You should include a cover letter with any mining job application. It’s your chance to impress employers and to put yourself ahead of your competition.
Including a cover letter with your job application might seem like an old-fashioned thing to do. It might even seem unnecessary, given you’re applying for a mining job at a time when there’s a skills shortage affecting the industry.
But a cover letter is more than just a courtesy. It’s your chance to impress potential employers and to put yourself ahead of your competition. It’s not that a good cover letter just makes the difference between getting a job and not getting a job, a good cover letter can make all the difference between getting a mining job and getting your dream mining job.
Here’s what a good cover letter does to your application:
A good cover letter shows respect to the recruiter
At its most basic level, including a cover letter is simple good manners. It is a courtesy to the recruiter, requesting they read your resume and consider you for the position.
While that might sound old-fashioned, consider what not including a cover letter says about you. What does it tell the recruiter about:
- Your personality?
- The level of respect you have for them?
- How seriously you want the job?
- The effort you’re willing to put into making a good impression?
A good cover letter gives a sense of your personality
While your resume gives the highlights of your education and experience, it’s essentially a list of job titles, dates and facts. It doesn’t tell a recruiter or a mining company HR person anything about who you are as a person.
Yet personality matters. Mining industry employers are looking for people who fit their company culture, who have the right attitude, who’ll be able to join their team and fit right in. Your cover letter is your one opportunity to show your personality at the earliest stage of the application process. It gives a little insight into who you are.
A good cover letter shows you’re interested in the mining company
Your cover letter is also an opportunity to show that you’re familiar with the mining company you’re applying to—that you know their operations and projects, their company values, and so on.
This is a great way of showing respect to your potential employer and showing you’re interested in working for them specifically (rather than just trying to land any mining job you can get).
A good cover letter demonstrates your passion for the industry
All too often, cover letters are drab and boring and tell the recruiter nothing about who you are or why you do what you do. The single best way to make your cover letter stand out is to show passion and enthusiasm for the mining industry.
You don’t have to wax lyrical about mining for five pages (in fact, please don’t) but taking the time to show your enthusiasm tells the recruiter you’re serious about your mining career and that makes you a more attractive candidate.
A good cover letter makes it clear why you’re the best person for the job
Your cover letter is also the perfect place to highlight the really impressive stuff you want the recruiter to notice on your resume—the achievements, qualifications, skills and so on.
Don’t forget, the recruiter reads the cover letter first, so the information you supply here is the information that creates their first impression of you. It colours every single thing they learn and think about you thereafter. So why wouldn’t you embrace the opportunity to paint a favourable picture of yourself before they dive into your resume?
What does a good cover letter for a mining job application look like?
Hopefully we’ve convinced you to take the time to write a cover letter to go with your application. If we have, then you’re probably wondering what you should include.
Don’t worry; we’ve got your back. Here are our 7 tips for writing a cover letter for a mining job.
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