Writing a resume cover letter can be a difficult task for many people particularly if they’re not great writers, don’t know what to write, or simply misinterpret what the purpose of the cover letter is.
Full disclosure: I typically don’t even bother reading cover letters when I get one from a candidate applying for a job because I’m so used to reading form letters that often aren’t even updated for the specific job they’re applying for that they serve no real purpose. In other words, I’m so jaded and expect that the cover letter is going to suck, I other skim it quickly or don’t even bother reading it at all.
The purpose of the cover letter other than showing the potential hiring manager a sample of your written communication skills is to illustrate above and beyond your resume why they should interview you.
In other words, what do you have in your background that fits the job you’re applying or and why should they interview you over the dozens or hundreds of other candidates who have applied for the same job?
Typically though the cover letters I read are simply a copy and paste job of the person’s job description or are simply copied and pasted segments of their resume which doesn’t serve any purpose since then you’re just repeating a section of your resume twice.
There are many schools of thought as to what a resume cover letter should contain so rather than rehashing them, here’s a better idea.
If you’re open to checking out a resume cover letter resource that might help you write the cover letters you wished you could write, check out this interesting resource.
The purpose of the cover letter is to help you get the interview but you can’t do that unless your letter (and resume) gets read. This resource might just help you do that if you’re applying for jobs and not getting interviews.
