Email Cover Letters

Do not get overly casual and informal. Online cover letters are notoriously awful, poorly written throwaways. It's going over the Internet, but it's the same product. The cover is very important and should be the same quality as if you were mailing it. Include the same type of information, in a shorter version. Don't rehash resume, tell them where you learned about the listing, why you're right for the job, and how they can reach you. If you are including your resume as an attachment, make sure the prospective employer accepts attachments and then state in your cover letter the program you used to create the attachment. ("I've enclosed a resume written in Microsoft Word 2000") You also might want to include a cut and paste text version of your resume, in case the person reading the resume doesn't have the software to open your attachment. Save a copy of whatever you send by including your own email address in the "BCC" field or by making sure a copy goes to your "Sent Mail" folder. This allows you to resend the letter if a problem pops up. Do not fill in the recipient's email address until you've finished writing and editing the cover letter and resume. This prevents you from accidentally sending off the message before it is ready. If you really want the job, follow up an emailed cover letter and resume with a hard copy in the mail to give you another chance for exposure. Include a cover letter in the hard copy also, and include, "I recently emailed you my resume and I'm following up with this hard copy." For formatting, stick to left-justified headers and four-inch wide text lines in your paragraphs. The address you're mailing to may have a small email page format that will awkwardly wrap text around the screen. Many email systems cannot handle text enhancements like bolding, bulleting, or underlining, so play it safe by using CAPITAL LETTERS -- or dashes -- if you need to make an emphasis.