Overview of Writing a Cover Letter

A Cover Letter serves to place your resume in context. It explains why you are sending your resume to a particular employer and argues the reasons why a hiring manager should spend fifteen seconds of their life reading your resume (8-20 seconds is the average time an employer spends on a resume). Considering that only one interview is granted per 245 resumes sent out, your resume needs all the help it can get from a good, well-targeted cover letter.

Many employers argue that a resume should never go out without a cover letter. If you are targeting your job search as you should be, then this advice is to be heeded. A cover letter allows you to target a company, perhaps even an individual within the company – and vie for their attention. If you are sending your resume to an employment agency or recruiter, then a cover letter may not be necessary, unless you have specific requirements such as limited availability or the desire to change your career path.

Here are a few more resources to help you create an attention grabbing cover letter:

• Cover Letters at a Glance
• The Four Paragraph Cover Letter
• Do’s and Don’ts of Cover Letters
• Cover Letter Pitfalls
• E-mailing a Cover Letter
• Cover Letter Blunders