Tips for writing an interior design cover letter

Over the years the way we format a cover letter, or any other business letter has changed. In the past your address was located in the top right-hand corner of the letter. Then came the date, and under it, on the left-hand side, you wrote the name and address of the recipient.

However, now business letters and cover, or covering letters, are formatted in block style. The date goes at the top of the letter on the left-hand side and the rest of the letter follows underneath with everything aligned to the left. That means that after the date you put your address, then, under that, comes the name and address of the recipient.

After your address, leave a line and write your telephone number, then leave a line and write your email address.

Leave a space under the date and the addresses. Then begin your interior design cover letter.

Here is an example of the correct format: -

• date
• your address and contact details
• address of the recipient
• the salutation or greeting
• finally end appropriately.

When you write a cover letter, you need to think carefully about who will be reading it. If you are responding to a job advertisement look carefully at the name of the person you should address the cover letter to. If you don’t know the gender of the person from the name, for example if the first name is Chris, just write the name in full, e.g. Dear Chris Jones.

If you are asked to write to Mr. or Ms. Smith for example, think about how to start and end the letter.

If you start dear Ms. Smith, you should end the letter Yours sincerely. This is the correct formula if you know the name of the person you are writing to. If you don’t know the name of the person you are writing to, begin with Dear Sir or Madam and end the letter Yours faithfully.

Of course, you could do some research into the company to which you are applying and find the name of the appropriate recipient of your letter. This would show you have initiative and would probably impress the reader.