How to Write a Cover Letter & Why You Should Include it in Every Job Application

Preparing job applications can be taxing and some people often get excited when a job application does not explicitly require a cover letter. Could you be missing out when you don’t submit a cover letter with your job application?

In this episode of the Public Health Insight Podcast, Kamara Toffolo, Resume Writer, LinkedIn Consultant, and Job Search Strategist, joins us to talk about:

• The purpose and importance of cover letters in job applications
• Distinguishing cover letters from your resumes
• Using graphic design resumes and templates
• Ideal cover letter length, format, and how to structure the content
• Writing cover letters in a way that is engaging for the reader

Podcast Guests

• Kamara Toffolo

Podcast Hosts

• Gordon Thane, BMSc, MPH, PMP®
• Leshawn Benedict, MPH, MSc, PMP®

References for Our Discussion 

• Kamara Toffolo’s YouTube Channel
• Kamara Toffolo’s Website

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Music Credits

The following tracks were used to produce this podcast episode:

• Smith The Mister: Riviera • Mitsubachi • Clocks • Slowly • Oyasumi • Ohayo • Green Tea 
• Amine Maxwell: Good Evening • Lovely 
• Ghostrifter Official: On My Way • Departure
• Loxbeats: Underground Stars

Transcript

Kamara: 0:00

at the beginning of our cover letter, we want to open in a bold way. So, um, basically things like, um, what the organization is known for and why you want to be a part of it. Um, why you, uh, are pursuing a career in whatever you're pursuing. Um, and, um, yeah. Things, things like that, uh, your philosophy on your profession, like, or, or where you would like to see your profession go and happened evolve in terms of like, if you're in a sec, let's say a stagnant or very conservative type of rule, um, how you think it could change and how you see your, your, uh, future employer as being a part of that change

Sully: 0:42

this is the public health insight podcast.

Ben: 0:45

Before we move on is important to note that the views expressed in this podcast are our own and do not represent any of the organizations we work for or affiliated with.

Sully: 0:53

In the previous episode, Gordon and Leshaun spoke with Camara to follow as a main writer, LinkedIn consultant and job search strategist, where she shared her expert tips and tricks and best practices you can use to create resumes that will impress potential employers. And the third part of the discussion Kymera means with us to talk about the importance of cover letters when to include them in a job application and how to structure them in a way that is engaging for them. This is where they left off.

Gordon: 1:24

so we talked a little bit about how preparing job applications can be a little bit intimidating, frustrating, and taxing. And you know, for me, when I was job searching, um, I would always get excited when the job application didn't. Um, some please submit a cover letter. Uh, so I guess, you know where I'm going with this. So should we be including a cover letter, even when we're not specifically asked to include one

Kamara: 1:53

I'm sorry to deliver bad news. Yes. Yes. Okay. So the only time we don't want to include a cover letter is when the job posting explicitly says, do not include a cover letter. I don't see that very often. Um, if a cover letter is not, is not explicitly requested. If a cover letter is requested, if a cover letter is shown as optional in all of those cases, we want to include a cover letter. Um, did you want me to tell you why?

Leshawn: 2:24

Yeah, of course.

Kamara: 2:25

So cover letters are your opportunity to share more of your story. So something that might not fit on a resume might fit on a cover letter. So if I am making a career transition, cover letter is a great way to explain that, uh, explain our motivation for doing so and. Um, into, uh, calm any concerns. Uh, so yes, I acknowledge, I acknowledge I lack experience in this, but I make up for it with this. So that's, that's really what we want to do with our cover letter. Um, also it's that, you know, at best cover letters are read and they are considered in our overall story as a candidate at worst, they aren't red, but their insurance in case they need to be there. Um, we don't want to ever be that one job seeker who doesn't submit a cover letter when, when it was expected, uh, or it was searched for, um, that it would be a bad situation to be in. Um, but also at worst. Um, if the cover letter isn't read the cover letter serves as interviewing. So you, if you you're going to have a strong resume, we know that, um, it's covered lender. Isn't read, there's no time lost. Uh, you're just that much more ready for your interview. Um, so the cover letter is a good use of time, in my opinion. Um, but I don't feel that you need to be reinventing the, your cover letter with every application. I think a templated approach works not a template, but a templated approach where you are customizing certain sections of your cover letter to fit and be tailored towards, uh, each job application. I don't, I don't want people wasting tons of times on time on cover letters. I want them to take an efficient approach to it so that they're writing cover letters really well and making sure that they're some.

Leshawn: 4:23

So I guess with that in mind, when you're talking about this Taylor templated approach, what are some of those good sections that you can include in your coverage?

Kamara: 4:32

For sure. So, um, we really want to make sure that we're opening in a, in an eye catching way. So gone are the days of saying I was very excited to, um, find this rule posted on the government of Ontario website. You're on careers website and I am submitting my resume to indicate my interest.

Leshawn: 4:55

I've done that before.

Kamara: 4:56

Uh, we all have, we all have, we all have, you should see, I don't even know if I can track down some of my old cover letters and resumes, but they were bad. Um, so that's gone are the days of saying that we want to create something that is going to give people pause, like. And encourage them to read more. So, On my website, I have a free cover letter guide that you can sign up for a download. Um, so a lot of what I'm about to share will be shared in that as well. Um, but, um, so basically. Uh, at the beginning of our cover letter, we want to open in a bold way. So, um, basically things like, um, what the organization is known for and why you want to be a part of it. Um, why you, uh, are pursuing a career in whatever you're pursuing. Um, and, um, yeah. Things, things like that, uh, your philosophy on your profession, like, or, or where you would like to see your profession go and happened evolve in terms of like, if you're in a sec, let's say a stagnant or very conservative type of rule, um, how you think it could change and how you see your, your, uh, future employer as being a part of that change, things like that. Um, so making it really different is going to encourage reading then underneath that you can talk about yourself. So, um, I have a reputation for this. I'm known for this. I'm committed to this. And then after that, uh, you can get into a few of your select core strengths that they want from you and give one highlight for each how you demonstrated those core strengths and then sign off with an ask for the interview and that's it.

