The University of Montana - Western - Cover Letter Information

Cover Letters

Send an original cover letter along with each resume to any lead that might prove fruitful. Form cover letters or ones aimed at a number or positions impress no one. You must tailor each letter to each position and organization.

Whenever possible, address your letter to a specific person who will be actively involved in the selection process. "To whom it may concern" letters rarely get responses, and imagine how a female recruiter would react to a letter addressed to "Gentlemen." This is still a common occurrence in the 21st century. Sending a letter to a person uninvolved in recruiting will, at best, delay reaching the correct person. Be sure your letter has the correct and complete address.

The letter should be brief, usually three or four paragraphs, and never more than one page. As with the resume, the cover letter must:

Be neat.
Be typed on good bond paper.
Contain no typos, misspellings, grammatical errors, or punctuation errors.
Provide at least one inch margins all around.
Be professional and easy to read.

Explain why you are writing. Specify the position in which you are interested and why. Reveal how you discovered the opening and what you know about the organization. Explain how your education and training, experiences, organizational memberships, and activities make you an ideal fit with the applicant profile. You can refer to your resume, but do not merely repeat it. The goal is to persuade the recruiter that you are well suited for this position with this organization at this time. Few applicants do this.

Emphasize your interest in and enthusiasm for this position with this organization. Show that you have researched both thoroughly and are not merely sending out dozens of letters and resumes in blind fashion. If you reveal that you know little about the position or organization and communicate lack of interest, your application is dead upon arrival. Sometimes applicants confuse one organization with another through lack of research. Every time the authors' departments have a number of very different faculty openings at the same time, numerous letters will be placed in a "question mark" file because it is impossible to tell after reading cover letters which position or positions these persons are applying for.

Close the letter by restating your interest in the position and organizaton. Ask for an interview and state when you might be available for an interview. If, for instance, you will be in the Salt Lake City area where the organization is located during the third week of April, state your willingness to meet with them at that time.

If a position is listed on a website or in a newspaper or journal, use the ad's language. Do not merely repeat the words but show how you fit the requirements. Use the cover letter to sell the skills, abilities, and experiences you possess that make you a good match for the position. Be positive and to the point. And show enthusiasm for the position and organization.

Sample Cover Letters

Information provided is from interviewing principles and practices by Charles J. Stewart & William B. Cash, Jr., tenth edition, published by McGraw-Hill in 2003.