3 Cover Letter issues

The question of writing or not writing Cover Letters continues to raise its head so let us look at three key areas. First let me say that you need to take advantage of every opportunity to sell yourself when you are in the business of job search.

Necessary evil – Many people seem to regard writing a cover letter as a necessary evil, this should not be the case, and this is an opportunity to display to a potential employer some of your skills in communicating.

Delivery method – There are typically 4 methods of submitting an application to an organization. 1) In today’s market companies are often pushing applicants to apply online as they are linked to an applicant tracking system (ATS) which analyzes and scores the resume. There are sometimes opportunities to provide a cover letter in this situation. 2) Through an email address that is provided on the job listing. In this case make sure that there is no restriction as to attachments being included. If there is a restriction then make the email a single document that contains both your cover letter and resume. If there is no restriction then attach your resume as a word document unless otherwise demanded. 3) By snail mail, now there is a thought, provide a well presented document on quality paper in a great envelope. This method can also be used in conjunction with any of the other methods mentioned. 4) If you have an internal contact at the organization then ask them to hand deliver both your cover letter and resume to the hiring manager.

Format – With the rise of email delivered documents making sure that document formats remain intact is increasingly important. If you are sending a word document have a look at the margin settings, typically you will need .75 to 1 inch as a minimum as this will normally print successfully on most printers. If you are embedding the cover letter in your email then send it to yourself or some other person and have them print it out so that you can see what it looks like and make any appropriate changes.

For further help please check out our articles.

Good hunting

Barry