Creating a cover letter for a job application

This post goes along with a previous one I wrote, Creating a resume and applying for work. It would be best to read that post before diving into this one.

So you're applying for a job, and you don't have any (or extremely limited) previous work experience. Hopefully, you now have your very first resume created after learning some tips from my previous post, Creating a resume and applying for work. The next step in the process is to write a cover letter.

A cover letter, put simply, is a brief document (an actual letter) that you turn in at the same time as your other job application materials (your resume, application, etc.). A cover letter is always customized to the position you're applying for. In it, you're explaining to the hiring manager why you believe you're the right candidate for the specific position you're applying for. The cover letter gives you an opportunity to go a little more in-depth with relevant experiences, skills, accomplishments, and stories that shed further light on the value that you're going to bring to the position and the company.

Let's watch a few brief videos I came across on YouTube about how to write a cover letter. After the videos, if you have Microsoft Word on your computer, the newer versions of Word have cover letter templates that you can easily customize. Go ahead and open up Word and simply start exploring and playing around a little bit in the cover letter template area. There are some really cool options.