Introductions, Please
A coverletter is a letter of introduction to the reader. Its purpose is to state what the reader should expect to find in the body of the resume. It should be well thought out, and well-written, because, as I've previously said, "Everything communicates something."
The Appetizer
However, that being said, it is my professional opinion (with 17 years of HR) that coverletters are over-emphasized. To use a metaphor, the resume is the meal, and the coverletter is the appetizer. Absolutely, if you order an appetizer, you expect it to be well-prepared and not too heavy (afterall, you have a whole meal to fill you up). When I have 300 resumes to sift through, to be honest, I don't initially even look at the coverletters. I turn to the resume, review it for 2-4 seconds, and make a Go / No-go determination. The coverletter I read when I've narrowed down to my top 10 or so. The coverletter can help differentiate one person's resume from another -- if their skills / experience are neck-in-neck for the running. So, it definitely can help in the race, but it's not what gets you in the line-up necessarily.
Address It Personally
I've seen poorly written coverletters, and it's a turn-off. For example, a coverletter that is addressed, "Dear Sir:" to me. I'm not a Sir. I have a name. Find out my name, if you can, and address it to me personally, "Dear Ms. Lapekas." If you have no way to find out my name, and you don't know my gender, then address it, "Dear HR Representative." It's better than nothing, and it's better than "Dear Sir/Ma'am."
Typos / Bad Grammar
Secondly, a turnoff is to see typos and grammatical errors. This is a person's introduction of himself. Of the quality of his work. Spell-check is great, but it won't necessarily catch the wrong usage of "their, there, and they're." If this is not your strength, then have a friend who's exceptional with grammar, take a look over your coverletter to ensure you've used correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Because, to tell the truth, it could be the one thing that kills your chances. There are too many people out there looking for work to blindly trust you're the only one, and you're the best -- if you coverletter communicates something differently.
Avoid Excessive Use of "I"
Thirdly, a turnoff is to see the excessive use of first-person, singular, "I." I'll even take a little pencil and circle the number of times "I" is used on a coverletter. The worst one I saw had 16 "I's" in 3 paragraphs. Be creative and rework the sentence so that you can avoid using "I" as much as possible. For example, "My experience includes...." or, "My background offers exceptional leadership....to this position." Look, I don't mind seeing "I" but it shouldn't be overused.
Include Your Contact Information
Remember to sign the coverletter, and have your phone number and email available on it as well. Offer to invite the reader to call you (offer your cell and home number) or email you (offer your email) should they have further questions or would like to set up a time to meet. Don't make your reader work hard trying to find where and how to contact you.
Email Addresses (Faux Pas)
Oh, and a little free tip on email addresses: Make sure you use a professional or neutral email handle. I've seen some doozies, which communicate something that they shouldn't, about the person who's trying to get a position in my company. For example, avoid using sexyeyes@gmail.com or Iloveboxershorts@yahoo.com. You may also want to design your email so that it doesn't give away your age. Many times, people will put their year of birth or year of graduation or something like that in their email address. For example, bobjones45@insightbb.com. I would guess that Bob's either 45, born in 1945, or even possibly had graduated in 1945. Either way, it's not necessary to offer that up on the resume / coverletter.
Kathleen Lapekas - PHR
Action HR Consultant
For Personal Attention to Personnel Matters...
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