Do you need to write a cover letter and send it to your employer immediately? Are you just staring at the blank page and can’t find any word to start with? This situation is painfully familiar to many job seekers, and you also can join their ranks. It often happens that you have to complete the writing task quickly, but nothing comes to mind, so you’re just wasting your time walking around the circle.

There is a rather popular opinion that mythical “writer’s block” is really existing, but it’s better to leave your diagnosis identifying for the professional psychologists. It is more obvious, that all the words about so-called writer’s block are just a comfortable and easy excusing explanation for those candidates for vacant job positions, who don’t want to make some efforts.

The composing of any text regardless of its genre, format and final assignment is a creative process that always requires the implementing of some inner inspiration resources. This compact guide contains a set of practically useful suggestions, clues and advice, how to manage a perfect cover letter writing more effectively and with benefits.

 

 

Make a plan and rule the world!

The article published on the University of Wisconsin-Madison official website gives a few practical pieces of advice on how to structurally organize a great cover letter. Among others, it authoritatively recommends, what certain details are indispensable to include them to the competitive job application document. Moreover, the authors of this publication suggest the list of questions, you should ask yourself to guide your writing process effectively.

 

However, all of the tips and recommendations come down to one piece of advice: if you don’t practice stream of consciousness in writing, then:

1. Make a plan! This idea with what to start never betrays!

2. Make a structure! It’s easier to fill the blank with certain text blocks!

3. Use the principle of a questionnaire profiling! Ask yourself what you would like to read if you are a recruiter!4. Mark every ready-made item of your task checklist one by one!

 

Become Marty McFly and look into your future!

The simple trick with a questionnaire from the previous unit will allow you to visualize the writing process clearly. But planning and scheduling or making to-do lists and spreadsheets are not only options, where you may implement visualizing techniques. If you are caught in the stupor trap while composing the text of your CL, think a little wider and try to use your imagination. What can inspire a person who is seeking a job more than other factors? Certainly, an understanding of a final goal!

Inspiration may take on different guises. As Albert Einstein, one of the greatest dreamers of all time, once said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge!” So, try to imagine yourself in the near future after getting a job position of your dreams. That may sound awfully pragmatic, but your salary you want to get must be a powerful motivating factor on your way to hiring. Put a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and make money your muse!

If it doesn’t work as you expected, try to take a “contrasting shower”: imagine your worst-case scenario in terms of your professional career instead of visualizing the happy end with riding on a pink unicorn. Embrace your deeply hidden inner anger and transform your fears into inspiration. Sometimes, such stressful circumstances can motivate even more effectively than modeling a perfect resolving and placing yourself in the desirable situation.

 

This is not a crime to use references

So-called “stealing like an artist” is a popular working practice, the well-known author Austin Kleon formulated and suggested which in his famous “inspiring guide to creativity in the digital age.” This principle is widely used by many contemporary writers and workers in the creative industry. Of course, it’s not about something criminal, but about finding some foot holding points or some direction vectors to orient on in your task.

Using references may naturally lead you to a fountain of inspiration. You should not copy the ideas of other authors but transform the newly acquired profitable knowledge into your own original text content. Search web resources and social media for detailed information related to the company and employers. Find various feedbacks written by real people, who work on job position, similar to the one which you are applying for.

Don’t be shy to google different cover letter templates and combine several most suitable ideas to create your own exceptionally authentic document. You can also try to use websites created to help people compose their letters. For instance, here’s the link to one proposing a great variety of different designs and cover letter examples: www.getcoverletter.com. That can inspire you for greater writing as well as getting new interesting experience playing with their cover letter builder.

 

Go from the opposite!

Caroline Ceniza-Levine, the author of the best-selling book “Jump Ship: 10 Steps To Starting A New Career,” recommends mapping the general cover letter to the work description and comparing the content in the form with the company’s applicant requirements in her contributor’s publication in Forbes.

Actually, it is a great idea to refer to the origin and go from the opposite while writing your cover letter. A job description or the list of requirements, published with the vacancy, can become a source of your inspiration for creating a CL. Learn it attentively and try to match your personal skills, qualifications and experience to those, which are expected from a perfect candidate for the open position.

 

Keep calm and…

A fountainhead of inspiration can often hide in ordinary things. Drink a cup of coffee! Go for a walk! Talk to your neighbours! Then drink one more coffee!

If you are caught in the spiderweb of stupor with typing your letter, leave your laptop and take a pen and paper.

And the last. Always keep calm, search for Zen, improve your skills constantly and saddle your own pegasus!