Lots of candidates ask me which is more important, your covering letter or your CV? And which one do recruiters read first? The truth is that your covering letter is as important as your CV. Which one a recruiter reads first is a personal choice, but covering letters do get read. I recall the former Director of Human Resources at Wiley, Charlotte Hussein saying to me, 'Nothing excites me more than reading a well-written covering letter.'

Your covering letter is as important as your CV

Your CV is a statement of fact, showing where you've been, along with the skills, competencies and achievements that you have acquired or attained.

Your covering letter is your pitch for the job. It should tell the employer why you want to work for them, how your skills are relevant, and what else you can bring to the role.

Top tips for writing a covering letter

1. Do not let AI anywhere near your covering letter. Not only do you need to know every word on the document and it needs to have your voice but AI, whilst appearing to write original text unique to you, is likely to be producing very similar language for other candidates too. I have seen this in practice when going through real applications. On one occasion, I received 72 application emails and 60 of them used exactly the same words and phrasing. Imagine being a recruiter and reading practically the same covering letter over and over. This is why letting AI make even subtle changes can ruin your chances of being selected for interview.

2. Before spending any time on a job application, ensure you have checked out that the logistics of the role work for you: whether it is office-based or remote-working; if it is office-based, that you can commute or relocate for the role; that the salary or salary band works for you; and that the role is something you truly want to do.

3. Always write a covering letter as a fresh document. You might be tempted to reuse previous covering letters, and change a few details, but a previous covering letter, whilst it might have been for the same job title, could have had very different skills and responsibilities. Aside from anything, a covering letter which didn't get you an interview (and ultimately the job) does not appear to be working in the way that it should.

4. When writing a covering letter, start by reading through the job advertisement and matching yourself to the role line by line. You don't have to match or justify every skill requirement or competence, but you should have a clear understanding of the role and what parts of it you could do from day one and what parts you would need to learn or be taught.

5. Through point 4, you could now have an outline of a covering letter that relates precisely to the role and the publisher. Now tidy it up and turn it into coherent sentences. This might mean reordering some of your points. Read it through. Does it sound like you?

6. If appropriate, write a paragraph about why you want to work for the company, without necessarily saying 'I want to work for you because...'. Be authentic about this. If it is a publisher who publishes all your favourite authors or genres, explain this.

7. Check, double-check and triple-check your vocabulary, spelling, sentence construction and grammar. You are writing a letter to someone who probably reads all the time and, whether they realise it or not, will be proofreading as they read. You don't need to use fancy words from a thesaurus but the letter should flow. It shouldn't read like a page of individual sentences.

8. Do double-check the job advertisement for any 'extras' you are asked to send with or include in your covering letter. This might be to write 100 words about a book you have read in the past 12 months, or about a marketing campaign that you've recently seen. You don't have to write about one of their books or their campaigns, but obviously, if you genuinely can, then do.

9. Don't waste time trying to find the name of the person to address the letter to if the advertisement does not mention this. The days of being regarded as a better candidate because you personally found out someone's name are long gone. A default 'Dear Recruitment at' or 'Dear Joe Bloggs Books' is more than adequate. I'd avoid using 'Dear Sir or Madam' as this is no longer seen as good practice.

10. Once you've written your letter, before sending it off, go away for at least an hour, then come back and read it out loud to yourself word by word. This will help give you a final check and also, if you've been naughty and have copied phrases from previous covering letters, you haven't included the words 'Penguin Random House' instead of HarperCollins.

11. Always ensure your contact details of name, email address and telephone number are clearly at the top of the covering letter. Make it easy for the recipient of any of your documents to get in touch with you.