Finance recruiters in Asia say they spend even less time looking at your cover letter than they do flicking through your resume.
But while a cover letter won’t, on its own merits, convince a recruiter to recommend you for an interview, it could easily do the reverse: a poorly written one could jeopardise your entire candidacy from the get-go.
Recruiters in Singapore and Hong Kong typically face a deluge of applications for each role, with local job seekers applying alongside overseas ones wanting to crack the Asian market. Recruiters are looking for any excuse to whittle down their candidate pile – don’t let your cover letter give them one.
“I always go through cover letters – I find a lot of helpful information in there like specific skill-sets, reasons for leaving, sabbaticals,” says Tanya Sinha, a vice president at recruiters Talent2 in Singapore. “For more niche banking roles, cover letters can also help you understand the value-add that a candidate can bring.”
We speak to several Asia-based recruiters about the cover letter mistakes that can kill applications for banking jobs in Singapore and Hong Kong.
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1) Too long!
This is possibly the worst mistake made by candidates writing cover letters for banking jobs in Asia. “Asian markets are very dynamic and recruiters tend to be very busy; we just don’t need a lengthy cover letter,” says Eunice Ng, director of talent acquisition at headhunters Avanza Consulting in Hong Kong.
2) Too short!
Don’t take it to the other extreme – “I attach my CV for your consideration” doesn’t constitute a cover letter. “In contrast to Western markets, too many applicants in Asia use the cover letter just to enclose their CV, with less emphasis on convincing the hiring manager about their application,” says Stella Tang, managing director of Robert Half in Singapore.
3) You don’t need to introduce yourself in your cover letter
Too many candidates in Asia write cover letters as though they are a general introduction to themselves and their career – a friendly “hello” to a recruiter. “Forget the introduction – the cover letter should instead address why you’d be right for the role,” says Stanley Teo, a director at Profile Search & Selection in Singapore.
4) Get to the point
Identify the main reason you are right for the job and spell it out in the first two sentences. “Here in Asia recruiters have to read through a prodigious number of applications so it’s essential to get straight to the point,” says Jay Abeyasinghe, manager of banking and financial services at Morgan McKinley in Singapore.
5) Use your cover letter to explain gaps in your CV
If you’ve taken time out for study, travel or anything else, your cover letter is the place to (briefly) explain these employment gaps. “Be honest about any potential concern and turn the situation to your favour by describing how your skills have stayed relevant,” says Tang from Robert Half.
6) Shout about your soft skills in your cover letter
As we noted last week, banks in Asia are placing more emphasis on achieving a match between the candidate’s personality and their own workplace culture. If there’s a particular soft skill or personality trait that you think is relevant for a particular bank, highlight it in your cover letter rather than in your (achievements-focused) resume, advises Tang.
7) Don’t say you’re a team player
Avoid making your soft skills too generalist: recruiters will think you’ve sent them the same standard letter you’ve just fired off for several other jobs. “Generic cover letters are the worst and are redundant as I can just read the stuff off your CV,” says Angela Kuek, director of search firm The Meyer Consulting Group in Singapore. “Use specific examples and talk about your unique selling points. Everyone says they’re good communicators or good team players – make yours different,” says Ben Batten, country general manager of recruitment firm Volt in Singapore.
8) Don’t duplicate
Remember, you are pitching your suitability for the role, not simply listing random skills already on your resume. “Duplicating information which is on your CV is not a good idea and is unlikely to be read by recruiters,” says Abeyasinghe from Morgan McKinley. “So keep to the point and use a cover letter primarily to address specific issues which the CV hasn’t touched on.”
9) Don’t show off in your cover letter
Resist the temptation to show off or, worse, embellish the truth in a way you felt unable to do within the formulaic confines of a CV template. “Some cover letters in Asia simply come across as a hefty piece of bragging and this doesn’t reflect well on the candidate,” says Abeyasinghe. “If you apply for a sales role and have never done sales in your career, please don’t say you have a ‘sales track record’ just to get the attention of the recruiter,” warns Teo from Profile.
10) Don’t dumb down your cover letter because you’re applying via a recruiter
“There shouldn’t be much difference between a cover letter sent to a recruiter versus one sent directly to a bank”, says Tang from Robert Half.