Forbes reports that 7 out of 10 recruiters expect a candidate to attach their cover letter, even if the job advertisement claimed it was optional. And not without reason. This application document provides valuable information for decision-making and shows that the job seeker has gone the extra mile for future cooperation. Thus, a cover letter can really improve your chances of getting an interview. But your success still depends on its quality. Can you achieve it yourself or just with the help of a cover letter writing service? You will find the answers in our guide.
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Do-It-Yourself Cover Letter – The Main Challenges
It would seem like a do-it-yourself cover letter would be the obvious and only possible solution since no one except you knows your professional advantages. But it’s not always as easy as it sounds. According to VICE Media Group, companies receive an average of 250 job applications, but only 2% of candidates are invited to an interview. Sometimes, it is the low quality of the application document that causes an applicant to be weeded-out. Here we have collected the main risks of a do-it-yourself cover letter.
- A cover letter can contain any information that emphasizes your professional value. But do not forget that all this information most likely will be checked by the applicant tracking system (ATS). It searches for keywords in your text to prove your suitability for the position. An absence of these keywords will automatically eliminate your candidacy. These keywords are often contained in the job description, but it is difficult for candidates to accurately identify them on their own.
- Even the most attentive person is not immune to typos. Meanwhile, even one sad mistake can ruin your perfect self-presentation and taint your first impression on recruiters. Many sources advise proofreading your document twice or more. But when you’ve worked on the text for a long time, it can be challenging to take a fresh look at it and identify small errors.
- You can find plenty of cover letter samples online, and it can seem pretty simple to repeat their design. However, not every document that can be found online meets the standards of business correspondence, and you will have to trust your intuition when choosing the right one.
Professional Cover Letter Writing Service – The Main Advantages
Cover letter builders help users create a unique application document from scratch in a few minutes. It saves time and greatly simplifies the task during an active job search. Nevertheless, some applicants are still skeptical about such modern tools and are afraid to trust them with such an essential document for their careers. To allay your fears, we will discuss their main benefits.
- Comprehensive help. The builders include a content maker, grammar checker, and formatting helper functions. This means you don’t have to go to other resources or waste time finishing your copy yourself. Also, your ready-made document will contain the keywords mentioned above. Thus, you can send it for consideration and be sure that it will pass the verification of both the recruiter and the applicant tracking system (ATS).
- Customized content. If you write up one cover letter and then send it to all available vacancies, this is a failed tactic. Generic cover letters do not prove your professional value for a specific position or your motivation to join a particular team, which lowers your competitiveness against other candidates.
An online cover letter creator, in turn, offers a unique set of technical, hard, and soft skills for each profession and thus provides you with a customized document for each job application. Moreover, some smart builders allow you even to insert the company name in the text, which makes your appeal personalized. These factors significantly increase your chances of being interviewed.
- Simple algorithm. Often, your work with an easy cover letter maker involves three steps: registering, choosing your strengths for your self-presentation, and choosing the design of your document. After that, you just have to view the finished text. If it suits you, you will get your job-winning cover letter by mail in PDF format to download or send it to the recruiter. The whole process is pretty quick and takes no more than ten minutes. Plus, you get useful tips at every step of building your cover letter so you won’t get confused.
- Newbie friendliness. The online cover letter writer is the best solution for recent graduates and specialists who have decided on a career change. These groups of applicants have no work experience or professional achievements, and therefore they often leave the body of the email blank instead of attaching their self-presentation. The online builder, in turn, allows them to highlight the transferable skills and personal qualities for the chosen position. This makes them competitive in the selection process and increases the recruiter’s loyalty to their candidacy.
How To Choose The Right Online Cover Letter Generator?
The main reason many job seekers still prefer a do-it-yourself cover letter over a document made by an online builder is the low credibility. When you write the text yourself, you are in complete control of the process and take responsibility for the result. When working with the builder, you cannot vouch for the quality. However, several essential criteria will help you choose the exact builder that will meet your requirements and satisfy your expectations.
- Avoid free cover letter makers. They say there is no such thing as a free lunch, and if you don’t pay for the service with money, you will most likely pay with quality. And this is not the best idea since the quality of your document directly affects your competitiveness in the application process. Quick cover letter makers often charge cheap prices. In exchange, you can build unlimited customized papers and get 24/7 support.
- Don’t settle for a pig in a poke. Always review unique quick cover letter generator samples and templates on the chosen platform. It will help you evaluate the builder’s services, the structure and style of the text, as well as the design and volume of the document. If you are satisfied with the proposed examples, you can safely proceed to create your copy.
- Pay attention to user reviews. The most proven way to evaluate an online builder’s quality is to study the experience of other job seekers. Was it successful? Did the cover letter help someone get an interview invitation? What are the advantages of this particular service? Did the document meet the declared quality? Answers to these and other questions will help you overcome doubts and make the right choice.
Diy Cover Letter Or Cover Letter Builder – What To Choose?
When you are looking for your dream job, you want to minimize all the risks and do your best to present yourself well. Therefore, your desire for a flawless cover letter is quite natural. We compared self-writing a cover letter with composing it using a builder to provide you with a foundation for making your decision.
- Creating an application document in the builder takes up to ten minutes while writing it yourself sometimes requires several hours of painstaking work. Given that a candidate must send a customized cover letter for each position, do-it-yourselfers can spend most of their free-time writing them.
- In this case, quality means the effectiveness of your paper. When you write it yourself, you risk filling it with information that is of no value to the employer or making unfortunate slips that spoil even an awesome text. Cover letter builders keep your self-presentation to the point, ensure flawless grammar and punctuation, and provide a set of layouts that meet business document standards.
- Confidence. When you create a cover letter yourself, you are in control of the content. The same applies to builders. First, you choose the components of your self-presentation yourself. Second, you can always get a preview and change the text as needed. Third, cover letter generators still allow you to edit the document and add information that you think might tip the scales in your favor.
Wrap Up
Job search is a complex process requiring outstanding time management skills. You have to set aside time to monitor available jobs, write application documents, prepare for an interview, and attend in-person meetings with recruiters and potential employers. It is a rather busy schedule that leaves little room for a current job, education, family, and leisure. Therefore, do not be tough on yourself and delegate at least a small part of your responsibilities to an online cover letter builder. Remember, any help is valuable, especially if it is professional.
If you are interested in even more business-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels, then we have a lot to choose from.
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