What Is The Most Important Thing To Include In the Body Of a Cover Letter

Drafting a cover letter for the first or hundredth time takes a lot of thought, brainstorming, and editing; to ensure that all the necessary information that should be in there is; and that it all is less than one page long for the convenient reference of the potential employer. The main areas that should always be included in a cover letter-no matter the kind or format-are your career goals, your experience/qualifications, and why you are applying for this job. Moreover, all of these aspects should be tied together to make the cover letter a demonstrative and effective address to the employer. So, of these areas, you may wonder, which is the one aspect that a cover letter needs the most-that it cannot function without? Well, this is a two part answer: first, none of these aspects should be omitted; and second, the most important part is actually another part not already mentioned here-the answer to the question: why you?

Most employers will find value in your experience, skills, and your goals; but if you do not offer a reason-and a compelling one at that-as to why you are the best person for the job-than your cover letter will end up looking like most of the cover letters that they receive-and probably not worth an interview. You need to be able to gather up all of your most significant areas of career value-meaning skills, accomplishments, education, and the like-and put it altogether in a package that is unique and unavoidable for an interview.

So, along the lines of that common question in interviews, "why should I hire you?”, you must think in this way to best present your career package to an employer in your cover letter. Brainstorm what makes you unique and capitalize on that, in a way that makes you and your experience and skills more qualified and more valuable than any other job candidate applying for the same position.