The Arizona Republic
From June 23, 2002 Print Edition

Cover letter may clinch job

Avoid the human resources wasteland
By D.J. Burrough
Special for The Republic
June 23, 2002

They go together like baseball and hotdogs. Dogs and fleas. Batman and Robin.

A résumé and cover letter are the dynamic duo most people will use to get themselves a new job. They can do good for you on their own, but are much more powerful when packaged together.

While most job seekers will fuss over every word and comma on their résumé, most aren't that diligent about the cover letter. It's written almost as an afterthought, with little care given to the content or even appearance.

But most career experts will say that the cover letter is even more important than the résumé. It is more likely to get to the person who will do the hiring, does a better job of telling your career story and, most importantly, is most likely to get you an interview.

So important is the cover letter that Eugene Krohn, the managing director of the Phoenix office of a career management firm, suggests to his clients that they send only the cover letter.

"We feel that they should not send a résumé to a company," he said. "We believe in the letter itself."

Even if you send in an electronic résumé or application, it's a good idea to follow up with a paper cover letter, said Mark Leathers, partner in the Phoenix office of Leathers, Milligan & Associates, a career management firm.

"There are a lot of businesses that will appreciate that personal touch that doesn't come through in an e-mail."

Perhaps the most important element of a cover letter is getting the name of the person who is a position to give you an interview and offer you a job.

"You may have to do some research, but you should always address it to a specific person," Leathers said. "Anything with a name is going to get more attention."

Krohn advises his clients to put their cover letter on 5-by-8 paper so that it looks more like a personal letter.

Administrative assistants will open most mail and are often instructed to send résumés straight to human resources, he said. But if it looks like a personal note, it has a much better chance of getting to whom you intended it, he said.

Any cover letter should be brief and to the point, career experts say. No more than a single sheet of business-sized paper and no more than two pages on a 5-by-8 sheet.

The first paragraph should talk about why you want to work at that firm. Use the information you gleaned from the company's Web site or from articles about the company to talk about how they piqued your interest. Be sure to talk about the position you are interested in, and don't make the reader search to discover why you're writing.
"Tying it to some bit of news shows that you are the kind of person who takes initiative, you pay attention to those kinds of things, you are a professional," Leathers said.

The second section should talk about your skills and how they fit with the company's needs, career experts say.

Be as specific as you can. Don't talk about how you are "highly motivated," but how you implemented a new training program at your last employer or how you increased sales by 10 percent.

In the final section talk about your willingness to meet to talk further, suggesting a date and time.

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