Making a Winning Cover Letter

Forget your resume – a well-written cover letter is typically the first thing that hiring managers look at when they're sorting through piles of applications. Once they set their eyes on yours, what will they see? Spelling errors? Grammatical mistakes? Or worse yet – the wrong name in the addressee part of the letter? If you want a hair of a chance in landing the job of your dreams, you will need to learn the art of crafting a winning cover letter.

Job hunting is a laborious process. Setting out day after day in your best pressed suit to drop off job applications and resumes is exhausting. After not getting a single call back, it can get downright disheartening. You can boast a number of accomplishments and admirable qualities – a degree from a good school, a high GPA, plenty of work experience, numerous relevant skills – but even if you are a highly qualified applicant, your cover letter may be holding you back and destroying your chances of getting a well-deserved interview.

Many hiring managers go through hundreds of applications once a job listing is posted, or they may always be going through tons of applications if you are applying to a popular company. To make weeding out the "bad" applicants easier, hiring managers will read over the cover letters of applicants before even laying eyes on their resumes. If the cover letter fails to impress, the entire application is thrown into the shredder without a second thought. That is why it is imperative to craft a cover letter that will save the rest of your application from such an early wastebasket grave.

The most basic thing that you can do to ensure that your application is not tossed immediately is to get the name of the hiring manager and company correct. There is nothing more telling of a careless work ethic than sending a mislabeled cover letter to the person who essentially has your employment fate in his or her hands. If you get the hiring manager's name right, your letter will at least receive a thorough read-through. Be sure that the rest of your letter is spelled correctly and is coherent. While your position may not demand the writing prowess of a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, your ability to effectively sell yourself in your cover letter shows whether or not you have communication skills, which is important for any position. Use the cover letter as a persuasive tool to convince the hiring manager that your resume deserves consideration and that you would be a valuable asset to the company. That way, you will finally begin receiving those highly sought-after phone calls for interviews.