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Write a Convincing Cover Letter to Strengthen Your Job Application
Posted by Tim VanHulle
A motivation letter is often an indispensable part of an application process, but a cover letter is less and less often sent along with applications. This could be for a number of reasons, such as the convenience of "one-click-apply" on platforms like LinkedIn, the growing war for talent where candidates are scarce, or the pressure to send applications quickly to stay ahead of the competition.
Despite this, a cover letter remains a powerful tool for presenting yourself to an employer and showing why you are the best candidate for the position. In this blog post, we'll give you five tips to prepare a cover letter as well as possible.
A motivation letter is an important part of your application process. It is a great opportunity to present yourself to an employer and show why you are the perfect candidate for the position.
Explain why you want to work for the company
As an employer, people want to know why you want to work for them. They ask themselves: “Where are your interests in our company and what aspects of the position appeal to you?”
Obviously, it's not easy to get this information without being in a job interview first. However, try to figure out what really motivates you to work for them. A few ways of figuring out what the company is about is by either doing desk research (Googling the company, LinkedIn searches ...) or by reaching out to an employee of the company to ask them what they like so much about the employer.
By making this clear in your motivation letter, you show that you are motivated and that you have thoroughly studied the company.
Say why you want to take your career in a different direction
Maybe you want a new challenge or you are looking for a certain working environment. By stating this in your motivation letter, you indicate what you are looking for in your work and how the position for which you are applying fits in with this.
Show more of your personality and how it fits into the company's culture
A motivation letter is also an opportunity to show your personality. Most companies will write keywords in their job ads, which will help you to find out more about their company culture. Describe your qualities and how they fit into the company. Indicate how you can use your unique skills and experiences for the company.
Feel free to name-drop
If you know people who work for the employer or their company partners, it's smart to mention this in your cover letter. This can give the employer a better understanding of how you are connected to the company and how you can contribute to their network.
A word of caution: be sure not to lie about knowing someone. If the employer asks you about it during the interview, you may find yourself in a pickle.
Prioritize the skills that you find relevant to the vacancy
Finally, it is important to show what your skills and experiences are that are relevant to the position. You have gained a lot of experience over the years, but you don't have to put in your entire course. Show what you have to offer and why you are the best candidate for the position.
Talents4You N.V. (Zuiderlaan 14, 1731 Zellik)(“Talents4You”, “we”, “us”, “our”) is an executive search and recruitment agency for Sales profiles in the IT sector. We act as the data controller of personal details of:
Candidates interested in career management and finding a new job.
Employees of clients interested in recruitment services, coaching and advisory.
Contact persons at potential clients of Talents4You.
Contact persons at suppliers of Talents4You.
Potential employees.
General visitors of our website.
For any concerns, questions or requests concerning your personal information, please contact us at info@t4you.be
Which data do we collect and process?
In order to make your job / candidate search as easy and safe as possible, we collect and process information about natural persons with whom we have/had/wish to have a direct or indirect relationship.
We understand the importance of this data. Which is why we’re committed to processing it in a transparent, non-discriminatory and legal manner throughout every step of the recruitment process.
The following personal details can be collected, gained or processed:
Identity information: Your full name, address, contact details, gender (only used for salutation in automated e-mails), mother tongue (only used for language preferences in communication with us).
Employment and academic details: All information you provide us on your CV or orally concerning but not limited to; employers, job titles, job descriptions, technical and linguistic skills, career history.
Background information: History of conversations based on information relating to but not limited to expectations, interests and preferences in a professional/personal sense.
We also collect information on your browsing behavior on our website using cookies and similar technologies. Please take a look at our Cookie Policy for information on how this works.
What do we do with your personal data?
Talents4You will collect, retain, process and disclose your personal information to provide you with our services. These include the following:
To provide our services to you
To give you the advisory in your career you need, find and inform you of matching job opportunities, notify you of interview requests, guide you along the recruitment process and follow up after you’ve started as a candidate. To provide the matching candidate to your open vacancy, allow you to view the details of a candidate’s skills and experiences, and advise you on the recruitment process as a client.
