The Wall Street Journal published a great story on cover letters and why you should craft one. If you listened to the podcast on Saturday, you learned some thoughts about how to use keywords, especially the ones use in the ad placed for the position. If you target your cover letter to specifically answer many of the questions or situations posed, and reference many of these keywords, you'll have a great chance of standing out. It's a good idea to make some slight modifications in your resume for each person you send it to as well.
Being recognized on a piece of paper, after all, is a good deal more difficult than you might imagine. In these days of scanning and warehousing digitally, it can be even more tricky. However, as Audrey Hepburn said, "Nothing's impossible, even the word says I am possible". That's why it's so important to follow instructions. In the ad placed - they tell you what they are looking for, what skills are needed and why. So look at those as reasons to show how you can accomplish them with the skills you bring to the table!
So without further ado, go here and read Stand Out Letters to Cover Your Bases from the WSJ. They also re-iterate a common thread you should be aware of. Cover letters should be written for each job, especially if you're sending it to a recruiter. If they start to see the same letter pop up again and again from you, it's not going to make you stand out in the good way.
Happy Hunting!
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