I was talking to a friend of mine who is getting ready to finish up his degree and is wanting to start sending out resumes. He's noticeably ESL, much moreso in his writing than in his speaking. He asked me if I could help him get some ideas together for what he would need to write for his cover letters. I've helped him polish up his resume, so now I'd like to focus my attention to the cover letters, which I hear are almost as important as the resumes themselves.

I haven't had any experience with writing cover letters, because I was approached by my current employer to do research for them as I was finishing my degrees. So it was just a little bit of paperwork, some forms, and a put-together resume to satisfy all the HR people. So I suppose in helping my friend, I'll be doing myself a favor if/when I search for a new job.

While doing a little Googling, I found some guidelines:
- Explain why you're sending the resume, what kind of job are you looking for
- Identify how you learned of a position or the company to which you are applying
- Mention your background (education, experience, etc) that's relevant to the position
- Have a positive, motivated, and enthusiastic tone/attitude in the letter
- Explain what you have to offer to the company
- Obvious: no typos or grammatical mistakes

That's the bulk of what I've found on numerous job-search websites. I'm sure lots of you have done lots of these before, so is there anything else that might need to be mentioned to convince them to move on to reading the resume?

I'm not going to be writing the letters for him, I'm just trying to give him some guidance and maybe help him polish things up a little bit. I'd appreciate any advice and/or samples that you found effective in nailing a job. Thanks in advance!

- Joe (and Marcos, with some rolling rrrr that I can't pronounce)

3/21/2006 12:38:24 PM

the cover letter should show a connection between the job description and the resume. highlight the parts of the resume that fit well with the specific job, and also show a specific interest in working for this company and doing this specific job.

3/21/2006 3:50:21 PM

- be yourself
- possibly be original when appropriate

-ZiP!-

3/21/2006 4:52:21 PM

Of dubious value, but it can't hurt.


I have found that people don't read them, or they only read them after they have narrowed down their stack of resumes.

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Think of it from the other side:

Bosses don't like to go through the process of hiring new people. It's a big pain in the ass, and it takes away from other important shit that they have to do. They would much rather have the perfect candidate drop in their laps. That's why more often than not a recommendation from an existing employee turns in to a fast track to a job.

Your resume and letter need to be short and sweet and show why you are exactly the type of person they are looking for. The easier you make their job, the better for you.

(Government hiring is a different beast, though. )

[Edited on March 21, 2006 at 10:05 PM. Reason : sdf]

3/21/2006 9:58:37 PM

I've been doing a lot of HR stuff for my organization recently and I'd definitely say that cover letters are key. I'm certainly one of those people who uses cover letters as a way of getting familiar with the candidate's personality and how they'd fit on my team.

Obviously it depends on the type of job they're applying for, but I agree with ZiP, be yourself and be original.

3/22/2006 1:44:21 PM

most of my cover letters are just pictures or something

3/23/2006 12:21:32 PM