A Resume Cover Letter has only one purpose – to stimulate the recipient of your resume to review your resume.

Resume Cover Letter goes in the email message

In the age of e-mail your Cover Letter should go in the message of the e-mail and not as an attachment.

Hiring managers and recruiters receive too many resumes to open and read each and every cover letter that comes as an attachment to an email. The chances are very good that a Cover Letter sent as an attachment will not be opened and read and it fact the email will simply be deleted. But with your Resume Cover Letter in the body of the email your chances of getting noticed improve.

Keep your resume cover letter brief

Keep your resume cover letter brief and to the point. Assume that the person receiving your resume is busy – very busy. They are reviewing other resumes – many. Your cover letter is introducing you to the person who could be hiring you.

So be thoughtful – keep it brief and to the point. You are not writing an essay or a novel. You are trying to communicate with someone who is very busy and you are competing for their attention. You need to help them see that opening your resume many lead thme to the person – or persons – that they are looking to find.

The following pages take you step by step through the nine components necessary in a cover letter including a sample cover letter.

Table of Contents

• 01. How to write a resume cover letter
• 02. Resume Cover Letter: Use Email
• 03. Resume Cover Letter: 9 basic components
• 04. Resume Cover Letter: Sample
• 05. Resume Cover Letter: Take action!