CoverLetters

Yes, you absolutely do need a cover letter unless you're told otherwise. Most of us hate writing them and worse, this is one of those rare cases where there's no such thing as a win-win. The best you can hope for is that your cover letter won't be completely ignored. Don't write a cover letter at all and your resume may get tossed out. Spend hours carefully crafting the perfect cover letter and the odds are it will get separated from your resume so the intended reader--the hiring manager--never sees it.

Having said that, cover letters are a necessity. See How to Write a Cover Letter.pdf for guidelines on cover letters, along with ideas for opening and closing paragraphs. Look at Cover Letter Template.pdf for ideas on how to structure a basic cover letter.

3 Tips for Writing a Powerful Cover Letter

- Research the company or recruiter you're writing the cover letter for. Know what they want to see and stick to their format, if they give you one.

- Keep your cover letter to one page, no more. Three-quarters of a page is better. Use the same font style that you used in your resume.

- Don't rely on your software's grammar and spell-checker; they can't tell the difference between their, they're and there. Misusing basic grammar makes you look like an idiot. Have a human (with good English language skills) review your cover letter.

What have you found that works? What big mistakes have you made in cover letters you've written?