Why Your Cover Letter Gets Rejected (5 MISTAKES TO AVOID), by Jeff Su on YouTube. 6 min 57 s.
- Video length
- 6 min 57 s
- Time to do it
- 30 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 7
What you need
Steps
Open the job posting and note the exact job title, team and any named contact. Search LinkedIn and the company site for the hiring manager or team lead so you can address a real person.
Read your draft out loud and run a spell check, then read it again line by line. Grammar slips and typos are the fastest way to lose a recruiter's attention, so ask one other person to read it too.
Write a hook in the first two or three sentences. Name a pain point the company has, then show how your skills or coursework solve it, instead of opening with "I am applying for".
Replace vague claims like "hard worker" with numbers. Add class project results, sales figures, hours saved, grades or volunteer totals so the reader can measure your impact.
Keep the letter to one page and cut personal details such as age, marital status or health. Drop internal jargon and write in plain words a non-specialist recruiter can follow.
Match the file name to your name and the role, save it as a PDF, and paste the text into the email body if the application form asks for it. Check that your phone and email are correct.
Message a contact at the company before or after you apply. Ask about the team or the hiring process, then mention that you have applied so your letter arrives with a familiar name.
Tips and common mistakes
Send the letter even when it is marked optional, because a short, specific one sets you apart from applicants who skip it.
Never reuse the same letter for two companies. Swap the greeting, the pain point and one result for each application.
Write the hook last, once you know which result you want to lead with.
If you cannot find a name, use a team greeting such as "Dear Marketing Team" rather than "To Whom It May Concern".
Questions
How long should a cover letter be for a first job?
Keep it to one page, around three or four short paragraphs. Recruiters skim, so a tight letter gets read while a long one gets skipped.
What if I have no work experience to quantify?
Use numbers from school, projects, volunteering or part-time work. Grades, team sizes, funds raised and hours saved all count as tangible results.
Do I need to find the hiring manager's name?
It helps but it is not mandatory. Spend five minutes on LinkedIn, then fall back to a specific team greeting if nothing turns up.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
