JUNK COVER LETTERS KILL GOOD RESUMES

上海龙凤1314 shlfToo many unprofessional, unfocused, and canned cover letters are floating around the job-seeking population. So are you surprised when I tell you that a fair number of hiring managers don抰 bother reading them?

Although I抳e seen no official survey on cover-letter readership, it抯 rumored that approximately 40% of cover letters aren抰 read. A number of reasons could be to blame; and frankly, who wants to spend valuable time reading a cover letter that sounds like it was written for the company next door too? Stock cover letters can kill your job-search efforts, making the task of finding a new position nothing but a treacherous expedition.

Adding to the anxiety for jobseekers comes the question: who抯 reading them and who is not? You could take the chance of not sending one, but then you抣l 揹iss?those who are expecting a cover letter. The only option is to send one every time to ensure that your resume is always properly represented.

Writing a great cover letter takes time. Time that jobseekers oftentimes don抰 want to allocate after spending hours tooling their resumes to perfection. Much like the resume, however, your cover letter must 搒ing?to the receiver. If it doesn抰, you抮e soliciting employment on deaf ears. The best way to avoid sending a junk cover letter is to ask yourself a series of thought provoking questions:

Does Your Cover Letter Use a Personable Approach?
Since you were an infant, hearing your name encouraged some reaction from you. Everyone loves to hear their name from time to time, so don抰 be afraid of intertwining the contact抯 name into the content in one or two key areas.

Does Your Cover Letter Include Specifics?
How often do you incorporate company-specific details, such as a problem the company抯 facing that you intend to resolve, or maybe to congratulate them on a newly received contract or recent merger? Keep an eye on target companies by reading daily, weekly, and monthly newspaper publications available in your area. In order to maintain the pulse of your industry, read everything about the industry that you can get your hands on. Think of it as private investigating. Make notations of specific details you want to mention in your next piece of job-search correspondence.