Visit the Summary Store at Executive Book Summaries where you can search a library of book summaries of the top business books over the past decade -- over 400 titles to search! Click Here

December 1, 2006

Cover Letter Importance

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

How you market and promote yourself, has a direct link to how quickly you find the job you want.  The fact is that there are many job hunters out in the market and you need to distinguish yourself more effectively. Having a strong cover letter makes all the difference to your success. A poorly writing cover letter, on the other hand, can hurt your job hunting and job search efforts.

It’s possible to flood yourself with more hot job interview requests and top job offers than most of your competition will land all year if you take the right steps. In applying for a particular job together with hundreds of applicants, this might be your first and last chance to ’sell yourself’ properly to the employer.

Resume

The resume cover letter is a separate page which is tailored according to the specific companies you are targeting. When hunting for a new job, the primary key tools that you need are an excellent resume and a back up resume cover letter.

Upon submission of your resume and cover letter, your first interaction with the prospective employer takes place.

Writing

When writing your cover letter or application letter what you need to do above all is to create impact and interest. Although you should feel free to consult references and models, use your own words when writing a cover letter; don’t mimic another person’s writing style.

It is important to realize that there is an art to writing an effective cover letter. You can skip the review and have a resume and cover letter writing service prepare solid documents for you. Or you can do it yourself and save time and money by usng a software program like the Amazing Cover Letter Creator.

Experience

In the case of email applications it is acceptable to write a brief paragraph of a few sentences explaining where you heard about the role and why your qualifications and experience are a perfect fit for the job. Do you have unique and relevant experience that make you an ideal candidate for the job.

Qualifications

First , your cover letter should state what job you are applying for, as well as, the qualifications you possess to do this job. It serves as a direct guide for the employer in knowing your credentials that match the qualifications that were given. A cover letter is an important marketing tool where you will highlight your qualifications as a potential employee of a particular company you applied for.

Cover Letter Template

Amazing Cover Letter Creator is a simple, but clearly defined cover letter creation software that you can use to help create your own masterpiece. Your time is limited, so writing one basic cover letter and using it as your template will simplify the application process, making you more efficient and hopefully employed all that much faster. Using a cover letter template when job hunting is a logical and time saving measure.


Learn how to just Type at Home and make a living online. Come see how.

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • StumbleUpon
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • Netscape
  • Furl
  • Ma.gnolia
Filed under Resume Advice, Cover Letter Advice, Job Search by gmeares.
Permalink • Print •  • Comment

Why re-invent the wheel. The most effective and often the most successful people use “best practices” to improve their results. You should do the same. When it comes to writing cover letters, there are certain rules that work everytime.

That is why reading this article and visiting the Amazing Cover Letter Creator just makes sense. Save your self time and frustration and adopt what works. Spend time on a Job interview success system. You’ll be glad you did.

Enjoy!
———————————————————————

Cover Letter Templates: A Great Cover Letter Guide
By Jimmy Sweeney

Don’t know how to write a cover letter? A cover letter template can guide you in writing that perfect cover letter to get that much desired job interview.

A cover letter is one of the most important things you have to make in order to catch the attention of your potential employer. This means that the cover letter is the first actual contact you have to make with your potential employer. This is why impressing them with your cover letter is very important in order to earn that job interview you are waiting for.

However, what if you don’t have any idea on how to write a cover letter? What if you don’t know the correct format on writing it or what to mention in a cover letter? One great way to assist you in writing a cover letter is by downloading a cover letter template. A template can greatly assist you in writing your cover letter. It will include instructions on where to put what on the cover letter.

When you download the template you will see that there is a prewritten instruction in a form of a letter that you should follow.

The first thing you should consider in a cover letter is the heading. The head of the letter is located on top of your cover letter which will contain your name, address and contact numbers or emails.

The next thing you will see in a cover letter sample below the heading is the date. Obviously, you will put the date here on when you sent the letter. Below the date, about three spaces of the document, you will put the name of the person in charge in receiving the letter, or the human resources. Below that you will then put in the name of the company and below that, you will put in the address.

The next thing you have to do is write the body of the cover letter. A template will usually include a prewritten cover letter body to help you write your cover letter. It will usually mention what position you are interested in, where you saw the job description and that you are interested in applying for the job.

On the next paragraph, you will put in why the company should consider hiring you. Here, you will include your qualifications, one or two of your accomplishments in your previous career and a few of your experience. In this part of the letter, you will convince your potential employer on why you should be considered to work for their company.

The last part of the cover letter template will state that you want an interview. It is written in a polite way and it will also require you to put in your contact details such as your home phone number, your mobile phone number and/or your email address.

In the last part of the letter, you will put in your name, your signature and your current position in your current company.

