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Cover Letter Myths That Could Stop You Cold
"Cover Letters For Dummies(r)" by Joyce Lain Kennedy.
"Revealing myths that could make a letter drop dead"
Many people think that cover letters are an optional exercise in the job-finding game. They look at the cover letter as a throw-away piece that no one pays attention to. They take shortcuts and fall for myths guaranteed to show prospective employers that you don't care enough to send your very best. Don't cut corners with your cover letters. Believing the myths that follow can kill your cover letter before it has a chance to sell your skills.
Don't Fall for These Myths
Your resume may not be resurrected if you don't protect it with a well-written cover letter. The only benefit to be achieved by these false beliefs is the one your competitors get by having you fall from job candidate status.
It's OK to send your resume without a cover letter
False! Unless you like to send your resume into other people's trash cans, make sure that a cover letter accompanies your resume. Your cover letter stamps a personality on your resume, a personality that the reader may find tough to reject out of hand.
Your cover letter summarizes your resume
False! A summary of the resume and the resume with a summary seem a little repetitive, yes? Use a cover letter to add a warm handshake to your resume and to zero in on why the employer should be interested in you. Your cover letter should put your resume in context - it should draw attention to your strengths and present nonresume material that can make the difference between you and your next closest competitor when the interviewing decision is made.
A cover letter merely introduces your resume
False! Your cover letter premarkets your resume - that's true. But your letter is also ultimately a silent force, enticing the reader to scour your resume. Some employers believe cover letters are more important than resumes when choosing candidates to interview. If your cover letter doesn't flesh out the person presented in your resume, you may never get to meet the reader face-to-face.
You can routinely use a generic greeting - "Dear Employer"
False! Imagine that your job is to screen job applicants, and every letter you read begins with Dear Job Application Reviewer, or in effect, Dear Nobody. Research your target organization until you have the name and gender of the person who will review your resume. Double-check for correct spelling and proper job titles. When you can't uncover the correct name and must rely on a generic greeting, Dear Employer is as good as anything. Don't assume gender and use Gentlemen for your salutation.
What do you do when you're answering a blind ad, and you don't know who will review your resume? If the ad gives a U.S. Postal Service box address for reply, you're in luck. Postal regulations require that the postmaster of a U.S. Post Office must reveal, upon demand, the name of any person or entity renting a postal box to "solicit business."
The identity of individuals who rent U.S. Post Office boxes for personal use will not be revealed. Non-postal commercial mail receiving agents or agencies (such as Mail Boxes Etc. or boxes at newspapers) probably won't provide business addresses.
The postal regulation releasing the names of business renters of postal boxes is in the Administrative Support Manual (March 1996 edition, page 127), Reg. 352.44, Section C, #1. If you are denied the identity of a business renter, ask for referral to the nearest U.S. Postal Service consumer affairs representative. Or, for referral, call consumer affairs headquarters in Washington at (202) 268-2284.
You can ask a postal clerk for the name of the box holder, and then make an educated guess as to which department is hiring. Call the company's receptionist and ask if John Doe (make up a name) is the manager of that department; the receptionist may correct the name for you. Truthfully say that you are writing a letter, get the spelling down pat, and send off your Red Hot cover letter properly addressed to Dear Somebody-by-Name.
Keep your cover letter really, really short - like a paragraph
False! The length of your cover letter depends not upon absolute rules of measurement, but upon the amount of content you have to convey. When the letter escorts a resume, I suggest limiting the letter to one page, with one to six paragraphs; when your letter substitutes for a resume, two to three pages is the max.
Devote one paragraph for each salient point. The short-paragraph technique maintains your letter's richness even when skimmed at transwarp speed. Your Red Hot cover letter should be just long enough to accommodate all your priority attributes and to motivate the reader to review your resume and meet with you.
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