5 Most Common Graduate Cover Letter Mistakes  Check First Part of This Article Here

2 When Good Experience Sounds Like Bad Experience

Another common mistake among graduates is mentioning experience that may have been a useful, but doesn’t sound useful at first glance. An important thing to remember is that no matter how great your cover letter is. it is only going to be briefly glanced over, and the hiring managers that read it will have already looked at dozens of other cover letters.

That is why it is important that everything you place in your cover letter sounds like a great experience. All of the jobs you reference should make yourself sound like a better candidate to everyone that reads your cover letter.

The Graduate Cover Letter Mistake – Average College Jobs

As you write your cover letter, you are no doubt going to try to make your work experience sound as though you are absolutely qualified for the position. However, when you were in college there is a good chance that your jobs were pretty average. That’s fine; most college students have to take any job to pay for tuition. Unfortunately, no matter how proud you are of them, many college jobs simply do not impress modern day corporate employers.

Example: “I have a great deal of leadership experience as Manager of Lavatory Services at Al’s Chicken and Ranch
Emporium.”

Your leadership experience may actually benefit you at this job, but the hiring manager is going to take one look at that sentence and throw your resume in the “no” pile. These jobs are not going to help you find employment. Focus instead on the aspects of your history (work and education) that will impress modern corporations.

3 Devaluing Education

The previous section leads directly into this section. Some recruiters believe you should try to show how your work experience makes you perfect for the role. Graduates tend to take this to the extreme, focusing only on work experience and not enough on education.

Because you are a recent college graduate, you are not expected to have an interesting or unique work history. In fact, some employers do not expect you to have a work history at all.

What you have is a recent education, and that education can provide value to a company:

“You can never be over dressed or over educated”

Oscar Wilde

 

You have been recently trained in some of the modern theories in the field, and can provide new perspectives.
You have been recently learning and you are more open to challenges and more information to analyze.
You have been unaltered by the corporate world and unlikely to
come into the workplace with a bad attitude.

Companies value youth and they value education. When your work history is sparse and you are unable to come up with real, useful work experiences that are okay,focus instead on your education. Mention what you learned in your advanced

“All you need is ignorance and confidence and success is sure”

Mark Twain

classes, the research you participated in, and your internships. Mention anything that shows employers you have been trained and are ready for the role. Employers will not dismiss graduates that do not have any adequate work experience. They may even prefer them.

4 Acting Coy, Shy, or Apologetic

Graduates often feel intimidated when they first apply for jobs. They look at their work history and they look at the job requirements and they think to themselves “I need this job, but I don’t know if I am qualified for it.”

That doubt can lead to cover letters that are filled with apologies or the downplaying of their accomplishments. It is common to see graduates write cover letters that contain such sentences as “I know I don’t have much experience working in….” You should refrain from these types of sentences. These sentences make you sound timid or frightened, and they help give the impression that you are not qualified for a position that you may very well be qualified for.

Always talk about yourself like you are the best applicant in the world. You are perfect at everything and your experience and abilities will help you become the model employee that will someday lead the company into success.

5 No Personality

This is a tough one. How do you put personality in your cover letter? You only have roughly one paragraph to describe why you are right for the role, and you are supposed to remain professional throughout the letter. How do you put personality in your cover letter while still conforming to the set style?

It’s not easy. The key is to simply make a cover letter that does not sound like it was written by a robot. You need your cover letter to sound like a real person with great personality and experiences vying for a real position. Here are examples:

example:

I would be a successful nurse because I am good with people. I have a lot of volunteer experience that has helped me learn about how hospitals work. I have worked with surgical care, psychiatric care, obstetric care and long term care. I believe that my experience working with elderly patients has trained me to be ready for a career as an assistant nurse.

In order to be successful in nursing, you must be equipped with strong interpersonal skills, a desire to ensure all patients are comfortable, knowledge in medical techniques and practice, and an energy to easily undertake the hours of hard work that are required to care for patients. I have been well educated in basic care techniques, hospital safety, obstetric care, long term care, surgical care and psychiatric care. I am confident that these experiences have prepared me to work
as an assistant nurse at Hospital XYZ.

Notice the difference. One simply lists things in a boring manner. The other actually engages the reader and shows the employer that you did not simply cut and paste that cover letter from online samples. Showing personality in your cover letter is tough, but you want to try your best to sound as though you are a real person.

Final Thoughts

Cover letters are an important part of your application to employers. They are the first and only chance you have to speak to the hiring manager directly and introduce yourself. They also compliment your resume and make it more than just a list of facts and work history.

Yet cover letters require a lot of work. Graduates with very little cover letter experience may find it difficult to write a cover letter correctly. However, since you’ve already spent a lot of time on your resume, spend equal amount of time to make sure your resume does not end up in the reject pile.
It is important that you remember to avoid these common mistakes that occur with graduate cover letters:

Writing the cover letter in the wrong format.

Mentioning work history that may not be impressive to employers. Assuming your education does not make you a great candidate. Apologizing or otherwise downplaying your accomplishments. Making your letter sound like a robot just wrote it.

Avoiding these common mistakes will increase your chance to land the job. Cover letters may seem like they are not important, but if you do them correctly they may be the most important tool for getting called in for an interview. Remember that there are employers who will immediately reject all resumes without cover letters. Since you have put in the effort to do your resume properly, and apply for the position, you might as well give your cover letter the extra care and attention. You cover letter is competing with other applicants’ cover letters, and not acknowledging how important cover letters are will put both your cover letter and resume in the reject pile.

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