Resume Cover Letter - How to Do It Right

A lot of job applicants assume that they do not have to submit a resume cover letter when applying for a job. They believe that all of the information needed to assess whether they are suitable to a particular position is already in the resume. As such, they think that making a resume cover letter is a complete waste of time and that the resume cover letter only adds more to the heaps of documents that the employers have to read.

This, however, is completely untrue. Recruitment consultants, recruitment agencies, and human resources personnel normally rely on the resume cover letter to gain an insight on the job applicant and how well suited he is for the role. There are a lot of other useful and pertinent information that could help you in landing a role that can only be included and explained in the resume cover letter.

So whether you are applying for an engineering position, a teaching position, a role in a restaurant or hotel, a position in a manufacturing or production environment, or a managerial or executive position, it is always advisable to have a resume cover letter. Whatever professional level you have - engineer, accountant, teacher, manager, clerk, fresh college graduate or production worker - a resume cover letter will help you more in landing the position that you want.

If you plan to submit your job application by either fax or by mail, the resume cover letter must be the front page. The resume cover letter lets the employer know about your areas of expertise beforehand and gives them an idea of how well suited you are to the role they are currently offering. The resume cover letter also gives them some pertinent information that can help them decide whether they have to continue with reading on with the rest of your curriculum vitae.

When sending a job application by email, and the employer requires that you send your documents as part of the email, then you need to include the resume cover letter first in the body of the email. Otherwise, you can send the resume cover letter as an attachment to your email. Employers normally print out the application papers so it is best to send the resume cover letter as an attachment when they do not require you to submit your application papers as part of the email body.

No matter how you choose to send your job application papers, you must make sure that the resume cover letter does what it is intended to do and not ruin your chances of getting hired or having your application dumped outright. Your resume cover letter must present the necessary information in such a way that it will urge the employer to know more about you by reading further the rest of your job application papers. Following these important guidelines will make sure that your resume cover letter exactly does that.

Successful Resume Cover Letter Guidelines

1. The resume cover letter must always be addressed to the correct and appropriate personnel. The resume cover letter must include the addressee's complete name, job position and the department that he is in. This is not a very difficult information to find. This detail is often included in the job advertisement that you find in job search websites, online classified ads or newspaper classified ads. If it is not included, then do some research yourself. You can always give the employer a call to ask for further information. If you live nearby you can also drive to the company site and ask the guard on duty who the appropriate contact person should be in addressing your resume cover letter. The most commonly used greeting "To whom it may concern" is very unprofessional and should not be used as a greeting in your resume cover letter. It shows that you have not done your research and probably tells employers that you are not genuinely interested in the role.

2. When writing a resume cover letter, be relevant to the position that you are trying to acquire. Making a general resume cover letter that is applicable to all types of positions by stating that you are keen to accept any role that comes by does not put you in a very positive light. It shows that you have no clear directions in terms of your career goals. Specifically state the type of role that you want in the resume cover letter and why you think that you are best suited for the satisfactory performance of the role. Your resume cover letter must focus on key professional experiences and skills that are required of the position.

3. As a general guide, the resume cover letter must state why you are interested in getting the position and what you can bring in terms of skills, competencies, attitude and professional experiences needed for the satisfactory performance of the role and can help the company achieve its own goals. Employers and recruitment agencies want to know that your interest is genuine so you have to be able to express this in your resume cover letter. They need someone who will be there for the long haul and not immediately resign when some obstacles or problems are in the way. It is in their best interest to make sure that all the time and money spent on your training and hiring process are not gone to waste. They also want someone who will become a valuable asset to the company and help them attain their targets. Address these concerns in the resume cover letter.

4. Ensure that your resume cover letter does not have any misspellings, grammatical errors, incoherent sentence structures and other resume cover letter blunders. These are good reasons for having your application rejected outright. Good communication skills are often a requirement in most positions and when the sentences in your resume cover letter do not make any sense, you are exactly not projecting good communication skills. Having a lot of mistakes in your resume cover letter also indicates that you do not give too much attention to detail, which is another requirement of most job positions. To help you out, you can ask family or friends to review your resume cover letter to ensure that is free of such mistakes before you hand it to the employer. Two heads are always better than one.

5. It is better to close the resume cover letter by stating that you intend to follow up on the job application and how you plan to do so. This tells employers that you have a take-charge attitude, which is another important trait if you want to perform well in the corporate world. However, stick to what you said in your resume cover letter and actually follow up on your job application as you planned to do.

These are some of the guidelines in crafting a successful resume cover letter that could really help you in getting that engineering position, teaching position or managerial position you want. Go on and work on making a winning resume cover letter.