Writing a great cover letter!

We all know that writing a cover letter for a work experience placement or job can be very stressful. Many people spend hours and hours creating the perfect cover letter. We’re here today to try and make that daunting task a little easier. Having written many cover letters for jobs and placements we think we have some handy tips that could be useful for you when writing a cover letter.

To start with its very important to get the structure of the cover letter right. There is nothing worse for an employer to see when they open up a cover letter then style being completely wrong. Opening up a page and the headings and details being spread out precariously is not going to win an employer over. To get off to a good start with your cover letter we suggest the following format. The date should be clear at the very top of the page, with your personal details to the right of the page such as your name and address. Then should be the details of the person and law firm that you are sending the letter too. Now it is crucial here to check the identity of the person you are sending the cover letter too. I have had numerous conversations with lawyers who have been frustrated with cover letters simply for misusing Mr, MRS, MISS etc.

Once you have the formalities and the structure spot on, we can then move onto the main part of the cover letter. To start with its important to tell the reader who you are, where you are in your academic or professional life and what you are looking to get out of the placement or scheme that you are applying too.

Once you have mentioned yourself and the reader knows and understands what you want to get out of your time with the company, its important that you show them that you know the company. You should show what you feel are the positives of working with the law firm. In this paragraph, you may also want to talk about how you found out about the position. This would be a great point to mention any links you may have with the firm such as previous work experience or a family member that may have worked for or have employed the company in some form.

After your reasons for joining the firm, you can now go on and talk about the skills you have and what you can bring to the role. It is important to be very specific with the skills you have and the examples you give. Remember you only really want your cover letter to be a page, so you have to keep it concise. I would advise only using the examples that are most relevant to the position and will look the best on the page. Unfortunately, in most cases, it’s unlikely that the lawyer reading your letter will have the time to determine what you “actual” meant by a waffly statement in your application. Streamlining your experiences to the main elements is vital and is a great way to impress. A little bit of advice I have been given by a practising professional is to add something personal to your skills section. For instance, “makes a good cup of tea” or “always able to make others laugh”. You may think that these statements would be frowned upon. However, these small personal things show the reader that you are a human and that you will bring something special to the team.

To finish your letter, it’s a very good idea to mention your availability and when you would be able to start a placement or job. Being readily available for a position looks very good and can give you a slight edge on others who may not be able to start the placement straight away. Also, you should add some contact details such as your phone number and an email address so that you can be contacted or if the person has your details that you are looking forward to hearing back from them in the not too distant future.

Finally, thank the person who is reading your cover letter and let them know that you are thankful for the time that they are spending reading your letter. As well as a thank you for considering you for the position.

With your letter down on paper, here are just a few small things to check. Firstly, make sure that your letter has the same style and structure throughout i.e. font type and word size. This is a professional document and it would be a shame to lose the faith of the reader simply down to some small easy to fix errors. Tailor each application to different firms if you are applying to more than one and make sure you send the right letter to the right company. There would be nothing worse than sending a cover letter to a firm with the wrong name on it, an instant no from most companies. Finally PROOFREAD. So many applications fall at the final hurdle purely down to grammar, spelling and punctuation. Use tools like Grammarly a free only review app to check for these kinds of mistakes.

We hope are tips can help you write the perfect cover letter and we really hope you get that position that you’re applying for. Good luck and let us know how your application goes.

Until the next time, we have been The Almost Lawyers and we thank you for your time and support