You cannot get an offer unless you can get an interview, right ? Have you ever heard of anyone getting an offer to report to work never having had an interview ?? You might have two possible chances to get that interview, but most job seekers only give themselves ONE chance, because they do not HAVE or USE a cover letter.

Someone wrote... As I mentioned in my email, I am looking for a senior executive position in Sales, Marketing or Business Development in engineered-technology manufacturing businesses. Most recently I was responsible for Marketing, Sales, and E-commerce for an $800 million multi-division assembler and distributor of electronic components and test equipment. Please let me know if there is anything more I can provide. Regards, (name omitted)

My reply - While it is always possible / easy to print email msgs.. they often do not contain the FULL CONTACT INFO, city state, and info which could be contained in a cover letter with a filename and which is archived with the resume and is visible when any search is done on that archive... especially if the cover letter has the industry standard filename lastname.firstname.middleinitial.cov.doc, and whose heading emulates the resume itself, in order to enhance the impact of the both documents.

Often those emails are not given as much credence as files on disc, and are often discarded within 2 weeks, since they generally reside in someone's IN-BOX with dozens if not hundreds of unread emails ?!

Its important that you know that your subjective (salary, location, scope, timing, ) data is somewhere on your targets systems, and might be parsed by a text parser. That is only possible if you compose a separate document.

Someone wrote and said - " I find it difficult to know what to say in a cover letter." I replied " It need ONLY say whatever is necessary to motivate the reader to be sufficiently interested to pick up the phone and ask you ANY question. Then you are "on stage " and should be prepared to give the performance of your life, and at least sufficient to motivate the caller to INVITE you for an interview.

Cover letters should have the FILENAME as lastname.firstname.middleinitial.cov.doc which is the industry standard, unless you do not mind waiting weeks for someone to getting around to helping you get it all together piece by piece by piece, or finding some piece of your package on their system which fell into a crack because it did not conform to their expected filename standard for cover letters.

This is somewhat of a generic text intended to cover a wide range of information which I might use in your behalf. Your cover letter should indicate whether or not you are employed.... if not, last date, final salary, or at least salary expectation range and conditions. Acceptable locations..where ? where not ? job or company scope, magnitude, perspective, how big was your facility, what type of firms in your opinion would be interested in your skills ? what is your principal motivation now ? Downsized, limited growth, desire to relocate to some other city.. aging parents ? What ? Tthe more clear the picture you provide, the FASTER will be the response. Make it personal !

What type and size firms appeal to you ? In what principal role do you see yourself ? I suggest a cover letter which might contain the above, and be concise and more narrative, which would show your style, your work ethic, your values, your communications skills, your current base salary, your daytime phone number, and most importantly, your focus.

Your cover is the place to mention what locations are acceptable and which are not, whether you are employed or not, and if not, the final date on the payroll, your final base salary, your minimum expectation, dependent on what other factors, growth potential, industry, mgt level, stock options, etc. What type and size firms appeal to you ?

What special abilities to you have, foreign language fluency, leadership skills, communications skills, what certifications do you have and how do you expect to maximize those for some prospective employer ? Getting an offer to interview is what this is all about.. What might you bring to the table that would make any prospective employer salivate over that prospect ? !

What might you have, know, be able to do that few others have, know or are able to do ? What do you offer to an employer which would preclude their extinction because of existing mindset about operations, customer management, resource and allocation management, priorities, demographic or economic changes ? That is what goes into your cover letter.

If there is NOTHING in the cover letter or resume which motivates the reader to pick up the phone and speak with you about SOME aspect of your background and experience, then the likelihood of an interview is ZERO, and the possibility of an offer becomes zero as well. Your resume and cover letters are like two apples which you must continue to polish until someone takes a bite !

Only if someone CALLS you will you have the opportunity to elaborate on your qualifications, and have the opportunity to express your verbal skills and salary objectives, and make yourself sufficiently interesting to motivate someone to invite you for a face to face interview. Your cover letter should have the file name lastname.firstname.middleinitial.cov.doc otherwise it could easily not get read for weeks.

The heading on your cover letter and your resume should be the same except for the file name. Put contact info at the TOP left, not at the bottom, not in the header and not in the footer, as :

I don"t know about other recruiters, but the biggest demand on my time is educating job seekers that they MUST HAVE ALL THE INFO IN ONE Document, in a standard format, with industry standard filename, and recruiters do not generally send out info PIECEMEAL without critical info of salary, location, timing. products, process, ad nauseam, and all the other concepts mentioned above.

I will admit to being an "old geezer " (65 on 4 Dec 2007) and I have no foreseeable need to get back into the "dating scene" , but that does not mean that I have forgotten the psychology which goes into having an enjoyable evening. Imagine for a moment, that you're single and that your cousin offers to set you up with a "Blind Date !"

Do you automatically accept just because he's your cousin, or do you ask him some questions ? Would you be MORE inclined to call the 'prospect' if you knew the sex of the person ?! How about his or her name ? and, something intriguing about the person... if you knew that the person was a college graduate and what YEAR he she graduated ?

if you knew that the person loved to watch the Nicks at Madison Square Garden ? if you knew that the person had superior ability on the dance floor ? if you knew that the person had widely travelled the world and was fluent in 3 or more languages ? if you knew that the person was a tremendous cook... well respected speaker ... a terrific chess player ... loved classical music .... enjoyed Thai food... loved scuba diving in the Carribean etc ?

if you knew that the person knew you and liked you ? was a member of Mensa ? if you knew that the person lived nearby and loved riding in convertibles, contributed their spare time to a soup kitchen, or teaching soccer to underprivileged kids ?

The point is that these same kinds of thoughts are the same ones used by employers to determine whether or not you will be called FIRST for the 'date' which is the interview, and which is the ONLY gate thru which you CAN and MUST pass to get onto their payroll !

Below are some of the primary personal qualities which are generally NOT found in resumes. I believe that they are significantly more important than the more finite RESUMES which only describe events IN THE PAST, and I invite you to think of personal qualities which auger well for success, which are not NORMALLY found in resumes, and which could be quantified and conveyed in a cover letter..

OVERALL VISION AND LONGER TERM VISION - PERSONAL ENERGY LEVEL
LEADERSHIP ABILITY - COMMUNICATIONS SKILLS
INTEREST - INSPIRATION - MOTIVATION
RESOLVE - COMMITMENT - FOCUS
FLEXIBILITY - DESIRE - DEDICATION - RESOURCES - RESOURCEFULNESS
UNIQUE RESEARCH - MORAL SUPPORT
PERSONAL CONTACTS and NETWORKS
PERSONAL DISCIPLINE - RESOURCE ALLOCATION

How many times do we recruiters get job specs which have been composed based on what some previous incumbent brought to the position, or what (s)he achieved, with no respect to changes in fundamental structures and values in the marketplace? How long will someone want to keep doing what (s)he has been doing over and over for weeks, months, years at a time without getting stale, unproductive, ineffective or bored ?

Are you still going to think that a cover letter is a waste of time ? Guess again !

The more of that kind of information (YES in THIS market) the more likely you will be called before someone else.

If you are 4th or 5th in line to be called based on the information that the firm has on you, and they are interviewing the first 3 or 4 while waiting to see if they want to interview you or not, they could easily make an offer to one of the first 3 interviewed and then CLOSE YOU OUT before (and even if you had a date and time certain) with "I'm sorry. That job has been filled .. (by someone the hiring manager liked well enough to make him/her decide that the did not want to continue with the interview process) which most find tedious and wearing at best..

I hope this clears up what I need in order to proceed effectively in your behalf. Griffin