Gordon: 6:42

Interesting. Then what, what are some things we should avoid? What are some turn-offs uh, that we can do when someone reads our cover letter that we should have.

Kamara: 6:52

Uh, some turn-offs are making it generic. Um, we want to work in somewhere in that cover letter, something about the, the company that you're targeting and why you want to be a part of it. Um, so it's a turnoff to make it generic. Um, it's a turnoff to, um, To just submit a poorly written cover letter, just to check that box, um, uh, poorly, I would rather someone submit, not submit a cover letter than submit a poorly written cover letter. So, um, it can, and I have heard that a poorly written cover letter can impact perception. So you might want to save yourself truffle, um, of, of, of being, adding to any negative perception when it's not, um, true. So yeah, a poorly written cover letter can affect how, how you're perceived. So that is a bit of a Groaner. Um, let's see, uh, huge amounts of texts, like big blocks of texts. This goes back to, um, making it a readable document with our resume, as well as our cover letter. We want to make it something that's really. Um, and we want to make it relevant. It's gotta be relevant to our target job. Um, and it's, it's got to drive home that you have the skills that they want and need from you.

Leshawn: 8:18

So one of the, one of the things I always see when I'm looking at different cover letters and even the, to resume are these, are they. Graphically focused resumes and cover letters with logos behind like your personal brand. What do you think about those? Are those kind of distracting? Are those our way to kind of set you. apart from the rest of the crowd?

Kamara: 8:38

Uh, I find them distracting. Um, and again, it goes back to the readability. So one thing that is very problematic with those types of resumes. So you'll see the templates on Canva. Um, sometimes certain examples on Pinterest, um, some for sale on Etsy. Um, even Microsoft word templates are bad. Uh, the inherent problem with most of them is that they use what's called a multi panel approach. So it was like containing all of your resume content in, in two or multiple columns. So it's, it's almost like reading a new paper, um, like old style newspaper, if that makes sense. Um, we don't read like that people don't, people don't read like that. Um, and so it's difficult for the reader, the recruiter, the talent acquisition, professional, to know where to get the important information we're creating work for them. When we create work for the reader, then, um, our documents, aren't going to be read as thoroughly. So we want to, um, just really keep with a simple approach in terms of all the imagery. Um, it does not serve. Um, our resumes are to be read, not to be seen, if that makes sense there, that we want the content of our resume to do all of the talking. When there's lots of colors, lots of logos, lots of imagery. As you said, Leshawn bats distracting. It is distracting. And so, uh, we don't want anyone, anything to take away from the focus on what we've written in our resume.

Leshawn: 10:22

Cool. And the two quick follow-up questions. Should I add a photo to my CV and what should we send our cover letter in format wise, a PDF or word document?

Kamara: 10:31

Okay. So photo on resume in north America, we do not include photos on record. There are some other regions where a photo might be expected or the standard. Uh, so just be very clear on what, on what the local expectations are for your resume. Uh, but in north America, I will say that we absolutely do not include, um, profile or pictures on her resume. Um, we want to, uh, and we don't want to do that because we don't want to fuel any bias, um, right out of the gate. And so there's that in terms of, uh, the format for cover letters, it depends on what the job, uh, or the career site. So, um, there's no one rule that you need to submit word only, or PDF only in your, for your file formats. It really depends on what's acceptable. And typically, uh, when you're applying to a job, the acceptable file formats are defined. Uh, if I were to make a selection between word and PDF, uh, and both are acceptable, my recommendation would be to use PDF. And the reason for that is it retains the formatting integrity of your document rather than opening it up to potential, uh, confusion between different versions of word. It's not, it's not going to cause a lot of problems, but if that is the case, but, um, when you can submit PDF.

Gordon: 12:05

Interesting. And tying it back to the ATS. I've actually seen. If you're, if you have a fancy graphically designed resume cover letter, and you upload, you go to the job portal to upload it, and it imports your information into their pre-existing forms, it gets all wonky. If it's not like a standard format. So that's just another caveat for people listening.

Kamara: 12:26

That's a very good point as well. Yeah. You're creating extra work for yourself to actually apply to a job because it's ha yeah. The applicant Tregs And has a difficult time.

Gordon: 12:36

Awesome. And one thing, just to wrap this up, how long should those cover letters be? Uh, should we be regurgitating a resume? Like, should we be just focusing on the parts that are super relevant that we need you to know? And how long, how, how many pages should we spend doing this?

Kamara: 12:55

So definitely do not exceed one page for a cover letter. Um, the shorter, the better, uh, at this, um, in this era and, uh, yeah, the shorter, the better, um, and yeah, one page and again, really focusing on making it a digestible format. Is this something that I can read with ease? Is this something that someone else could read with ease? That's that's really what's most important, not length, but readability.

Sully: 13:24

You've just heard part three of Gordon, unless Shawn's conversation with Kymera, it's off a low resume writer, LinkedIn consultant and job search strategist, where she talked about the importance of cover letters when to include them in a job application and how to structure them in a way that is engaging for them. Join us in the next episode for the final part of the discussion where Camaro shares some easy strategies you can use to optimize your LinkedIn profile so that you will leave a positive impression in your networks and potential future employers. Thank you for listening to the public health and say podcast, you would go to space for informative conversations, inspiring community action. If you enjoy our content, I would like to stay up to date, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, to learn more about our community initiatives and how you can support us. Visit our website@thepublicofinsight.com joined the Phi community and let's make public.