re a fit for the job
- Show relevant results and experiences that back up your claims.
- Then close with a call to action.
There’s no time or space for anything more.
Mistake #6: Copying everything from the resume onto the cover letter
If you need to learn how to customize a cover letter, go back and look at mistake #2.
Don’t make this mistake, as cover letters are for introducing yourself, not to rehash everything you wrote on your resume.
Your cover letter is an opening to your story, and yes, you can use experiences, skills, and results from your resume to back up your story and claims.
However, cover letters should only include a few experiences, skills, and results from your resume as it’s a hook to get your future employer to read more into you.
Use your cover letter as a marketing tool to keep the employer’s attention and to get the interview.
Mistake #7: Not highlighting any relevant skills
Just like mistake #2, this mistake is caused by sharing irrelevant skills and experiences that don’t contribute to your application.
Job seekers make the mistake of using buzzwords they think the employer wants to see. However, employers want to see relevant skills that make you a fit for the job.
Relevant skills show the employer why you fit the role.
Relevant skills also gets employers to pay attention to you, as they’ll be excited to see someone who could fill the position without having to do a ton of training.
And as we know, most employers need time to review and dig deep into someone to get their relevant skills out of them.
So make it easy on the employer and show them right away that you have relevant skills for the job.
Otherwise, if you don’t, you won’t be considered for the job as you failed to prove your competency.
Match up your relevant skills with those on the JD and craft a cover letter showing how your skills and experiences fit with those required.
Mistake #8: Stating that you have no skills or experience
Another bad and laughable mistake that job hunters make on their cover letters, stating that they have no skills or experience.
Now, why would anyone do this? Most of the time, it’s because people are too honest.
And while admirable to behave this way, it can also lead to your downfall.
If we’re always too honest, how would anything get done?
It would make selling or marketing impossible as there are always bad qualities in everything we see, do, or experience.
Which is the case here. If you point to what you do wrong, then that’s all the employer will focus on.
Just imagine you’re going out on a first date with a person that you’re potentially interested in. Is it a good idea to be too honest with them and point out every flaw that you have?
You guessed it. The answer is: No.
Same concept here. Just because you don’t fit every point the job is looking for, doesn’t mean you’re not a fit.
I have seen plenty of people get jobs they were not qualified for and crush it ($100K+ a year salaries).
Focus on the transferrable experiences, results, and skills you have rather than stating you have no skills or experience.
Because odds are, something you have done in your life will relate to some things in the JD.
Mistake #9: Using the wrong cover letter formatting
When creating a cover letter from scratch, these types of cover letter mistakes are common as you may mess up on your formatting.
Use a template if you don’t have straightforward tips and guidelines for how to format a cover letter.
Templates are great to use as they help you follow all the formatting guidelines to ensure that the cover letter can clear Applicate Tracking System requirements.
However, if you try to do with the wrong format in place, you risk your cover letter looking weird in PDF format. It could cut off some of the important content of your introduction.
Otherwise, if you try to make your own template, you may mess up on the formatting which may fail the Applicant Tracking System requirements.
If you need more tips on cover letter formatting, read How to Format a Cover Letter as we go over all the tips and guidelines for proper formatting.
Mistake #10: Not using a call to action in your closing paragraph
Without a call to action (CTA), you might as well skip over the cover letter writing process altogether.
The main point of a cover letter is to hook the employer to read your resume. And if they like what they see, they should then schedule an interview with you.
Without a CTA on your cover letter, you won’t be able to get that interview, as the employer may not know what you want to happen next.
And two, if you don’t lead the employer to the next step of the process, they may lose interest in you as a cover letter with no CTA makes you look weak.
Think about it, when someone wants something from you, are you more likely to help those that are confident and know what they want, or do you help those that look and sound feeble?
You likely help those that know what they want as it’s much easier to support those types of people rather than dig out information from feeble folks.
Make sure you have a good call to action that leads the employer to the next step of the process, which is an interview!
Mistake #11: Not following application instructions
This is an easily avoidable mistake if you just take time and put in real effort.
Read the application instructions! If the employer wants something specific in your cover letter, make sure you include whatever it is that they want.
As we discussed, customize your cover letter to each part of your job.
Part of customizing your resume is reading the JD and understanding the requirements for the position and what they want.
I have seen others with excellent applications, resumes, and cover letters only disqualified because they couldn’t follow simple instructions or pay attention to details.
And sometimes, the decision-making process for employers comes down to the little details as they are looking for the employer that best meets their needs.
Look at the JD and figure out what the employer wants you to do. You can separate yourself from many folks who don’t take their time, as mistakes are often made in a rush.
Mistake #12: Not checking for spelling, grammar or punctuation
Another irritating mistake job hunters make is not checking for spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors.
Again this comes down to effort and diligence, as you need to take your time when creating your cover letter.
According to stats collected by TeamStage, 58% of employers are most likely to dismiss candidates if their cover letter or resume includes typos.
That’s over half of all employers! And all you need to do is put your cover letter through Grammarly, read it out loud and edit it yourself, then have a family or friend check over it.
Another effort play here, but it’ll be well worth your time as you don’t want to leave the application process empty-handed due to laziness.
Take your time and check for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors..
Mistake #13: Talking about salary
Lastly, another terrible mistake you can make is talking about your salary.
Your salary requirements should never be included in your cover letter as that makes you look too eager and greedy.
Besides, you should have researched beforehand to determine what roles and companies pay the salary you want so you can talk about that at the end of the process, not at the very beginning.
Imagine you’re trying to get work done around your home.
Would you feel good if someone asked you what you would pay them right up front before understanding the value that they could bring to you upon introduction?
No, you wouldn’t feel good about that, as that feels too forward.
Save the salary talk for later, as you’ll eventually get to it through the phone screening or interview process.
Examples of Great Cover Letters
Now that you understand all the cover letter mistakes you can make and what you can do to avoid them, let’s look at some cover letters to get inspiration for what yours should look like.
Here are some great cover letter examples by ResumeGenius:
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many cover letter mistakes that you should avoid if you want to increase your chances of getting the job.
However, by following our tips and examples, you’ll be well on your way to writing a great cover letter! So what are you waiting for? Learn how to write a cover letter today!
If you want to take your Cover Letter game to the next level, schedule time with us here for Cover Letter revision and preparation at: https://calendly.com/greaterprofession/career-intake