To manage, maintain, understand and improve our client relationships
To increase the efficiency of our communication with you both verbal and written, carry out our obligations arising from any contracts agreed upon between you and us, to keep you informed on our existing or new services through email and to respond to any inquiries or complaints that you arise.
To maintain our supplier relationships
To track our order management and general business efficiency.
The basis for lawful processing
Your consent.
Necessary for us to uphold the contract between you and Talents4You’s legitimate interests.
Necessary to comply with our accountability requirements and legal obligations.
Who has access to / can receive my personal information?
Talents4You is most vigilant with sharing your personal data to third parties, in order to enhance your interaction with us to the best as possible.
Under no circumstances will your personal information be sold to third parties. We assure you that the third parties we work with only have access to the personal information they need to do their job.
The following parties have access to / can receive parts of your personal data.
Clients
In order to let your experience of our recruitment services we share your personal information as a candidate with our clients, upon your consent.
Third party technology providers
In order to assist you as well as possible we use service providers such as ATS, CRM, Online Career Portal, Webservices … for IT services, social media distribution, data storage and analytics.
Advisors
In order to assist us in enhancing our business, we may work with accountants, financial auditors, professional advisors or lawyers who may have insight in your personal information.
For how long will we store your personal information?
We won’t hold your data for longer than reasonably necessary for the purposes aforementioned.
How safe and confidential is my data in your hands?
At Talents4You we have the appropriate technical and operational security measures in place to ensure the security and confidentiality of your personal information and to protect it against deliberate or accidental manipulation, loss, destruction or unauthorized access.
What are my rights?
As a natural person and citizen of the European Union, you have the right to access and correct, “forget” or delete your information.
In order to make sure we are talking to the right person, the following rights may only be exercised by contacting info@t4you with a recto verso copy of your identity card. We will reply to your request within the legal period.
The right to access your data
You have the right to ask us for a copy of the personal information we have on you. Where we have good reason, and if the GDPR/AVG permits, we can refuse your request for a copy of your personal information, or certain parts of the request. If we refuse your request or any parts of it, we will provide you with the reasons for doing so.
The right to contest the accuracy of your personal information
You have the right to rectify your data. Talents4You aims to make sure your personal information is correct. Note that the responsibility of changes in personal information need to be notified to us in order to make sure your data is up to date. Contact us on info@t4you.be with as subject line “Data Correction”.
The right to object to or restrict processing of your personal information based on legitimate interest grounds
You have the right to object or restrict the processing of your personal information where we rely upon legitimate interests to process this data. Also, you have the right to object the use of your personal information for marketing purposes. If you object, we must stop processing unless we can either demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing that override your interests, rights and freedoms or where we need to process data for legal claims. Each case will be considered on an individual basis.
The right to withdraw consent
You have the right to withdraw consent at any time where you have provided us with consent to process your personal information, by clicking “unsubscribe” located in the bottom of all our emails or by sending an email to info@t4you.be with the subject “Unsubscribe”.
The right of data portability
You have the right to receive your processed personal information in a structured and readable format. Note that we are not able to comply with requests that relate to personal information of others without their consent. Also, we’re not able to guarantee technical compatibility with a third party’s system. Contact us on info@t4you.be with the subject “Data Portability”.
The right to file a complaint
If you’re unhappy with our use of your personal information, you can contact us on info@t4you.be with the subject “Complaint”. Alternatively, you can file a complaint with the Belgian Privacy Commission on commission@privacycommission.be
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Cookies are also used for statistical purposes. We update the statistics of our website using Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google. Our website uses Bullhorn, LinkedIn and other external services. These external services may place cookies in order to record certain data, for example to analyze the click behavior of visitors.
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Changes to this Privacy Statement
If we change this Privacy Statement we will post any updates here for your review. If we change fundamental terms we will provide notice of the revised Privacy Statement for 30 days on our home page www.talents4you.be with a link back to this page.
This Privacy Statement was last updated: 25 May 2018.
