Covering the Cover Letter

Covering the Cover Letter

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So your months of reading mailing lists finally bore fruit: You've found the job posting of your dreams. Now, how to make a favorable impression with your email cover letter?

DO create a specifically tailored cover letter for every type of résumé you have going. Just as you have an arsenal of résumés lined up to fire off to match specific job descriptions, you should also have a corresponding cover letter calling attention to the strengths showcased in that particular version of your résumé. This way you can impress employers with your fabulous qualifications, not the fabulously inappropriate blunder of sending a Web production cover letter attached to the journalism résumé you made back in 1993

DON'T include smileys, frownies, or any other emoticons in any electronic postings. This labels you as the electronic equivalent of someone who would put Barney stickers in the margins of their cover letters. Odds are high that your potential employer is not looking for the wacky-yet-competent type you see in sitcoms, but a bona fide professional.

If you are responding to an email job posting sent to a list, DO mention the email, sender, and date in your cover letter. Employers like to know how you got hold of the job listing.

DO send a cover letter whenever you respond to a job posting on a mail list. Simply hitting reply, keeping the original message intact, and tacking on your résumé is inadequate.

DO practice the art of writing a good cover letter. Although email allows a quicker turnaround time than snailmail, it also permits your prospective new boss to delete unlikely candidates more quickly. Your email cover letter is your strongest selling point - use it to impress and intrigue potential employers so they will want to look at the stellar online portfolio you built after reading this article.

Once you've spent a little time fine-tuning your site and your personal sales pitch, you should have no problem attracting the attention of your prospective employers. Of course, this may entail actually leaving the treehouse where you've been leasing computer time from your entrepreneurial neighbor, but it's a small sacrifice to make for a great job opportunity.