It’s time to pick on people
Here’s another site offering free cover letter samples: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/samples-of-a-good-cover-letter.html
Let’s look at the third sample that they provide, since that is their sample of someone replying to a job posting. There are a TON of things wrong with this cover letter, but I’m only going to talk about one or two of them here to save us some time. By the way, in an unrelated note, it’s fun to say “a TON of things wrong”. A ton is pretty darn heavy (2,000 pounds), so to imagine a ton of things being wrong makes me smile. Anyway, back to business.
First thing wrong with this cover letter – it is a letter version of the resume. Boo! The HR professional has just read your resume, they don’t want to read a different version that has more words. You need to know that HR folk read resumes and cover letters together. By putting the same information on both you’re wasting time, not making use of the opportunity you have, and are being a bit silly. Don’t do it.
Second thing wrong – it’s only one paragraph. Cover letters should have 3-4 paragraphs. Again, you have one page to wow someone, use all of the page that you can. Breaking up your letter into paragraphs is great because it makes your cover letter easier to read, seem friendlier, and seem better. Breaking a chunk of text into paragraphs may seem like a silly thing, but it’s PROVEN to make a difference.
That’s all for now.