ajcjobs > BlogBreak > Archives > 2006 > April > 25 > Entry
Are cover letters necessary?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Yes! Yes! Yes! Always send a cover letter.
Even if a friend of yours is now Vice President with the company to whom you are sending your resume, it requires a cover letter with it.
A cover letter can be very professional or more casual but it must accompany a resume.
A resume sent by itself is much like walking up to a person (stranger or not) and talking about your career history with no explanation.
A resume requires an announcement.
A cover letter is an introduction that allows you to mention any referrals you may have, states the job you are seeking, explains your successes that relate to the job and allows you to end with a follow-up time frame.
Comments
By Dtown Doug
April 26, 2006 11:18 AM | Link to this
I always send a cover letter with my resume packet but what is the ideal length? I have so much work experience and want to be as detailed a possible so I always end up with 2 pages. Is that too much?
By Chandra
April 26, 2006 12:04 PM | Link to this
A cover letter should be one page. That will allow enough time to peak the interest of the reader, but not discuss too much. Thanks for the comment.
By Ray H
April 27, 2006 04:43 PM | Link to this
I agree that cover letters are essential. However, everything about today’s “candidate review” processes as adopted by most companies make a waste of time. Most company-endorsed HR software is designed to dissect your information into searchable blips of data, and if passes the layers of automated screening, someone will ultimately call and ask for the copy of your resume you can actually read. My point is that no one is reading these cover letters and “best practices” are reducing them into yet another chance to plug in favored keyword. So while it makes sence to send a cover letter when you’re sending direct to a person. I’m not convinced it makes any since on company web sites, job boards, etc. Companies using the dreaded peoplesoft application and the like don’t even give you the option.