Guide: How To Find A Job In Australia by Alex Winter - HTML preview

About your cover letter

In Australia, a cover letter is the letter you email for an internship or job when a job offer was made public on a website like Seek or Indeed, or in a newspaper.

This cover letter must be:

• Targeted to the specific job described in the ad

• Personalized : you must tailor it to a specific person in the company

• Sent with your CV

You must adapt your CV and cover letter to the job ad. You must prove that you have the skills and competencies that are required for the job. You must also be honest: you can’t invent skills that you don’t have, or your potential employer will find out very quickly.

Motivation letter

A motivation letter isn’t like a cover letter in Australia. You send a motivation letter or spontaneous application letter when you try to get a job in an Australian company that didn’t specifically publish an ad for this job, or if you want to work as a volunteer in an organisation, for instance.

Australian companies rarely answer these applications, unfortunately.

Examples

Here is a very good Australian cover letter example for a chef in a restaurant. You can also find other examples of covers letters here. You can definitely send a CV and cover letter for a job in Australia even if you don’t live there. If you have the right skills, an employer might want to sponsor you.

What should you indicate in your Australian cover letter ?

The header must include :

• Your first name, last name, address, phone number, email and maybe LinkedIn profile too. Don’t forget to write your recipient’s name with Mr/Ms/Mrs…, the recipient’s title in the company, and his/her address

• Today’s date

• The object (Reference line). For instance: “Application for Marketing Coordinator position”

Body of the letter :

• The usual way to address the recipient : “Dear Mrs Williams”… “Best Regards”

• 4 to 5 paragraphs indicating : why you’re sending this cover letter (you’re answering the ad that was published in…), why your skills are a good fit for the job, what competencies you have that make you the best candidate, your secondary competencies, and when are you available for an interview.

• Your signature

Style, formatting etc.

• Don’t forget to write in British English. Never use US English to get a job in Australia!

• Write with a normal font like Arial or Tahoma, size 10-12.

• The best idea would be to have a cover letter on one page only. People have no patience nowadays!

• Separate each section in different paragraphs.

• Don’t use the word “I” too much.

• Check your spelling and grammar with software such as Grammarly.

• Try to not repeat the same words all the time. Try to find synonyms online.

Useful resources

• Australian cover letter and resume guidelines
• Australian cover letter: The Good And The Bad
• Australian cover letter examples