Career Quest Cover Letter Structure

Cover Letter Structure

There are many schools of thought regarding the structure of a resume and those ideas change periodically with the current trend. From the standpoint of someone who has read literally thousands, hundreds in any given day, there are certain things I always like to see in a resume. Below I will touch on each part of a resume.

Cover Letter - Heading

You should place a heading on your cover letter just as you do on your resume. It should include your name, address, and all phone numbers where you wish to be contacted. Also it is very important in this day of technology to include your e-mail address. It is an easy way to contact potential candidates without having to play phone tag, as well as showing that you are comfortable with today's technology.

Cover Letter - Inside Address

This is the address of the company that you are sending or giving your resume to. This needs to be personalized if at all possible, otherwise they will feel as if they are just getting a form letter you are sending to everyone. That may be the case, but they need to feel that you are particularly interested in them and their company.

Cover Letter - Attention and Regarding Line

If you know the name of the person who placed the ad or has the open position within the company, then put their name in the attention line. If you do not know their name then you could put either General Manager or Human Resources Director. You may also customize it some by putting Marketing Director if you are applying for a marketing job and do not know their name. The same would be true for a warehouse position, accounting position, etc.

The regarding line is where you would place the position which your are applying for. Some ads also list a position number or opening number. Place that there as well. If you do not know of a particular position available, you may put Available Positions. Some companies have multiple listings at all times and you could state in the body of your cover letter that you would appreciate being considered for any available position for which you are qualified.

Cover Letter - Salutation

You would address the person to whom you are writing the letter. If you do not know the name of the person, use the title you used in the Attention Line. Do not use Dear Sir or Sirs. That is no longer politically correct. You may be addressing a woman or a man and since you do not know, do not use Dear Sir. It is also no longer politically correct to use Mrs. in saluting a woman. You do not know if they are married or single, so do not assume and put Mrs. The correct title would be Ms. for a woman.

Cover Letter - Body

The body of the letter is to introduce yourself and state what the facts cannot state in the resume. Do not make the body of the letter wordy or extremely long. They will not read it. Many ads state specific qualifications for the position. This would be a good place to emphasize the fact that you meet their requirements for that particular position. You may use bullet points or place them in the body of the letter. There were not specific qualifications specified for the position that the applicant shown is applying for.

You could use this technique in the body of the letter:

You require:                            I Have:
You may also want to point out where you heard about the position. If it was posted in a newspaper or classified listing, be sure to put the publication and date of the advertisement.

BS in Finance or Accounting         BS in Accounting, Marketing minor

4 years on the job experience             6 years as Senior Accountant

CPA                       CPA

 
This is a great place to "name drop". At our company we are directed to take a closer look at referrals. If a resume comes to me and states that John Doe an employee of "Our Company" referred them, then I am obligated to give it a good once over. By HR law I cannot give them special privilege if the candidate is not qualified, but I may at least grant them an interview.
 
If there are points that you want to emphasize, you may use bold, italic or underline to emphasize them. If an employer is only quickly scanning the resumes and cover letters, they may not take time to read the cover letter thoroughly, but bold type will catch their eye and they will probably stop to read that at least.
 
To close the body of the letter, ask for what you want. If you want to meet with them, ask for an interview. If you are going to give them a call on a specific day to follow up, then state the date and time which you will call. For instance, "I will give you a call next Tuesday morning, August 15th to inquire about setting up a mutually convenient time to meet". Then by all means, call on Tuesday morning just as you said you would. And finally, thank the reader for taking the time to read your letter and resume and for considering you for the position.
 
Cover Letter - Close and Signature
 
Keep the close simple. 'Sincerely' is adequate for a cover letter. Your signature should be neat, but do not change your signature for your cover letter. It should be exactly as you would sign your name for any occasion. The typed version of your name should be your name as it appears in the heading of your cover letter. If you go by a nickname or middle name, you may want to type it as follows: Benton (Ben) M. Sitton. This will tell the reader that you go by the name of Ben and is appropriate in a cover letter close.
 
Do not use italic or a script font in place of a signature. You may scan your signature and insert it as a graphic image where the signature belongs so that you may fax it or e-mail it directly from your computer with a signed cover letter. If you do not have a scanner, you may have it scanned and put on a diskette at a copy center or some place which offers this type of service.
 
Resume - Heading
 
In the resume shown; the heading for the resume is the same as the heading for the cover letter. This does not have to be the case. You may decide to get creative and be bold here. Make sure that the heading does not overpower the page. There needs to be balance. One common mistake I have seen is when a person types their address and phone number so small that when it is faxed to me, I can't read it. Faxing many times causes a lot of distortion and if the font is very small it can be indistinguishable. You won't get called if they can't read your phone number.
 
Resume - Objective
 
There are many schools of thought on the objective of a resume. Some say that it must be very specific to the job you are applying for, using keywords for your industry. Others say that it can be a general overall objective. I say that it is a personal preference. I myself rarely read the objective if ever, but I always put one on my own resume. The reason I don't read them is that they are usually canned blurbs stating the fact that they are trying to gain a position with the company. To me that is stating the obvious. However, I would never want to keep my resume from being read just because I failed to put an objective at the top of the resume.
 
Nancy Jackson, daydreamer extraordinaire


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