What is the Basic Cover Letter Format?

A cover letter, as used in the job-hunting context is a document that is supposed to provide an introduction to the resume or curriculum vitae, which are the basic document employed when marketing one’s own services to a potential employer. In the traditional way of doing things (when job hunters used ‘hard copy’ applications), the ‘cover letters’ was typically attached on top of the curriculum vitae or resume, thereby typically serving a cover in the literal sense of the word, to the Curriculum vitae or resume; and it is probably from this fact that it probably got its name ‘cover letter’.

Objectively speaking, in that arrangement, the letters used to serve as a ‘cover’ – that is, or the front page, to the whole job-hunting document, which apart from incorporating the curriculum vitae or resume, typically also tended to enclose certified copies of ones academic and professional credentials.

The days when the letter used to literally cover the job-hunting documents might be long gone (as we mostly send applications, Curriculum vita or resumes and copies of certificates online as email attachments), but the cover letter has still not outlived its usefulness. The letter is the document that nowadays provides introduction to the whole job application attachment, ‘and where it is all coming from.’

There are a number of formats that can be employed in drafting a cover letter whenever job hunting, depending on factors like the job that is being sought and the jobseeker’s preferences.

One of formats one can be employed in drafting the letter is what is referred to as basic cover letter format. The basic cover letter format, as the name suggests is a ‘no-frills’ cover letter format, that incorporates only the absolutely necessary details, and which is a very basic introduction to the attached resume or CV. It is referred to as being the ‘basic cover letter format’ when compared to the other more detailed cover letter formats, which are sometimes so detailed as to be quite comprehensive ‘essays’ on the job-seeker and his or her life. Such essay-like cover letters are in fact (sometimes) so detailed as to do away with the need for the curriculum vitae or resume to be attached.

A typical basic format cover letters will normally start with the job-seekers address, the potential employee’s address, a ‘reference line’ giving reference to the job one is searching, and typically just about a single paragraph of text, introducing the jobseeker to the potential employer, making a case as to why they are suitable for the job, and making the employer aware of the attached documents (CVs, academic and professional credentials) out of which the potential employer is supposed to make decisions as to whether to invite the jobseeker to for an interview or ‘whether to put the whole thing into the ‘trash bin.’

While brevity is an essential quality in a cover letters, it is important, when creating a cover letters using the basic cover letters format to ensure that you don’t sacrifice essential bits of information for it (brevity), and to write the letter with the desired end for it in mind, that desired end use for it being to get the potential employer to look at one’s curriculum vitae or resume favorably, and invite them for an interview.

What is the Basic Cover Letter Format?