The Difference Between a Cover Letter and a Letter of Interest
According to Zety , a service that creates templates for professional communication, you use a cover letter to accompany your resume when you apply for a specific job and use a letter of interest to introduce yourself to a job that is not advertised. Basically, you introduce yourself to the company of interest, tell them your qualifications, and hope they find a job for you, instead of waiting for them to post a job matching your skills and experience.
Letters of interest are also useful when someone has informed you of a discovery that has not yet been made public . The goal is to introduce yourself to hiring managers and draw their attention to your talents, even if it means they will only remember you for future opportunities.
A cover letter is reserved for when a specific job is available, so it can give you faster results. A letter of interest, on the other hand, can take months to produce results, but will help those in charge of hiring find a job that’s right for you if one comes along.
What to include in a letter of interest
Your letter of interest should be full of background information highlighting why you are the perfect fit for the company. Unlike cover letters, you won’t have a clear job posting or a description of what the company wants right now, so you should research the organization first and determine what they’re doing well, where they could benefit from help, and how your specific talents to fit in somewhere. During your research, be sure to identify the most likely hiring manager, recruiter, or manager of the team you want to be on and email them.
Briefly introduce yourself by giving your name and describing your biography in one or two sentences. Then explain why you are writing to this particular company. Talk about specific things about the organization that you enjoy, and then explain how you fit into what you’ve described by sharing your experience, skills, training, and interests. If your research reveals something about the corporate culture, describe how you will fit into it and what benefits you will add. Finally, end your letter with a request for an informal interview. Talking to hiring managers or recruiters will help them get to know you better and remember you better in case a job opens up in the future.
Like the cover letter, it should not exceed one page and should contain your contact details. Just like with a cover letter, you should try to be as specific to the company as possible and not use a standard template. In fact, in this case, you should be even more specific about your interest in the company. Make sure you include details about the organization you are interested in and care about so they know you’ve done your research.