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The Cover letter for a resume is often regarded as a
mere formality and is not given the importance it deserves.
Most job-seekers would prefer to skip it and just send their
resume alone to prospective employers. Others would invariably
send an announcement cover letter stating the obvious i.e "
Please find enclosed my resume…". Such cover letters would
definitely be a waste. Is a cover letter then, really
necessary?
A cover letter with
the resume is essential to improve your chance of
selection If you are sending your resume to an
employer, you should always ensure that a cover letter goes
along with it. Why is this cover letter so important
The cover letter is the first
thing that the recruiter reads when short-listing resumes. It
is much shorter than a resume and, if well written in content
and presentation, could grab the attention of the person
sifting through the possibly large volumes of resumes that
have arrived for a particular position. This is particularly
so in the case of advertised vacancies where as many as 50 to
100 resumes could arrive for the position every day. With
these volumes, you can expect ruthlessness in the screening
process. In fact, the first level of screening would probably
be done by a clerk who may not even be aware of the details of
the advertised position and may be working on a preliminary
checklist provided to him. Over 50% resumes may be removed at
this stage and may not even reach the next level in the
screening process. A good cover letter would definitely help
at this stage in at least sounding different and standing out
from the crowd. It could improve your chance of being selected
for an interview
What then, should your cover
letter contain
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Your cover letter should
highlight the value you offer to meet the employer
needs
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Try and
customize your
cover letters for different employers
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The cover letter should be
short with a conversational style instead of a stiff
tone
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Try not to use standard
opening lines in your cover letter
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The objective of the
job
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Referring to the advertised
position
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Address the letter to a
specific person
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Stick to readable font
style and
size | 
