If Your Resume is the Cake, Your Cover Letter is the Icing

Cover letter writing is almost as important a skill for a job seeker to learn as resume writing. The cover letter always accompanies the resume as the primary support document. Whether you use traditional mail, email, faxing, or electronic submission, this should always be sent with the resume. There are, of course, other tools you’ll use when job seeking. Your cover letter and resume come first, followed by follow-up letters, thank-you letters after the interview, reference sheets, salary histories, and job acceptance letters. The other written tools should be a snap to compose if you have a suitable cover letter and resume writing skills.

Your goal in this is to get the hiring manager's attention, just as it is with resume writing. The method and format are a little different, however. Your resume will cover all or most of your professional career, from one to two pages. Your cover letter will be a very brief page as an introduction to the resume. Cover letter writing must be direct, to the point, and able to grab the reader's attention quickly to make the reader want to read the attached resume.

When engaged in this type of writing, many people tend to say too much. Good cover letter writing is short and punchy and will take two or three key points from the resume and emphasize them. The adage “tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them” holds in resume and cover letter writing.

For example, assume you are a materials handling manager for a defense contractor seeking another position. The buzzwords in your line of work are MRP, lean manufacturing, ISO 9000, and cost savings. Your writing efforts should reflect these buzzwords to show value to your current and future employers. Your resume will go into more detail about how you accomplished these goals. The cover letter will show the hiring manager that you accomplished them. An example of this would be two bulleted paragraphs in the body of the letter that say….

• Experienced in quality assurance and quality control, MRP, ISO 9000, QS 9000, and Lean Manufacturing.

• Demonstrated results in saving significant money for employers through cost savings, inventory level reductions, and on-time supplier delivery.

According to many surveys, the hiring manager devotes only about fifteen seconds to each resume and cover letter they review. With that in mind, your writing skills need top-notch to get this person to look at your resume. Your resume writing skills need to be just as good to get the reader to want to grant you an interview. Your interviewing skills need to be excellent to get the hiring manager to offer you the position. This long and hopefully positive chain of events begins with good cover letter writing skills and ends with job satisfaction and a nice paycheck.