Tips for your Covering Letter

A cover letter is a one-page advertisement about yourself. It gives an outline of your past, present and future work to the person whom you don’t speak  face to face (Initially). In this context, it is related to human resource/ concerned department etc.  In order to start with the same, give a one or two line introduction about the post and your starting date. Followed by your studies, experiences which is relevant to the field you apply, end with your extra-curricular activity and a thank you note. [Make your cover letter neat, crisp and Max 11-13 lines on the whole].

Do’s 

1. Your purpose of the cover letter should be clear in your mind before you start writing it.
2. Define a proper template
3. Address the cover letter to the concerned person. If the name is not mentioned, call the number given and converse with them and get the name of the concerned person.
4. Try to use the words given in the post description because a human resource person will only have two minutes to read a cover letter, So mostly they will copy the words present in post description, paste in their software and run it.
5. Write a cover letter with the language knowledge you have.
6. Make your cover letter descriptive.
7. If your are confident to give your interview in German at least 60 to  70 percentage then go for cover letter in German or else stick with English
8. Give a time gap of 4 to 5 weeks to draft, correct and revise your cover letter.
9. If you are planning to apply for two or more fields draft your cover letter for every field

Some of the common German terms used in a cover letter:

1. mit diesem Schreiben……. – In this letter
2. frühestmöglichen Eintrittstermin……… – available from…. at the earliest
3. erlangte ich….. –  Completed my studies in …..
4. weiter vertieft…… – To make my knowledge better
5. zu meinem beschäftigen…….- My daily works
6. umfangreiche – Expertise
7. Diese EDV kenntnisse ………………….erworben  – I have used these methods
8. ausgeprägtes technisches Verständnis………… – Strong technical understanding
9. Denkvermögen…………… – Thinking skills 

(Use the above mentioned German words unless you are confident with your German and also don’t cook your cover letter with these words alone)

Dont’s

1. Don’t start the letter with facts, figure and your knowledge about the company. In fact, the person who is reading will know better than you.
2. Don’t mention anything which you are not sure or don’t know
3. Don’t claim yourself as hardworking, team player or flexible etc without proven experience from your projects, work etc.
4. Don’t apply for a post which you don’t have basic experience or subject knowledge.
5. Don’t state , sentence like these: If I would I have given an opportunity, I would excel …. etc
6. Don’t translate or ask your German friend for a cover letter
7. Don’t confuse the chronological order
8. Don’t beat around the bush

These are the few things which I followed, Hope it will help you as well.