Job Search Aid

A resume cover letter is your means of introducing yourself to the potential employer. It is the formal first page of your application for a job. The goal of the resume cover letter is to ask for a specific job or any position within a specified firm.

There are several formats for a resume cover letter, and each is appropriate depending on your familiarity with the potential employer, or the source of your introduction. One resume cover letter format is appropriate when you are applying for a specific advertised position, while another format would be preferred if you have a personal contact with the employer. A third format of resume cover letter might be your choice if you know of no particular opening but want to let the firm’s human resource department know of your interest in employment at the company.

There is no occasion where a resume should not be accompanied by a resume cover letter. You must send a resume cover letter. To fail to do so would be giving up your best opportunity to sell yourself to the hiring manager.

What a good resume cover letter must include are your interest in the job or in employment at the firm in general, your qualifications for the position or work within the firm, and the fact that you are available for hire - and when. A resume cover letter should be warm, courteous, well written, grammatically correct and succinct. A resume cover letter is the advertising tease - the method you use to entice the employer to study your resume.

Make sure your resume cover letter clearly conveys the message that you stand out among the job candidate crowd.

Make sure your resume cover letter states very early on the reason for sending your resume and your qualifications for the position you seek. You have to quickly capture the employer’s attention by immediately stating your interest and your capability.

Your resume cover letter must also show how you are different than the other job candidates. While this is not the place to detail your work history those talents, skills and even volunteer experiences that are pertinent and outstanding should be briefly mentioned, if only as a “tease” to get the employer to read further in the resume.

The resume cover letter is never the place for anything negative about your current or prior work situations. Personality conflict is a phrase that should never show up in any application-related document or pass your lips during any interview.

Should the employer, in their posting or announcement of the position, asked for salary history or requirement, make this clear in your resume cover letter - never your resume. Just simply state what you made in your last position, or what you expect to make if hired, whichever the employer is inquiring about. This is also where you talk about your desire or willingness to relocate. Even if an employer does not ask about relocation, if you are applying from a location other than the location at which you would be required to work do clearly state that you will relocate. In fact, try to honestly convey the message that you would enjoy a move to the area.

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