Writing a cover letter is much simpler if you have a guide. A cover letter template will allow you to get a better idea on what to put in a cover letter. You can download these templates from the Internet and all you have to do is change some of the information in the cover letter template.

With a cover letter template, it will give you a much better idea on what to write and where to write it.

Jimmy Sweeney is the President of CareerJimmy and author of “Amazing Cover Letter Creator.” Visit him at: http://www.amazing-cover-letters.com for your “instant” cover letters today.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jimmy_Sweeney


Learn how to just Type at Home and make a living online. Come see how.

Technorati Tags:

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • StumbleUpon
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • Netscape
  • Furl
  • Ma.gnolia
Filed under Cover Letter Advice by gmeares.
Permalink • Print •  • Comment

By Nell Taliercio

To begin, make a decision to discard any former knowledge learned about the “rules” of resume and cover letter writing. People commonly become stuck in “bad” writing habits from a time gone by.

It is almost a certainty that since you last wrote your resume, much has been learned and even more has been changed. This is as it should be, for everyday, very creative people are adding to the resume and cover letter writing arsenal.

The Basics

For years, we have been told that to be most effective, a resume should be only one page. This just does not apply any longer! Today’s resume is creative and unique.

Aside from the most essential and key elements, a resume should reflect the personality and need of the job seeker and not be some cookie cutter rendition of what is “acceptable and expected.”

Standards in resumes and cover letters have changed dramatically, but, only so far as the job seeker has the creative expression and know-how to pull it off! Therein lies the difference. Everyday, employers read all of the standard resumes. They are required to go through each and every one! But, which one will catch their eye?

Formatting in resumes and cover letters has expanded, too. When you consider that your resume will be your own, personalized form of marketing yourself — this lends itself to all manner of unique communication and expression.

Again, so long as the essential elements are included in each resume and cover letter, you are at complete liberty to make certain that your resume will impress and with a bang!

Just how, exactly, does one do this?

First of all, learn about the most basic principles involved in writing a highly effective resume and cover letter. Once you have this down, the creative expression can begin!

Your most basic purpose in writing your resume and cover letter will be to be noticed among the many. You want to stand out as not just a good candidate but as “the” candidate just fitting for the job you want.

When you consider that next to your well written resume, not even one hundred other resumes will be written as well as yours, you can see the odds will be in your favor. Your salvation here is in writing a resume that will compel a perspective employer to notice your credentials. If you can master this technique, the rest will be pure gravy.

About the Author: Nell Taliercio is the publisher of a weekly telecommuting newsletter that helps moms and dads work at home. Read more about the newsletter and get your free listing of job links at http://www.telecommutinganswerlady.com - and for more telecommuting and home based business information head over to http://www.mommysplace.net

Source: www.isnare.com


Learn how to just Type at Home and make a living online. Come see how.

Technorati Tags: ,

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • StumbleUpon
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • Netscape
  • Furl
  • Ma.gnolia
Filed under Resume Advice, Cover Letter Advice by gmeares.
Permalink • Print •  • Comment

Resumes and cover letters that get acted upon are those that demonstrate the writer’s potential to solve an employer’s problem based on how similar problems in the past were solved by the applicant.  Companies like resumes that demonstrate what you can do for them that you are a problem-solver.

Put yourself in the shoes of the hiring manager/screener and you’ll understand why a good cover letter and resume MUST make you stand out and therefore is so important.  To make a point, let’s make some worst case scenario assumptions about the hiring manager reading your cover letter and resume for the first time.

Read more


Learn how to just Type at Home and make a living online. Come see how.

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • StumbleUpon
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • Netscape
  • Furl
  • Ma.gnolia
Filed under Resume Advice, Cover Letter Advice by gmeares.
Permalink • Print •  • Comment

September 15, 2006

Cover Letter Versus Resume, Which Is More Important?

Some people say that the resume is THE most important part of the job changing process, while others say it’s the cover letter and even others say it’s the interview. The truth is that they are all right and wrong!It’s like asking what is more important in a car, the brake pedal, the gas pedal or the steering wheel. Obviously you need all three to get you from point A to point B.

The main purpose of a resume along with the accompanying cover letter is to get you the interview, pure and simple. The way to accomplish this is to show off your strengths and achievements and minimize your weaknesses (we all have them). Now is not the time to be modest - if you don’t tell the hiring manager how good you are and what you can do for his company, no one else will.

Cover letters and resumes are both used to get you the interview; they just do it a little differently.

Read more


Learn how to just Type at Home and make a living online. Come see how.

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • StumbleUpon
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • Netscape
  • Furl
  • Ma.gnolia
Filed under Resume Advice, Cover Letter Advice by gmeares.
Permalink • Print •  • Comment