The Elements of Resume Style, 2nd Edition

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Cover Letters

You get only one chance to make a first impression. If you’re like many candidates, you think it’s when you walk into an interview, but it’s really the moment a human resources or hiring manager glances at your cover letter. Few people will read even a perfect résumé if your cover letter has errors, is unclear, or is unfocused; and if in this case your résumé is left unread, there will be no in-person interview.

COVER LETTERS IN GENERAL

In order to produce an error-free cover letter, be sure to remember these three items (excerpted here from the Introduction as reminders):

1.  Don’t count on your spell-check. Spell-check is not an editor: form vs. from escapes spell-check, as does their vs. there vs. they’re, among countless ...