How significant is a cover letter with regard to your contact with potential emp

1. 61

   Anjiliposted 12 years ago

   How significant is a cover letter with regard to your contact with potential employers?

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2. 0

   Sarah Hurstposted 12 years ago

   As both an employee and now as an employer, I think a cover letter is vitally important with regard to your contact with potential employers. I like to think of the cover letter as your first impression to the employer. Often times, the person or persons looking over applications will start with the cover letter and begin to weed the applications that way. If there is no cover letter, or a poor one, then it immediately goes to the toss pile regardless of what your resume or CV may look like. Nowadays, a cover letter isn't often requested, but I think you should send one anyway with each and every application. The cover letter gives you a chance to catch the readers' attention and in it, you can mention things not covered in your resume/CV.

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3. 61

   point2makeposted 12 years ago

   There are several schools of thought on this one. Some believe that a cover letter will actually hurt you as some employers are only interested in your resume and will not bother with cover letters.
   Personally I have to agree with Sarah. A cover letter is very important and you should always include one whenever you send out your resume. It may not give the potential employer a complete first impression but it can certainly set the stage for your resume to "win" the day.

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4. 73

   equipmentproposted 12 years ago

   You might not consider this a direct answer, but as someone who has successfully landed no less than 12 increasingly great positions in my career, I have to say that I have never written a cover letter.  I also have never submitted a blind application with resume.  I have found all of my positions through networking.  I use my friends, family, old co-workers, and these days services like LinkedIn where I cultivate a network of relevant and well thought of associates.
   
   I think that if you depending on a cover letter or resume to get you a job, you might be overlooking some of the vital elements of job searching.  I have written a couple of hubs on this topic, which I won't shamelessly link to this answer, but I would recommend that you read them if you have time.  I hope this is helpful to you.

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