When you are thinking of applying for a new job, the skill of cover letter writing is really worth looking at closely. Many people spend a tremendous amount of time and effort perfecting their resume, only to speed through the process of cover letter writing. This is a mistake, as the cover letters are the first and sometimes the only things that a hiring manager will see. There are probably many applicants applying for the same position and how you express your interest in a position may be all they need to know before deciding on an interview.
Unlike a resume, a cover letter has to be fine tuned each time you send it out. After you create and edit a resume, you can generally leave it unchanged until it is necessary to make significant changes to it. Cover letters, on the other hand, will need to be changed every time you send them out because they need to be tailored to the company and position you are applying for.
How should they change? For one thing, you should always address each letter to the hiring manager personally. Never use general salutations like "Dear Sir or Madam" or "To Whom It May Concern". This is not just impersonal but it also shows that you haven't taken the time to research the company to which you are applying. By doing a web search, it is easy to find out the identities of human resource directors. If you take a few extra minutes to find out some names you may be rewarded with a lucrative job in the end.
You will probably be applying to firms that don't all do the same exact thing. When you're writing a cover letter, you should tailor each sheet slightly to the company to which you are applying. This is just common sense. If you mention some specifics about the company's products or staff members, you will demonstrate that you are interested in the company. This can be done by mentioning casually something that the company has done recently. Even better, if you've met or spoken with someone at the company previously, a little bit of name dropping can not hurt you. These little personal touches help considerably in creating a winning cover letter.
