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The first ten words need to be attention grabbers. If you don’t get your readers attention early they wont continue reading. Perhaps, for example, if you are applying for a sales job you could open with something like… “During the last 12 months I have beaten my sales targets by X%. You could of course add a statement that you can also do this in the position for which you are applying.

It is also a good idea to tell the reader how you heard about the position particularly if you are applying as the result of information other than a recruitment ad such as from reading a website or say on a tip off from a family friend who works at the organization. It is appropriate to mention the name of someone who suggested that you write.

The information you provide in the cover letter should be information that is not supplied in your resume. The cover letter’s role is to entice the reader to take a serious look at your resume. If anything in your cover letter is repeated will be seen as redundant, it is likely to be off putting to your busy reader.

Always talk about what you can offer the employer, do not be self serving and talk about what you want from the company. Guess what, they at this stage of the process do not care about you, they just want their needs satisfied.

Using a “generic” cover letter is useless other than perhaps a basic template to get you started. As with your resume each letter needs to talk about the specific position (based on what was in the employment ad) that addresses the “wants” of the employer.

The cover letter must contain a statement as to when you will contact them for an appointment. Typically cover letters use the old phrase “I look forward to hearing from you”, this must be avoided. It is important that you take the initiative on setting the time and date for the next contact. You should finish with,… “I will contact you on (the date 7 days from sending date) so we can arrange for an interview”.

Always address your cover letter to the person and title that is shown in the ad. If they don’t state who the letter is to go to ring up and find out.

Use friendly/formal language, nothing too gushy, overly emotive or flowery. Don’t get into long winded highly descriptive explanations, of what you have done in the past, keep it short concise and punchy. You cannot however sound boastful.

Make sure there are no “typos” or grammatical errors. Have someone who is well educated proof read your cover letter.

Finally, not bothering to send a cover letter at all means you have wasted your time sending your resume, A cover letter is a must.

Great resume sample interactive form for free at resume sample.