Job Seeker Cover Letters: What Should You Avoid Saying And Why?

When you apply for a job, the temptation can be to concentrate all your energies on crafting your CV and preparing yourself for an interview. Cover letters, however, play an important role too. The purpose of a cover letter is to introduce yourself, show your interest in a job, express who you are as a candidate, demonstrate how you’re a good match for the role, and encourage the employer to invite you for an interview. It’s one more chance to make an excellent first impression.

However, it’s just as easy to scupper your chances of landing on the ‘yes’ pile by writing a bad cover letter. This blog post explains what you shouldn’t say in your cover letter and other common mistakes to avoid.

What To Avoid Saying In A Cover Letter

You may want to express your personality and explain why you’re interested in the job, but there are certain things you should never say in a cover letter. Here are the top five.

  What The Employer Can Do For You

Don’t focus your letter on what the employer can do for you. If you talk about how the salary package is exactly what you want, for instance, without saying what you can bring to the company as an employee, you may give the impression that:

• you’re only interested in the job for your own benefit
• you haven’t researched the wider organisation
• you’re unprofessional

Instead, take this opportunity to express the value that you can provide to the employer. That might be your enthusiasm about working for a company that shares your values, or your skills and years of experience.

  Underselling Yourself

Many candidates either don’t know how to sell themselves or are just too modest to express their full value. But here’s the thing. You’ve applied for this job because you’re enthusiastic about the role and you have the skills and experience to do it well. You know that you’re a great fit for the job and the company.

Nobody is going to sell ‘you’ better than you. If you hold back on expressing your suitability for the job, the employer may pick up on your lack of confidence or simply not be impressed enough to interview you.

  Repeating The Information In Your CV

Your CV is one of the most important parts of your application. It will be scanned for relevant keywords and phrases, checked for experience and skills, and viewed by several people involved in the hiring process.

One mistake that many job applicants make is to repeat the information in your CV in your cover letter. You might feel that this reinforces your skills and experience, but many employers will simply disregard a letter like this. As a result, you miss out on the opportunity to strengthen that first impression.

Instead of replicating your CV in your cover letter, mention a handful of key and relevant elements that will grab the employer’s interest.

  Irrelevant Information

Yes, you should express your personality in your cover letter but that doesn’t mean revealing everything about yourself. Topics that may be irrelevant include your family life, plans to get married or have children, and your hobbies and interests outside work.

You may feel that including irrelevant information helps build a more accurate picture of who you are or that it will bulk out your cover letter. From an employer’s point of view, it suggests unprofessionalism and a lack of research.

  Criticism Of Your Past Or Current Employer

Criticising your past or current employer should be avoided at all stages of the job search process, whether that’s in an interview or your cover letter. If you’re looking for a new job because of the behaviour of your current employer, it can be a challenge to avoid criticising them. The best thing to do is concentrate on what you’ve learned from the situation instead.

From an employer’s perspective, criticising a current or past employer gives the impression that you are negative, unprofessional, and disloyal.

Other Cover Letter Mistakes To Avoid

There are plenty of things to avoid when writing your cover letter. Here are the other most common mistakes:

• Not following instructions. If the employer provides instructions on what your cover letter should include and how it should be submitted, keep to these guidelines.
• Writing more than one page. Your cover letter should be brief and focused on the most relevant information for the job.
• Mass sending a cover letter. Don’t use the same cover letter for every job application. This will create a cover letter that is generic, impersonal, and possibly irrelevant.
• Making claims without evidence. Don’t use vague phrases like ‘team player’ or ‘excellent presentation skills’ without providing examples or evidence to support them.
• Using an inappropriate tone of voice. It’s easy to fall into an overly formal tone when writing a cover letter, or you might write in a way that is too chatty and conversational. Check the seniority of the position, the tone of the communications you’ve received from the employer, and the company’s online presence to get a good idea of how to word your cover letter.
• Not including keywords. Don’t use your cover letter to repeat your CV, but do include keywords that match the job description.
• Forgetting to proofread your cover letter. Check your cover letter for typos, grammar mistakes, repetitions, and overall structure. Don’t ruin your chances of making a good first impression by missing out on this final step.

Wrapping it up

Cover letters are a key part of the job application process, but it’s all too easy to make mistakes like underselling yourself or including irrelevant information. However, a well-written and considered cover letter can make a brilliant first impression and improve your chances of being invited to interview.

And if you’d like to know what to include, read How to write a jobseeker cover letter.