Letter writing is a skill almost as important a job seeker to learn how to write a resume. The cover letter accompanies the resume at all times that the primary support document. If you use regular mail, email, fax, or other electronic filing, this should always be sent with the resume. There are, of course, other tools you'll use when job hunting. Your cover letter and resume come first, of course, followed-up letters, thank you letters for after the interview, reference sheets, salary histories, and letters of acceptance of employment. If you have good cover letter writing, and good resume writing skills, writing other tools should be complementary to compose.

Your goal in this is to get the hiring manager's attention, such as your resume. The method and the format is a bit different however. Your resume will cover all or most of his career, and be one to two pages. Your cover letter will be a very brief page serving as an introduction to the resume. Letter writing style should be direct to the point, and is able to capture the reader's attention quickly, in order to make the reader want to read the attached resume.

Many people, when they participate in this kind of writing, have a tendency to say too much. Good writing letter is short and powerful, and have two or three key points of the resume and emphasize them. The old adage "tell them what we will say, I say, then tell them what they said is true as long as resume writing and cover letter writing.

As an example, suppose you are a manager for material handling a defense contractor, seeking another position. In his line of work the buzzwords are MRP, lean manufacturing, ISO 9000, and cost savings. Their efforts in writing should reflect these buzzwords to show your value to your current employer and prospective employers. Your resume will go into more detail about how to achieve these objectives. The letter simply point to the hiring manager that you make them. An example would be two bulleted paragraphs in the body of the letter to say ....

• Experience in quality assurance and quality control, MRP, ISO 9000, QS 9000, and Lean Manufacturing.

• Demonstrate the results in the saving of money to employers through the cost savings, reduced inventory levels and on-time delivery from suppliers.


The director of human resources, according to many surveys, devotes only about fifteen seconds on each resume and a letter from him or her comments. With this in mind, your writing skills should be top class to get this person to see your resume. Your resume writing need to be as good to get the reader wants to grant you an interview. In turn, your interviewing skills should be excellent for director of human resources to offer the job. This positive long-chain kind of events begins with a letter of good writing and ends with job satisfaction and good pay.