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5 Phrases I Never Want To See On Your Cover Letter

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A cover letter is a formal document sent along with the resume while applying for a job position. It briefly introduces your salient qualifications, experience, knowledge, and motivation to join the company professionally. Take a deep dive into our 3 part series to build a stellar resume and cover letter for physicians, the resume and CV guide for physicians.

Your cover letter should be brief and manifest your ability to execute the duties listed in the job description. Hence, it is very important to write an effective cover letter to grab the recruiter’s attention.

While crafting the cover letter, you must keep the formatting simple. You should maintain traditional fonts and easy readability. You should mention significant career highlights and experiences relevant to the job specifics, increasing the chances of securing an interview for the desired job.

Some candidates still use phrases that have fallen flat now. Choosing the right words and phrases in the cover letter may set the tone to communicate with a potential recruiter positively.

Phrases That You Should Avoid In Your Cover Letter

A cover letter will showcase your experience and abilities to perform duties relevant to the job description, thus improving the chances of landing the desired job interview. There are times when certain phrases written in the cover letter might annoy the hiring managers, leaving your resume to be ignored.

To create a first impression, you will have to work on your cover letter draft, proofread as many times as possible and avoid making mistakes since you may not get another chance.

Therefore, while creating a cover letter, you should avoid some of the commonly used phrases:

1. “To Whom It May Concern” or “Dear Sir.”

These are common phrases used by applicants, which is unprofessional. The cover letter should be addressed to a specific person, and you can learn the name of the person by doing a little bit of research on the employer’s site or through the hiring portals.

If you cannot find the person’s name after extensive search or don’t know whom to address, you may use an acceptable substitute, i.e., address your cover letter to the “Hiring Manager.”

2. “I am a perfect fit for this position” or “I would be a great/good fit.”

Reading through such phrases may irk the hiring managers. It is the employer’s job to decide whether you are a perfect fit for the job or not. Instead, you may mention your skill sets, education, knowledge, and specific work experiences related to the job description.

You may use purpose-intended phrases that sound modest and formal, which could positively impact the potential employer, escalating your chances to the next level, i.e., an interview.

3. “I need this job because…” or “I want a positive response…”

Such phrases may be too commanding and straight. You might be very much in need of a job, but using sympathetic phrases to draw attention may again irk the potential employers, and you may lose your chances.

The intended purpose should be to receive a reply or a call from the employer. Hence, it would be best if you put formal and humble phrases. You could use some of the phrases such as:

  • I look forward to hearing from you.
  • You may contact me at your convenience.
  • I anticipate your response.

4. “Looking for an interesting position” or “Looking for a more challenging job.”

Such statements may make you seem dissatisfied. A recruiter would expect to know how you will challenge yourself and thrive to reach your position.

You should be very clear while drafting the cover letter by mentioning the job title while applying to avoid confusion during the hiring process. Another possibility is that the candidate may be evaluated for some other job position by the recruiter that the candidate isn’t looking for.

An employer would want to recruit a person who will happily do whatever tasks are assigned to them.

5. “Yours Lovingly” or “With Love.”

It may seem obvious but not use these phrases, though it is surprisingly common. You may use these concluding phrases in informal letters but not in cover letters drafted to the recruiter for an intended purpose.

The cover letter should be drafted professionally by following the rules of writing a formal letter. Applicants should finish the cover letter with a professional sign-off such as “best regards,” “yours sincerely,” “yours respectfully,” etc., in the cover letter.

Bottom Line

A cover letter is crucial to set yourself apart from other applicants. It should cover your experience, knowledge, performance, and skillsets for the job position you are applying for. Framing sentences with appropriate words and phrases in the cover letter may help grab the recruiter or the hiring manager’s attention and enhance the chances for you to land the desired job interview. Keep in mind that not every opportunity requires a resume or a cover letter and here are a few examples; healthcare research opportunities for physicians.

A well-written cover letter is essential to your job application and will greatly improve your chances of success.

4 thoughts on “5 Phrases I Never Want To See On Your Cover Letter”

  1. Wait – why would any doctor be reaching out to apply for a job? This is almost guarantee that the position will not be awarded.
    Doctors should be networking all the time within and beyond the industry, taking every opportunity to make themselves appear – on paper, at least – to be more than qualified for the next step in their career advancement.

    Recruiters should be reaching out to you, not the other way around. Throwing a resume on a huge pile of similar documents from a population of dissatisfied clinicians only gives an HR underling a reason to disqualify you from consideration at the outset.

    Spend your time building relationships with niche executive recruiters – not to ask for a handout job (They don’t do things that way. They work for employers, not job hunters, and if they do offer to take your resume and add you to their list of prospects, look for someone else.), but to learn how the recruitment process works, and how to align your goals with that process.

    Recruiters should be the ones writing your cover letter, and your resume, and polishing your CV to get you the job you’re looking for.

    • To answer your question, a doctor would be reaching out to apply for a job because many great jobs for doctors are publicly posted. MANY doctors successfully get jobs this way.

      It is not a recruiter’s job to write your cover letter or resume. There may be a rare recruiter willing to do this, but it’s definitely not the norm.

  2. It is all demand and supply situation with respect to Physicians. Does not matter if your cover letter looks stupid or arrogant when they are dying to get a physician on board. Yes, the cover letter does play a role if there is competition for a job.

    • Yes, agreed that supply and demand can greatly impact the scrutiny that a cover letter receives. Thanks for your thoughts!

Comments are closed.

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