Preparing a cover letter for a resume that you will send out by email or perhaps fax can be a daunting or indeed difficult task. What rules, procedures and advice are best given and followed. After all you want to create a most positive first and lasting impression. The purpose of a resume is to obtain a job interview appointment or appointment setup. The purpose of your cover letter is to allow your resume into the office of the decision maker and onto their desk in order to get to the first base of having a good chance of obtaining that initial job employment meeting or interview. How can you best go about preparing this “electronic interview getting cover letter?”
First and foremost stick with a plain style of text. With the most modern an up to date “enhanced” “broadband” email accounts you may be tempted to spruce up and enhance your cover letter which you send by email along with your resume. Resist the temptation. It’s overblown and overdone. Stick with a basic plain text of style.
In terms of length of the email or fax letter if you can, ensure that the lines have no more than 65 characters. If your line length is longer than this, you will risk the text fragmenting unevenly on multiple lines on the receiver’s screen. It may be true that with newer more modern Microsoft Vista computers and the new style LCD computer screens this may not be the case – but why take the chance? You only get one chance at a good first impression. Even if you win on one computer screen at the prospective employer your resume and cover letter may be viewed on a second and less modern office computer setup. Why take unnecessary chances for little benefit?
When you do send and finish the preparation of your final cover letter – it must be more than perfect. Polish your draft cover letter, emphasizing your qualifications. Make the content more than concise and abundantly clear. It can be said that your cover letter emphasizing your attributes and benefits to the firm should be “clear as an unmuddied stream”. If need be use a thesaurus – either online or in old fashioned paper book format to find words with just the right shade and shades of meaning. As you prepare your final cover letter, remember that just as with your resume your final cover letter must be perfect. The cover letter first impression is everything whether your resume will get onwards to the next step to obtain for you that precious job interview appointment.
Next in step – after your cover letter is complete review it with the greatest attention to detail and details. Have a second or even or a third, non – involved and hence more objective person review the cover letter carefully and in detail. The brain is a most interesting device. Your own brain may fill in the dots with your own personal assumptions without you even realizing it at any point. An outside person can well serve as the critic to find that one mistake – that you may well not spot – yet the smallest error can well do in the most well planned and executed job searches. In order to be successful, a cover letter must be absolutely perfect with no mistakes what so ever.
In the end, the best chances of obtaining that most critical job employment interview appointment come down to preparation, thoroughness and great attention to detail. If a number of applicants are all after that same job of merit, how could it be else wise?
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