A Cover Letter is Not an Autobiography

Avoid rambling on too long in your cover letter or telling the story of your life/career. Keep you letter as brief as possible. Never, never more than one page. Keeping to four or five paragraphs of no more than three sentences each is a good guideline.

Using bullet points in the letter is a good way to break up blocks of text and interest the reader. Some job-seekers tend to use their cover letters to provide a narrative of their life or career. That’s not what the letter is all about; it’s a marketing tool that should focus on the qualifications that will sell you to the employer. Your letter should answer the question that the employer will be asking while reading the words you’ve written: “Why should I hire this person?” Answer with your Unique Selling Proposition . Use simple language and uncomplicated sentence structure. Ruthlessly eliminate all unnecessary words.